Nursery World - Judged by those who know nothing about us

My setting has just been inspected by Ofsted. It has certainly left me with a feeling of awe and wonder at the whole process. I am in awe that it passes for a legitimate assessment process of nursery practice and wonder at how far we have let the situation get when an individual, with no nursery teaching practice and no real understanding of the learning behind children's play, can make judgements on those who have. It quickly became apparent that, according to the inspector, the process of learning was relatively insignificant compared with the outcomes. An example of 'exemplary practice' she quoted included children being asked what was missing from a written sentence and their response that it was a full stop. Another idea she had of good practice was noting how many segments are in a satsuma and how many are left on the plate if so many are in the tummy.

It quickly became apparent that, according to the inspector, the process of learning was relatively insignificant compared with the outcomes. An example of 'exemplary practice' she quoted included children being asked what was missing from a written sentence and their response that it was a full stop. Another idea she had of good practice was noting how many segments are in a satsuma and how many are left on the plate if so many are in the tummy.

Our indoor/outdoor learning opportunities could not have been properly assessed on the basis of the short time she spent in the garden. The children's freedom to choose and move around the whole of the learning environment was clearly not valued, as she suggested some form of registration as children join activities. Unless there was an obvious 'teaching' delivery, it wasn't clear to her that deeply valuable and probably more meaningful learning was happening all around.

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