Early Education, also known as the British Association for Early Childhood Education, criticised the report, published last week, on the grounds that some of the Ofsted inspectors have no experience of working in early years settings. It called for them to be given further training.
Pat Wills, Early Education national chair, said, 'We are concerned about who is doing the reporting. Inspectors need to have a significant understanding of children's learning in the early years in order to be able to select strands of literacy and numeracy throughout the whole day.
'This report is flawed and inaccurate because some of the inspectors reporting aren't necessarily trained early years practitioners. They need more training.'
She said some Early Education members had reported that some inspectors are aged over 65 and have never worked in early years settings before. 'Yet they are assessing the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics in reception without any understanding of what good early years teaching looks like.'
The report said that while Ofsted found the teaching of literacy and numeracy in reception to be satisfactory overall, schools were being advised to 'revise their schemes of work for the reception year and ensure they are in line with the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage, incorporating the recommendations for teaching and learning in the frameworks for teaching of the national literacy and numeracy strategies.' They were also told to ensure pupils had 'sufficient experience' of full literacy hours and daily mathematics lessons before they enter Year 1, and to 'evaluate the impact of the new curriculum on teaching and learning, and its relationship with the national literacy and numeracy strategies'.
Mrs Wills said the report had 'highlighted the fact that there is a misunderstanding between the Foundation Stage and numeracy and literacy and that there needs to be further clarification be-tween the Foundation Stage and the numeracy and literacy strategies'. She said schools needed to delay taking a more formal approach to literacy and numeracy until Year 1.
She said, 'Very few heads and Key Stage 1 co-ordinators have been able to access training for the Foundation Stage, so unless they are early years practitioners already they won't understand its management either. This is a training issue, as it is for Ofsted inspectors.'
Mrs Wills welcomed the report showing that nursery nurses and teaching assistants make a 'strong contribution' in reception classes. It said, 'Their impact is particularly strong in mixed-age classes and where children enter reception at different points of the year.' It found the quality of teaching mathematics enhanced by co-operation between teachers and teaching assistants.
Catherine Ashton, early years minister, welcomed the Ofsted report's 'positive picture of the teaching of literacy and numeracy in reception classes where much of the teaching is good'.
