Under the new Ofsted early years inspection regime, the routine annual inspections of day nurseries in England will be unannounced. But how many other settings are aware of this, and the potential implications?
One month's notice will be given of an impending inspection, to take place sometime during the following month. Under the social services, inspections were by appointment.
It is only reasonable and sensible that the registered person or manager is present for the inspection. Ofsted's education inspections are by appointment, ensuring senior staff are present.
Reading through the national standards it is apparent that much will depend on a large pile of paperwork being presented to the inspector, and interviews with the registered person/person in charge/manager/ deputy/supervisor. The interviews could take hours, all the while taking the interviewee away from caring for the children.
Does Ofsted expect a setting to employ additional staff, potentially for an entire month, just so that one or other of these people remain supernumerary and free to accommodate the inspector? Does Ofsted also expect a nursery's senior staff to cancel their lives for a month so they are on the premises every day on the off chance that the inspector might turn up?
Does Ofsted expect all other appointments to be cancelled for a month just in case the inspector appears on the nursery doorstep? Social services, not that long ago, issued advice that unexpected visitors should be asked to return at a pre-arranged time.
Claims that the objective is to observe a nursery in its natural state are untenable. Saying that giving notice will lead to an 'artificial' day being prepared for the benefit of an inspector is ridiculous. Small children will behave as they always do, and an experienced inspector will quickly perceive anything artificial or contrived. The practicalities of this have not been thought through.
