Nursery World - Michael Pettavel: Is Ofsted really putting children first?

If Ofsted were truly independent, as it claims to be, then would it not be criticising an early years policy that is clearly failing children?

Michael Pettavel: 'Ofsted has lost its way'

Well, that was quite the year (again). This time dominated by the circus in Whitehall, neatly demonstrating that the rules that apply to most workplaces are decidedly absent in the House of Commons. Shame there isn’t an Ofsted for politics; I’d like to see how Leadership and Management would come out: overall effectiveness – ‘inadequate’.

It was interesting to read how Ofsted had downgraded 80 per cent of previously Outstanding schools, with 21 per cent going to Requires Improvement or lower. The number of Outstanding childcare settings has also decreased from 20 per cent to 15 per cent since 2019. There have been a number of statutory changes in this time, but a drop of 80 per cent is not a good indication of a ‘solid’ inspection system.

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