Here at Early Years Fundamentals, it has been a while since we have been able to share our inspection analysis, but we now have four terms’ worth of data from Education Inspection Framework (EIF) inspections, which is helping us to understand what has happened over the past three years as we moved from the Common Inspection Framework (CIF) to the EIF.
Before I start, it is worth saying that our data always differs from that of Ofsted. We focus on the outcomes of inspections that happened in a specific term, whereas Ofsted publishes the most recent inspection outcomes for all providers, meaning that some of that data will be for settings that were inspected under the CIF. We, therefore, monitor inspection outcomes termly so that we can see any changes in the data, which enables us to ask questions.
So, what are we seeing?
Inspection outcomes were relatively stable under the CIF – which is understandable as it had been in place for several years – but when the EIF was introduced in September 2019, we initially saw a slight increase in the number of Outstanding grades and similar numbers of Requires Improvement (RI) and ‘inadequate’ outcomes. However, the number of providers receiving a Good or better inspection outcome (particularly Outstandings) started to fall as inspection activity recommenced after Covid restrictions started to lift.
What does that mean?
Anecdotally, the impact of changes to previous inspection frameworks has always taken a little time to impact the data. It is usually around the 12- to 18-month point that we start to see the impact of changes.
But this normal cycle was interrupted by the pandemic and inspections stopped in line with national restrictions. We went a staggering 14 months without inspections, from the end of March 2020 to May 2021, which meant that we could only start to collect inspection data from summer 2021. That is when we started to see that it was becoming much harder for providers to achieve an Outstanding grade.
We are aware this is a hot topic, but we think it is too early to make any rash claims about why this may be, and here is why.
Although Ofsted has been very clear that the Outstanding grade would be a tougher ask under the new framework, we can’t overlook the fact that when Ofsted recommenced inspections, it had to change its approach to the way it managed risk in the short term to ensure children were safe.
In normal times, inspectors would have been able to keep to the timelines associated with newly registered provision, RI and ‘inadequate’ inspection outcomes, but periods of restriction put all that on hold, resulting in a huge backlog of settings that needed to be inspected with urgency once restrictions began to lift. That meant the inspectorate needed to prioritise newly registered provision, providers that had a judgement of ‘inadequate’ or RI, any setting that had serious safeguarding concerns, and settings that were sitting on a judgement of six or more years.
However, the problem with targeting any segment of a population is that you are only looking at part of a much bigger picture. This means that the outcomes for those that have recently been inspected may not be representative of the whole sector. We therefore need several more terms without this targeted approach to truly understand the impact of the EIF.
That said, the rise in ‘inadequate’ provision could impact the number of closures in the sector – not because Ofsted has taken measures to shut provision, but because public funding is removed from settings that receive an ‘inadequate’ inspection outcome. In a world where large numbers of settings are already struggling financially, losing a large proportion of your income for up to six months is something that many businesses are unlikely to recover from.
What can we learn so far?
Although we cannot gain anything concrete from the figures, we can if we look at Ofsted’s actions and recommendations.
Many of our trending areas stayed the same under the CIF, but as the EIF was introduced, we started to notice significant changes and that issues on leadership and safeguarding and welfare were lessening to make way for a keener focus on teaching and learning (see table, above).
This shouldn’t come as any surprise as Ofsted has been very open about the fact that the new framework pays keener attention to children’s experiences, and what adults do and provide – but what we can’t say is that we can see the impact of the revised EYFS (September 2021). We simply didn’t have enough time with the EIF before changes were made to the statutory framework, so there is no real way of knowing the true impact of the EIF.
What are the emerging themes?
In the process of classifying inspection actions and recommendations, we often start to see emerging themes. The summer and autumn terms of 2021 were no different, with mathematics and communication and language appearing in numerous reports related to these frequently occurring issues:
Build on staff’s knowledge of communication and language so that they:
- understand how to extend children’s growing vocabulary
- understand how to identify potential barriers to children’s communication and language skills
- model the correct pronunciation of letter sounds and words.
Food for thought: In order for staff members to meet the needs of children well, they need a good grounding in child development, the Characteristics of Effective Learning (CoEL), and they need to understand how to deliver the seven areas of learning. But it is hard to know where there may be gaps in knowledge and understanding if leaders and managers don’t spend some time exploring what individual staff members studied and to what depth. This is important because historically there has been no standardised approach to early years qualifications, meaning that knowledge across our teams could be patchy.
These conversations aren’t about doubting the competency of our teams but about finding their baseline, which will enable leadership teams to tailor CPD opportunities to real need.
Build staff’s knowledge of mathematics so that they can:
- broaden children’s mathematical language, understanding and skills
- provide appropriate opportunities for children to practise and refine their maths skills and strategies.
Help all staff to develop a better understanding of how to support children’s mathematical language and skills.
Food for thought: In addition, leadership teams may also want to take an in-depth look at their provision for maths. Many settings provide lots of opportunities which focus on shape, colour and cardinal numbers, but there are often limited opportunities to talk about and explore pattern, money, time, distance, measure, orientation and position, size, weight, capacity and the properties of shapes.
Could this also be a training issue or more to do with confidence? Might the issue lie with the construction of the environment? Whatever the case, it may be worth spending some time looking at your learning spaces and how both children and adults are using these environments to understand whether your provision for maths could be strengthened.
Pennie Akehurst is managing director of Early Years Fundamentals
Table 1: From CIF to EIF: Inspection outcomes for group care
Inspection Outcome Autumn 2018 Spring 2019 Summer 2019 Autumn 2019 Spring 2020 Summer 2021 Autumn 2021
Good or better 85% 85% 83% 85% 88% 77% 77%
Below Good 15% 15% 17% 15% 12% 23% 23%
Outstanding 12% 14% 11% 20% 28% 7% 8%
Good 73% 71% 72% 65% 60% 70% 69%
RI 10% 8% 9% 8% 7% 12% 13%
Inadequate 5% 7% 8% 6% 5% 11% 10%
100% 100% 100% 99%* 100% 100% 100%
Total number of inspections 785 654 602 996 629 672 686
Source: Early Years Fundamentals. *The missing 1% accounts for providers that received an outcome of ‘met’, which indicates there were no children on roll or present at the time of the inspection.
Table 2: Actions and recommendations that appeared with frequency in RI and ‘inadequate’ reports under the EIF
Rank Inspection areas in autumn 2019 Rank Inspection areas in spring 2019 Rank Inspection areas in summer 2019
1st Management of staff 1st Adult: child interactions 1st Curriculum knowledge and delivery
2nd Planning and challenge 2nd Management of staff 2nd Safeguarding knowledge and practice
3rd Curriculum knowledge and delivery 3rd Curriculum knowledge and delivery 3rd Management of staff
4th Management of behaviour 4th Organisation of teaching opportunities 4th Adult: child interactions
5th Safeguarding knowledge and practice 5th Planning and challenge Joint 5th Observation, assessment and next steps
6th Suitable people 6th Working in partnership with parents and carers Joint 5th Working in partnership with parents and carers
7th Adult: child interactions 7th Safeguarding knowledge and practice
8th Regulatory information 8th Learning environments and resources Joint 5th Curriculum intent and implementation
9th Learning environments and resources Joint 5th Organisation of teaching opportunities
Joint 10th Key person Joint 9th Independence 9th Safeguarding knowledge and practice
Joint 10th Routines Joint 9th Management of risk 10th Routines
Source: Early Years Fundamentals
