Ofsted annual report highlights changing childcare market

While 96 per cent of early years providers are graded good or outstanding, Ofsted said that nurseries that are part of large groups are more likely to be rated outstanding, which suggested that strong practice can be shared effectively across the whole chain.

It said that there may be benefits from a different inspection model that would allow individual inspections of nurseries to be brought together and features analysed across the whole chain.

Asked by Nursery World as to whether this signalled a move away from inspecting all individual nurseries within a group, an Ofsted spokesperson said it had no plans to stop inspecting individual nurseries that are a part of larger chains, and that the report discussed how Ofsted's inspection and regulatory work must keep pace with the evolving early years landscape.

Launching her third annual report as Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman said, 'Early education makes a big difference to young children and its importance is underlined by the early years foundation stage reforms and the current consultation on the new Early Learning Goals.

‘The work of nurseries and childminders is, of course, a fine balance between education and care. It’s sometimes difficult to separate the two. The tensions that sometimes bubble up in discussions in this sector are often about how far the pendulum swings one way or the other. ‘We know that many nurseries are very good at caring for children and keeping them safe – and quite rightly. But we have always championed learning at a young age and, with the new inspection framework in place, we are seeing more discussions about what an early years curriculum should be aiming to achieve.’

‘Changing market’

‘The early years market has changed quite a bit in recent years. The overall number of childcare places has increased. But within that, nursery chains have expanded, while the number of childminders has continued to fall.

‘Our recent survey of childminders leaving the job shows that there are many reasons for giving up – the most cited being cost, bureaucracy and changing personal circumstances, in that order.

'Sustainable, high-quality childcare is crucial for many families – and standards are high. The vast majority of nurseries and childminders are rated good or outstanding, and that isn’t surprising, since we take prompt action to close down those that really aren’t good enough. Also, parents are extremely reluctant to send their child to a nursery or childminder that is less than good. That means poor providers generally don’t last long in the market. They either improve swiftly, close or – in the case of nurseries – get taken over by bigger organisations.

'And we are seeing more and more nurseries acquired or opened by large chains. Several operate nationally and some internationally – in China and North America, as well as across Europe.

'These larger organisations can bring new thinking and practice back into their English nurseries. One large chain told us that discovering how early Chinese children start learning to use chopsticks has lifted their own expectations here about young children’s ability to learn to use a knife and fork.'

'And now that nearly all children are in formal childcare before they start school, we have an opportunity to make sure that all children really are ready for school. Our EIF inspections so far do show that nurseries and childminders are taking the curriculum and what children are learning seriously.'

Childminders

Ofsted has carried out an initial one-off survey, which asked childminders why they had decided to stop childminding, and is now routinely asking childminders to complete a short survey when they tell Ofsted that they are resigning their childminder registration.

An Ofsted spokesperson said they hoped to share the findings of this survey in due course.

The Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY)said that Ofsted's findings were echoing those of its inquiry into 21st century childminding, which it is publishing in the spring.

Chief executive for Liz Bayram said, ‘We're celebrating that 96 per cent of early years providers are Good or Outstanding, but we're at a crossroads.

‘The childcare sector is changing. There is ongoing decline in the number of people choosing to become a childminder; the number of small nursery and pre-school providers is reducing with the rise of large nursery chains. Without careful management by local authorities and Government this is going to lead to less choice for families. Action will need to be taken to support the many small providers whose sustainability is most at risk of continued underfunding of early education entitlements.’

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said, ‘This is the last year of inspections under the old framework and we have worked hard with the sector to ensure nurseries are prepared for the new one. It will be interesting to see any impact of this framework on how early years settings are graded.

‘It is concerning to see the fall in the number of providers, our closure research suggested that the number of nurseries having to close is increasing and this is shown in the small drop in Ofsted registrations. Our work also showed that underfunding was having a greater impact on nurseries in areas of deprivation and today’s report seems to bear that out with the quality gap is widening between nurseries in the most and least deprived areas of the country.

‘The report highlights that the most likely cause of an inadequate judgement is a weakness in leadership and management. The drop in staff with higher level qualifications and experience, uncovered in NDNA’s workforce survey, will undoubtedly make it more difficult for nurseries to address this. This recruitment and retention crisis must be addressed by Government as a priority.’