Same notice period criteria should apply to all settings say critics
Katy Morton
Friday, September 14, 2012
While the move to reduce the period of notice schools receive of an Ofsted inspection has been welcomed as a step in the right direction, the Pre-School Learning Alliance has argued that it still puts private, voluntary and independent settings on an unequal footing with nurseries attached to schools.
As of 3 September, nursery units attached to schools receive notice of an Ofsted inspection the afternoon before, rather than the 48 hours' warning they previously received. However, the plans, previously set out by Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw in January, would have meant that schools would have received no warning, bringing them in line with PVI settings.
The Alliance has welcomed the introduction of short-notice inspections for schools, but says the playing field for early years and childcare inspections remains uneven between the maintained and private and voluntary sectors.
Having long campaigned for all private, voluntary and maintained early years and childcare settings to be on an equal footing, the Alliance claims that its members fail to understand why there remains a reluctance to apply the same notice criteria across the board.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said, 'This is a step in the right direction. But if Ofsted is confident that the prior notice will allow inspectors to see things "as they really are", I am sure our members will want to know why Ofsted has not immediately extended the same notice criteria to all settings.
'We will be writing to Her Majesty's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, asking for clarification on the matter.'
A spokesperson for Ofsted said, 'We consulted on notice periods as part of our framework changes for both schools and registered early years provision. The early years consultation showed strong support for retaining no-notice inspections and this is what we decided to do. However, the school consultation reflected strong disagreement from the sector about the practicalities of implementing no-notice inspection. We significantly reduced the notice period for schools but, in line with the consultation findings, decided to retain a short-notice period.'
The National Day Nurseries Association has also argued in the past that giving schools an afternoon's notice would put nurseries at an unfair disadvantage.
In May, the Association's chief executive, Purnima Tanuku, said, 'We believe that all early years professionals, regardless of whether they work in a school, nursery school, children's centre or private or voluntary nursery, should be treated with the same level of respect and therefore receive the same notice for inspections.'
This month Ofsted published its new early years framework. Under the changes, inspections of nurseries and childminders will focus more on children's education and their personal and emotional development.
