Call for ‘fundamental' review of Ofsted early years inspections

As part of a range of demands being made to the new Conservative government, the Pre-school Learning Alliance wants the way inspections are conducted to be changed.

"A strong early years sector needs a robust, reliable inspection framework," states a report produced by the Alliance to influence the new government, called Early Years Agenda: An Evidence-based Manifesto for Change.

"Over recent years, however, confidence in Ofsted has fallen following increasingly frequent reports of unfair judgments, under-qualified inspectors and generally unpleasant inspection experiences."

Although the Alliance said it welcomes recent steps by Ofsted to address concerns in the sector, such as the move to scrap non-urgent complaint-driven inspections, it wants a review carried out and a number of steps taken, including early years inspections being brought in-house.

It is also calling for the introduction of independent provider representation at both the quality assurance stage of inspections and the first stage of the appeals process.

In addition, it wants the government to implement legislation set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 that would allow settings to request a re-inspection if it is not happy with its grade.

The Alliance is also calling on the government to abandon new tests of children's "school effectiveness" during their first term of reception. Schools can start using the new tests, called baseline assessments, from September.

Instead, the Alliance is calling for a greater focus on play when assessing young children in reception.

A Pre-School Learning Alliance spokeswoman said providers opposed to the new tests have just four months to convince the government to either scrap them.