Ofsted inspections threaten two-year-old offer, warns expert

Statistics published by the education watchdog today showed that it doled out actions, which usually lead to inadequate grades, to 31 per cent of early years providers between January and March 2013.

The inspectorate said this is an eight percentage point rise on the number of actions given out between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012.

Ofsted said the rise could be “explained by the changes to the new framework”.

London Early Years Foundation chief executive June O'Sullivan said the inspection system was endangering the government’s free childcare offer for disadvantaged two-year-olds.

“We shouldn’t be paying the price for Ofsted bedding in their new system because the consequences for us, unintended or otherwise, are significant,” said O’Sullivan.

“The government is saying that if you’re inadequate or unsatisfactory you can’t take the two-year-olds.

“Given there’s already a shortfall of places for the 260,000 two-year-olds, how are the two aligning?”

O’Sullivan warned the problem could be made worse if local authorities were no longer able to overrule Ofsted inspections judgments when allocating funding for two-year-olds.

The government is currently considering proposals to remove this right from local authorities.

Earlier this month, Ofsted’s director of early childhood Sue Gregory told early years providers that changes to the inspection framework were “based on what’s right for children”.

Speaking at the Pre-school Learning Alliance’s conference, she admitted Ofsted was “being tougher in terms of enforcement”.

“Only good or better standards of early education are good enough,” she said.

Under the early years inspection framework, which began in September 2012, providers can be set an action where previously a recommendation might have been made.

Inspectors set actions if a setting fails to meet the statutory requirements of the early years curriculum (the Early Years Foundation Stage) and give providers a short timescale to make changes.

Statistics published today also revealed a slight rise in the number of registered early years settings judged good or outstanding – up to 68 per cent from 67 per cent in the previous quarter.

A total 26 per cent of settings were found to be satisfactory and six per cent were judged inadequate.

From September, 130,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds will be entitled to 15 hours of free childcare a week, rising to 260,000 by September 2014.