There have been growing concerns that the introduction from this month of Ofsted's common inspection framework across all childcare and school settings is another step towards "schoolification" of the early years.
These concerns were stoked further by the announcement last month that Nick Hudson, Ofsted's director for early education since April 2014, was to leave the post almost immediately with no like-for-like replacement to be recruited.
Instead, Hudson's responsibilities have now been passed to Sean Harford, Ofsted's national director for education, who will be supported by Gill Jones, deputy director of early education.
This move has added to the growing concerns around Ofsted's focus on "school readiness," and reignited calls for more emphasis to be placed on learning through play and less on academic skills such as reading, writing and maths.
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