Work Wise: Crib Sheet - Changes to youth service inspections

So they are messing around with inspections again? I think Ofsted would probably prefer the term "refining". The background here is that a cycle of inspecting every local authority youth service began in 2004. Since then youth service inspections have begun to be incorporated into the new joint area reviews (JARs). This new framework adapts the one used since 2004 and will apply to all the remaining inspections from now until December 2008.

So why change when they are just on the last lap? Well, in addition to the arrival of JARs there's been plenty of policy and legislative change for the youth services just like every other area of services for children and young people. Ofsted has consulted on what kind of refinements people felt was needed in the wake of Youth Matters: Next Steps, the introduction of integrated youth support services and the new expectations placed on local authorities emerging from the Education and Inspections Act 2006. It's not a wholesale change of what inspectors will do or what they will think of as good practice. Most of the changes here and in the associated guidance seem to be procedural, helping to minimise duplication and fit into the other data collection activities required for JARs.