Inspections Clinic: Mock childcare inspections

Opinions are divided on the effectiveness of “mock inspections” designed to help settings such as nurseries and pre-schools prepare for the real thing.

Ofsted’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman has previously raised concerns about schools paying large sums to consultants to conduct “mocksteds”, branding them a waste of time and money.

The regulator is clear it does not expect or want schools, nurseries and others to go out of their way to rehearse or prepare for inspections. The focus should be on providing the best quality care day in, day out.

However, leading early years organisations say regular evaluations or reviews of practice – often conducted along the lines of an inspection – can be useful in identifying areas for improvement as well as preparing staff for the experience of being inspected.

“It is good practice for settings to constantly review their practice and they should have an effective continuous cycle of self-evaluation – a process for continually reflecting on and improving the quality of their practice,” says Stella Ziolkowski, director of quality and training at the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA). “If this is in place a setting should always be ‘Ofsted ready’.”

Managers are expected to be on top of this but it can help to have a fresh pair of eyes take a look at policy and practice. In response to demand from members, NDNA offers a paid-for Review of Quality Practice (RoPQ) service (see below).

“When local authorities faced cuts and reduced the support they provided to ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ settings, setting leaders asked if we could offer support for their practitioners with reflective practice,” explains Ziolkowski. “Our RoPQ service works with settings to look at its practice as a whole, identify areas of strength and consider areas for improvement.”

Settings can request a half day or full day visit from an independent adviser who will assess practice, review key documentation and advise staff on what to expect from an inspection.

A full day costs £972 including VAT for NDNA members and includes a “learning walk” around the setting, observations of practice in each room, a joint observation, a meeting with the manager and discussions with staff and parents. Settings get verbal feedback at the end of the visit and then a written report.

“The visit supports all staff to continually reflect on their practice through critical self-evaluation,” says Ziolkowski. “This includes how they develop their workforce and review partnerships, engagement with parents and external stakeholders.”

The London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), which runs 42 nurseries, has “moderation meetings” with all its settings to help them prepare for inspection.

These are carried out along similar lines to an Ofsted inspection in that settings get just half a day’s notice with the moderator turning up the following day.

“She uses the inspectors’ handbook so looks at exactly the same things an Ofsted inspector would look at and also gives them a grade as well as feedback and recommendations to help them improve,” says LEYF area operations manager Shirley Paddock.

Moderation meetings usually take place more than six months to a year before a setting’s Ofsted inspection is due so staff have time to reflect on the findings and make changes where necessary.

Paddock says it is important moderation meetings are as a close as possible to the real thing because this helps staff know what to expect.

“It’s certainly not their intention, but Ofsted inspectors freak staff out,” she says. “Everybody goes ‘Oh my God, Ofsted is here’ and everyone kind of panics. But if they have been through the process once then it makes them feel more relaxed.”

Now that Ofsted inspections for early years settings have moved to a six-year cycle with the prospect of longer gaps between visits, it can make the arrival of an inspector seem even more momentous and daunting.

While settings do not exactly look forward to moderation meetings, they do find them incredibly useful, says Paddock.

“When you tell someone they are going to have it or are on the list their reaction is often ‘Oh no’ but they really do see the benefits,” she says.

“It helps them identify areas where maybe they didn’t realise they were falling behind or need to improve.”

She says many settings who have been through the process have gone on to get top inspection grades and excellent feedback from Ofsted.

Moderation meetings also allow LEYF to pick up on common themes across settings and put in place extra training.

Most find the meetings a positive experience and an opportunity to showcase the good work they are doing. “They have been through so much with Covid and the staffing problems in the sector and it gives them a boost,” says Paddock.

Crucially, it gives them confidence when it comes to talking about what they are doing and why.

“Staff can talk to parents because they know them well but when someone says to them ‘tell me about safeguarding’ they dry up because first, it’s someone they don’t know and second, they’re scared they are going to muck it up and say the wrong thing,” says Paddock.

“It’s all about building that confidence and making staff feel confident in what they are doing and saying.”

PREPARING FOR INSPECTION: FIVE TOP TIPS

1. Get your documentation in order Ofsted inspectors will ask to see specific documents during an inspection so use a mock inspection or review to check you have everything you need in place and to hand. It is a good idea to create an Ofsted folder that contains the documents you will need to share such as your Ofsted registration certificate, public liability insurance certificate and DBS checks for staff. Ensure it includes up-to-date policy documents such as safeguarding and whistleblowing policies.

2. Use a fresh pair of eyesGetting an independent or external assessment of practice in your setting is always useful and may help pick up issues not already on your radar. This does not have to be a paid-for consultant. It could be a volunteer or manager from another setting in your group. Crucially, it does need to be someone with early years expertise and up-to-date knowledge of Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework. “It has to be someone that has a good understanding of childcare and a good understanding of the framework,” says The London Early Years Foundation’s Shirley Paddock. “Using someone not known to the organisation makes it feel important and gets staff used to talking to outsiders.”

3. Practice inspection scenarios with staffOfsted inspections can feel “very much like an exam scenario”, says Paddock, so giving frontline staff the chance to practice the kind of questions they might be asked will help them feel more confident on the day. “Having someone ask them about child development or their key children and giving staff the chance to practice with each other throughout the year means it is not so hard when an inspection does come around,” she says. Inspections will include joint observations of children carried out alongside staff. Regular peer-to-peer joint observations are a useful exercise that will help staff get used to the process.

4. Focus on the experiences of children and parents. It is important to ensure children in your setting are given a voice and have their thoughts and feelings taken into consideration. Simple child evaluation forms can help children share their opinions to be used to shape policy and practice. The Getting Ready for Your Ofsted Inspection guide published by Early Years Careers includes sample evaluation forms for both children and parents. The guide costs £14.99 and is available from piggledots.com. CYP Now readers can claim a 20 per cent discount using the code CYPNow.

5. Don’t be complacentA positive self-evaluation or mock inspection does not mean your work is done. Settings that do well in LEYF’s moderation meetings are expected to continue to reflect on their practice and ways they can improve. “We make it clear this is only a guide, not what is going to happen on the day,” says Paddock. “You will still have a development plan in place so even if the moderator says you are ‘outstanding’ that doesn’t mean you stop.”

Sources: Getting Ready for Your Ofsted Inspection, Early Years Careers; The London Early Years Foundation

INSPECTIONS SHORTS

SOCIAL CARE
Professionals are being urged to have their say on updated inspection arrangements for children’s homes and residential holiday schemes. Proposed changes to interim inspections of children’s homes include a new single judgment to make it clear whether or not inspectors have identified “serious and widespread concerns”. Meanwhile, inspections of residential holiday schemes will put more emphasis on children’s experiences and less on the progress they make to better reflect the nature of provision. The consultation runs until 24 January next year with any changes due to be introduced from April 2022.

EARLY YEARS
Ofsted has called for stronger oversight of providers who run multiple early years settings or children’s homes. Two new reports by the regulator found large providers have a great deal of influence over the way provision is run. However, Ofsted is currently only able to inspect individual settings. The reports call for stronger regulatory powers to ensure large providers are having a positive impact on children.

SOCIAL CARE
Only about a third of children in care and half of care leavers said they had been made aware of the local support on offer when leaving the care system, found a survey carried out by Ofsted. More than 250 care-experienced young people responded to the survey designed to gather views on preparation and planning for leaving care. Full findings are due early next year.

YOUTH JUSTICE
Inspectors have found “significant deficits” in the quality of work by youth offending teams (YOTs) and partners with black and mixed heritage boys. HM Inspectorate of Probation made recommendations to improve services in a report based on inspection data, a sample of cases from nine YOTs in England and interviews with managers, staff and young people. There are a disproportionate number of black and mixed heritage boys in the youth justice system but chief inspector of probation Justin Russell said the research revealed “a lack of curiosity about why this disparity exists and what needs to be done to change it”.

SCHOOLS
The government has issued a direction notice to Birmingham City Council for failing to improve services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The move follows joint inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. The council was urged to improve 13 “significant weaknesses” in provision following a joint local area SEND inspection in 2018. However, a follow-up visit in May this year found just one of the 13 areas – joint commissioning – showed signs of improvement.