Early years sector still faces huge pressure from pandemic, leaders warn

The latest findings from Ofsted’s annual report into education and children’s services highlights how staff and leaders worked “tirelessly” in children’s interests to combat the huge pressures placed on both sectors by Covid-19.

But the investigation found that early years staff were more stressed and felt their work was more difficult than before the pandemic.

Despite this, there was an increased appreciation of the importance of early years with many staff feeling honoured to be working to support children during this time, the report states.

Responding to the inspectorate’s findings, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said ongoing measures and staff absences had made many nurseries “different places” compared with pre-pandemic times.

“Even before Covid-19, we were reporting that staffing recruitment and retention had hit crisis levels but the pandemic has made this situation even worse. It’s important that this is recognised by Ofsted,” said Purnima Tanuku, NDNA’s chief executive.

The report goes on to reveal many staff working for inadequate providers did not have the skills and training they needed. They also lacked “high expectations” for children’s learning, it states.

“In these providers, staffing levels and arrangements did not ensure that children were supervised effectively at all times. 

“We saw children left to cry or not being adequately settled in the setting.There were several examples where this led to children’s safety being compromised,” the report concludes.

It describes how the first national lockdown disrupted routines leaving some children struggling to eat, play and learn to a fixed timetable.

In addition, many children needed to relearn social skills such as sharing and how to be kind when playing with each other.

“Providers reported that some children were angry, some had shorter attention spans and were more difficult to engage, and some were less inquisitive.

“However, behaviour improved during the autumn term and most children were able to adapt to a learning pattern and more easily engage with activities,” the report states.

Tanuku said the report acknowledged the key role early years settings had played in supporting young children through a year in which they faced the “harmful effects of closures and restrictions”.

“We are hearing from providers how they have worked with children who have displayed challenging behaviours at nursery.

“Their wellbeing and support with their language skills and person, social and emotional development have been critical,” she said.

Despite the negative impact of the pandemic, Tanuku said it was a “great tribute” to nurseries that 98 per cent were still being judged good or outstanding by Ofsted.

However, she said the NDNA was concerned by a trend in recent inspections from May to October which had seen a growing number of nurseries downgraded for a number of reasons.

“Early years settings are dealing with a staffing crisis and also managing the current measures to keep staff and children safe in the ongoing pandemic.

“We are concerned that inspectors are not taking full account of the pressures on the sector,” she said.

Impending Ofsted visits were creating added stress to managers compounded by existing financial stress caused by those settings unsure if they would run at a loss or break even this year, she added.

“Nurseries have endured appalling stress over the last two years due to the pandemic and the short pause on routine inspections until after Christmas will be welcome.

“When they restart we ask for consideration of all the pressures on providers and for inspections to be handled sensitively and fairly,” Tanuku said.