Ofsted early years reforms: a case of improvement or 'schoolification'?

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.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, says the move to hand control of early years to the national director for education is "yet another move towards early schoolification".

But Jack Hatch, executive head at St Bede Primary Academy in Bolton, says the move is a "positive change", because it complements the ideas behind the common inspection framework.

"The common inspection framework gets everybody on the same page in early years. It clears up many of the niggling differences that have evolved between different categories of settings," he says.

"We will see more practitioners working together for the same outcomes for our children, across all remits, improving early education as we work towards the same goals and expectations. For example, school readiness will be interpreted in the same way across all settings and early years providers can all plan on this basis.

"As we also move to a single education director within Ofsted, this can only be a positive change as it complements the common inspection framework."

But Hudson's exit has concerned many early years leaders, who praised his commitment to engaging with them.

"Changes were made under his leadership - he was prepared to listen," says Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association, who is also worried about the wider implications of Hudson's departure. "We have concerns that a move to a single directorate with early years included within education generally will dilute the priority that has been placed on our sector, particularly at a time when the government sees pre-school education as a priority for reform and expansion," she adds.

However, Ofsted has played down the concerns. During an exchange on Twitter with London Early Years Foundation chief executive June O'Sullivan, Sean Harford described the sector as arriving at "unnecessary conclusions" and has offered to meet with organisations to allay their fears.

Although it is unlikely to hold back implementation of the common inspection framework, it appears that the early years sector is split over the government's methods for improving the transition between childcare and formal education.

Changes will improve the transition from childcare to mainstream education

By Natasha Porter, deputy head of education, Policy Exchange

Ofsted's move to align its quality assurance structures across early education, schools and further education means that all services that educate children are now expected to work to the same standards and follow the same procedure. This will hopefully create better continuation of provision for children as they move between different educational settings.

Ofsted has also removed the director of early education position, embedding the role into the remit of the national director of education instead.

This removal of structural divisions between early years and primary schools strengthens the single inspection framework and highlights the increased focus on quality of education in early years provision.

Standards of early education have been improving, and in July this year Ofsted reported that more than 80 per cent of settings have been identified as "good" or "outstanding".

This government has shown an unprecedented commitment to early years education by pledging to double free childcare hours for three and four-year-olds.

Nevertheless, there is still a stubborn achievement gap that exists between the most deprived and other areas, and more needs to be done to improve pre-school education for the most disadvantaged. Despite improvements in early years provision overall, children from low income backgrounds continue to start school behind their peers, and many never manage to catch up.

Research has shown that the achievement gap can be closed when disadvantaged children start education earlier and attend for longer hours.

The focus on early years provision is therefore not just about providing more child care hours for working parents, it is about raising standards of education to achieve social justice in the early years.

Improving communication between early education providers and primary schools is an important part of solving the achievement gap. Schools should continue to be encouraged to open their own nurseries, while existing private, voluntary and independent settings should be encouraged to build strong relationships with nearby primary schools. Smoothing the transition into the reception year is important, as moving settings to start school is often traumatic for vulnerable children.

Strong working partnerships between these settings also mean high quality graduate school teachers can develop educational expertise in the nursery workforce, and early years practitioners who frequently engage with primary schools have a better understanding of what being school-ready actually means.

Ofsted's changes help bridge early education and primary school provision. In the short term, this single oversight structure prioritises high quality preparation for school as a purpose of early education, alongside the sector's role as childminder for working parents.

It also establishes expectations that standards are consistently maintained across different education settings.

To ensure reliability of inspections, Ofsted must train its inspectors to understand how the single framework applies and to recognise the context they are inspecting.

Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said of early education: "Early years has the potential to drive social mobility for a whole new generation."

Ofsted's reforms focus on creating more continuity between early years and primary schools, and on closing the achievement gap before children arrive in reception, so that those who are at most risk of falling behind receive particular help as early as possible.

Loss of childcare lead is the next step towards 'schoolification' of the early years

By Neil Leitch, chief executive, Pre-school Learning Alliance

The Pre-school Learning Alliance has long called for a more consistent approach to inspections across the education system, and so, in theory, efforts to harmonise the inspection process for schools and early years providers are welcome. However, the recent decision by Ofsted to remove the standalone role of national director of early years is a real cause for concern.

Over recent years, we have seen a concerning shift towards a more schoolified approach to early years policy in both the Department for Education and Ofsted - chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has made no bones about his preference for school-based early years provision, openly supporting plans to make it easier for schools to take two-year-olds, and arguing earlier this year that "schools are best placed to tackle disadvantage".

Alongside this growing "school is best" narrative, there has been a marked increase in the emphasis on teaching in the early years (when Ofsted published a new early years inspection framework in November 2013, all references to quality of "practice" had been replaced with references to quality of "teaching").

This in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, especially as Ofsted has repeatedly stressed that "teaching should not be taken to imply a top-down or formal way of working".

But when you put this against the backdrop of other recent schoolifying early years policies (such as the aforementioned move to push more two-year-olds into schools and the introduction of formal assessments at the start of reception), it is understandable why many in the sector fear that the vital role of play in early learning is increasingly at risk of being undermined.

This is an issue that is quite particular to the early years - so the question is: will this, or can this, be given the appropriate level of attention within a general "education" department? The early years is a unique stage of education, and it is vital that this fact is not overlooked as a result of the new structure.

For all too long we have held the unenviable position of poor relation in terms of education in the eyes of Ofsted.

When the inspectorate announced that it was bringing school and college inspections in-house it stated that "inspection ... is just too important for Ofsted to simply have oversight of third-party arrangements", before immediately adding that early years inspections would continue to be outsourced to private contractors. And under the common inspection framework, schools (including maintained nursery schools), academies and further education providers judged as at least 'good' at their previous inspections will only have to undergo short inspections every three years to confirm that the previous grade was accurate, but this approach will not apply to private and voluntary early years providers.

In light of this, it is not unreasonable to question Ofsted's decision to absorb the former role of early years national director into a general education remit. This is not a comment on the abilities of the now national director of education Sean Harford, nor of Gill Jones, who remains in post as deputy director of early education.

But the fact remains that, at a time when there seems to be an increasing tendency to view the early years as "school-lite", it is more important than ever that we ensure Ofsted takes a tailored approach to the development of early years policy. Whether or not this can be achieved within a general education department remains to be seen.

OFSTED INSPECTION CHANGES

• The common inspection framework applies to all early years settings and schools
• It comes into effect from October 2015
• Private, voluntary and independent childcare providers will be given notice of half a day when a setting is to be inspected
• Efforts will be made to improve the complaints process, with "high-level scrutiny committees" set up in each Ofsted region to rule on how complaints are handled
• All Ofsted's schools and early years inspection work will now come under the remit of a national director for education