Memorandum submitted by Daycare Trust
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 The key points made by Daycare Trust
in its submission are as follows:
— Ofsted has made much progress in
a short time in its role inspecting early education and childcare.
— The period between inspections for
some childcare settings can stretch as far as four years. This
is too long to be sure that personnel changes have not altered
the quality of care in a setting.
— Ofsted should do more to promote
itself and its work in regulating childcare externally to parents.
Parents should be more engaged in the work of Ofsted through consultation.
— Daycare Trust would like to see Ofsted
inspectors ensure that all settings—including those providing
sessional care—ensure children have access to natural light
and outdoor play space.
— Daycare Trust would like to see Ofsted
expanded to bring nannies under a compulsory registration scheme
and not merely encouraged to register on a voluntary basis.
2. BRIEF INTRODUCTION
2.1 Daycare Trust is the national childcare
charity campaigning for high quality, accessible, affordable childcare
for parents and their children in Britain. It is the leading,
independent childcare think tank, supporting central government,
local authorities and practitioners with ideas and initiatives
to help the ongoing development of a high quality childcare system
in the UK. Daycare Trust speaks on behalf of parents and children,
particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
2.2 In accordance with its remit, within
this submission Daycare Trust will only be commenting on Ofsted's
work with regard to early years and childcare as the organisation
has only limited knowledge and experience of Ofsted's work in
inspecting schools.
3. EVIDENCE AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 Daycare Trust believes that the role
of Ofsted in inspecting early years and childcare settings is
vital and that the increased regulation of childcare aligned to
the National Standards has been instrumental in beginning to improve
quality across the childcare sector. It should be remembered that
Ofsted only assumed this role in relation to childcare as recently
as 2001 and that it has since achieved a remarkable rate of progress
in a relatively short time.
3.2 The principal concern of Daycare Trust
is whether Ofsted has the capacity to adequately police the national
standards at the optimum frequency. Currently some settings—those
rated as providing the highest standards of care—are only
inspected once in four years. However the high turnover of staff
in the sector, as well as a high incidence of management changes,
means that after four years it is perfectly feasible that the
entire ethos of a setting may have changed. Daycare Trust believes
that additional interim inspections should not only be triggered
by a change of the "registered person" (usually the
owner) of a setting, but also of the "registered manager"
who can be in many cases the key practical driver of policy and
practice within a setting. Daycare Trust would recommend that
Ofsted be allocated the resources to ensure that all childcare
settings are inspected to at least some degree on a regular—if
possible, annual—basis regardless of their present Ofsted
rating.
3.3 Daycare Trust believes there is a need
for Ofsted to do more to reach out to parents and promote the
work it does in relation to early years and childcare. Parents
and children indicate that quality is vital in childcare settings.
Research conducted by Daycare Trust[9]
shows that parents do consider a good report from Ofsted to be
one of the key quality indicators in choosing childcare, however
there is still currently low awareness among some parents of Ofsted's
role in relation to childcare. The Ofsted review of the Foundation
Stage also found that parents' involvement was an important influence
in promoting good achievement, particularly where parents were
treated as true partners. It is therefore crucial that Ofsted
inspections monitor the involvement of parents in childcare settings.
Inspections themselves should consider the views of parents and
inspection reports need to be in an easy to understand format
to enable parents to choose the right provision for their children.
3.4 Daycare Trust would like to see Ofsted
inspectors ensure that all settings—including those providing
sessional care—ensure children have access to natural light
and outdoor play space.
3.5 Daycare Trust would like to see Ofsted
expanded to bring nannies under a compulsory registration scheme
and not merely encouraged to register on a voluntary basis.
April 2008
9 Daycare Trust-Childcare Nation (2007). Back
| 
