A leading early years membership organisation, the Early Years Alliance, has called for the new inquiry into the education inspection system to be expanded to include the early years.
The ‘Beyond Ofsted’ inquiry, chaired by former schools minister Lord Jim Knight, describes itself as "an inquiry into the future of school inspection" and aims to set out an alternative framework for an inspection system “fit for the increasingly complex needs of schools”.
However, the inquiry currently makes no mention of education settings outside of the schools sector, including early years settings, which are also subject to Ofsted registration and inspection, and currently receive the same single-word Ofsted judgements as schools.
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: ‘Inspection should be about working collaboratively and supportively with education settings to ensure that children and young people receive the best possible quality of provision. However, we know that there are increasing concerns that under the current system, this is simply not the case and as such, it is absolutely right that questions are being asked about whether the existing inspection regime is fit for purpose.
