Alliance welcomes improvement in early years inspection outcomes
25th September 2014
The Pre-school Learning Alliance has welcomed the latest quarterly early years inspection statistics, published today, which reveal a marked improvement in outcomes for nurseries, pre-schools and childminders.
The figures show that 74% of early years providers inspected between April and June 2014 were judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, compared to 68% of those inspected in the previous quarter.
The statistics also reveal that the total number of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ providers, as judged at their most recent inspection, has increased by five percentage points to 79% since the end of the last inspection cycle (August 2012).
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said:
“We are pleased to see such a significant increase in the number of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ providers. These figures clearly demonstrate that, despite ongoing funding shortfalls and diminished local authority support, the vast majority of early years providers continue to deliver consistently high-quality learning opportunities to the children in their care.
“At a time when both government and °ϲʹ continue to extol the virtues of school-based early years provision, these statistics serve as a timely reminder of the value of the private, voluntary and independent sector, and the crucial role it plays in the delivery of quality, age-appropriate care and education.”
Neil also noted that the improvement in outcomes coincided with °ϲʹ’s decision to remove non-priority (30-day) complaint-driven early years inspections. Data previously obtained by the Alliance revealed that providers subject to complaint-driven inspections are almost twice as like to be downgraded as those inspected as part of the normal inspection cycle.
He said:
“It’s telling that this improvement in outcomes occurred in the same quarter as the removal of the 30-day complaint-driven inspection option. It will be interesting to see if this positive trend continues now that °ϲʹ has implemented this change permanently. We have long argued that these inspections were resulting in a disproportionately high number of poor judgements, and welcomed °ϲʹ’s decision to remove them.
“That said, we continue to receive concerns from providers about the conduct of early years inspectors, and the serious questions that have been asked about the fairness and consistency of the inspection process have yet to be adequately answered. As such, we would encourage °ϲʹ to continue to engage with the sector and accept that fundamental changes to the inspection system may be necessary to ensure that these issues are fully addressed.”
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Notes for editors
- According to the Early years and childcare registered providers inspections and outcomes April - June 2014 (provisional), of the early years providers inspected between April and June 2014:
- 7% were rated ‘outstanding’ (the same as the previous quarter)
- 67% were rated ‘good’ (up from 61% the previous quater)
- 18% ‘requires improvement’ (down from 21%)
- 8% ‘inadequate (down from 11%).
ABOUT THE ALLIANCE:
- The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
- Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
- For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website: