Opinion

Alarm over Ofsted data delay

An investigation by the Pre-school Learning Alliance has revealed severe delays in the publication of hundreds of early years inspections.

Alliance analysis of Ofsted data has revealed that one in ten early years providers inspected during the most recent inspection period (July - October 2013) were rated ‘inadequate’.

The statistics themselves are worrying enough (prior to the introduction of the new Ofsted framework in September 2012, that figure stood at just 3 per cent) but perhaps more alarming is that fact that very few in the sector will be aware of these statistics – because Ofsted has decided not to publish an inspection outcomes report for this period.

At a time when Ofsted is being roundly criticised for poor transparency, and sector confidence in the integrity of the early years inspection framework is at an all-time low, it’s difficult to understand why the inspectorate would think it appropriate to withhold inspection statistics – particularly figures that show that the number of ‘inadequate’ early years providers have reached an all-time high.

The only way to access this data is to trawl through a dense spreadsheet of more than 17,000 inspections, and manually extract the relevant records from the relevant time period – is this really what Ofsted is expecting busy practitioners to do? The inspectorate says that it ‘supports greater transparency of public information’ but its actions simply do not support this claim. The fact that it hasn’t felt it necessary to provide an explanation as to why these statistics have not been released in accordance with its regular publication schedule is of great concern.

We are now a situation where serious concerns are being raised about the entire early years inspection infrastructure: the fairness and consistency of inspections themselves, the lack of transparency of the quality assurance process, growing delays in the publication of inspection reports, and the comprehensiveness of official Ofsted data. These are all concerns that Ofsted must address if there is to be any chance of faith in the inspectorate being restored.

We are keen to work in partnership with Ofsted to ensure that the sector’s concerns are fully addressed and that, going forward, we have an inspection framework and process in which we can be fully confident.

To this end, we are currently in discussions with Schools Minister David Laws to arrange a meeting with both himself and Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw in order to discuss the ongoing issues surrounding early years inspections. This will be an ideal opportunity to ensure that the sector’s views and concerns are heard and taken seriously, and that any questions over the effectiveness of the current inspection infrastructure are adequately answered.

Neil Leitch, chief executive, Pre-school Learning Alliance