Nursery World has been speaking to some settings that have just been inspected under the new Education Inspection Framework (EIF), and while the findings can’t be seen as scientific, they are nevertheless interesting and revealing.
Principally, Ofsted inspectors are doing what was flagged up from the get-go on the new EIF: focusing less on paperwork and more on observing what is happening on the day.
Inspectors are reported to have spent considerable time observing how learning is being supported. They have spoken to many of the practitioners, and their main question has always been: ‘Why are you doing this?’
This is a big ask, particularly of less experienced practitioners. It requires an understanding of the three elements of the ‘Quality of education’ judgement: Intent (curriculum), Implementation (incorporating pedagogy) and Impact (outcomes). Essentially, it means that practitioners need to understand what they want children to learn, how that learning develops and how they, as early years professionals, will provide progression and challenge in that learning.
More guidance, in a revised Development Matters, is on the way – and more information on what makes an early years curriculum is to be welcomed. However, as we have seen over the years, no amount of guidance can compensate for practitioners’ lack of training and underpinning knowledge of child development and early years pedagogy.
Inspectors also seem to be focusing on how settings are developing a love of reading in young children. I will be interested to see how this develops. A narrow focus on literacy at the expense of broad experiences has long dismayed practitioners and it would be a great pity if this remained when there is now more scope to embrace and articulate to inspectors the importance of a rich and challenging early years curriculum.