The future for early years

1
The future for early years
Patrick Leeson Director, Education and Care 16
September 2011
2
Setting the scene

• The Government has recently published its vision
  for early years including consulting on a
  revised Early Years Foundation Stage
• We must use what we know to bring about
  improvement for young children, some of whom
  spend long hours in the care of people other than
  their parents.

3
The Governments vision

• Five areas important to families with children
  in the foundation years. These are
• a focus on child development
• parents and families at the heart of services
• the importance of intervening early
• a highly qualified and motivated workforce
• a new relationship between central government,
  commissioners and providers which frees
  professionals to do what they believe is best.

4
Main proposed changes to the Early Years
Foundation Stage (1)

• A stronger emphasis on three prime areas most
  essential for healthy development communication
  and language personal, social and emotional
  development, and physical development
• Four further specific areas literacy
  mathematics understanding the world expressive
  arts and design
• A new summary report for parents on their childs
  development between 24 and 36 months

5
Proposed changes (2)

• Simplifying the Early Years Foundation Stage
  Profile at age five
• Reducing the early learning goals from 69 to 17
• Strengthening of the partnerships between
  professionals and parents ensuring the new
  framework uses clear jargon free language
• Reducing bureaucracy and paperwork

6
Ofsteds role

• To register early years and childcare providers
  on the Early Years Register and/or Childcare
  Register
• To inspect settings that deliver the Early Years
  Foundation Stage and to inspect childrens
  centres
• To investigate where we receive information that
  registered providers do not meet the requirements
  
• To take action against those registered providers
  who do not meet requirements

7
What we know about the sector

• There were almost 95,800 providers registered on
  the Early Years and Childcare Registers at 30
  June 2011
• The majority of providers are on both the Early
  Years and the Childcare Register, caring for
  children from birth upwards
• The sector is characterised by a high level of
  turnover of providers, particularly childminders
  but not exclusively so
• The size of the sector is now levelling out
  following a fall in numbers but our evidence
  shows that 16 of leavers are judged as
  inadequate at inspection suggesting a combination
  of the EYFS and rigorous inspection is driving up
  improvement

8
Key findings Annual Report

• All types of provider can deliver the Early Years
  Foundation Stage well with maintained nursery
  schools doing best
• The proportion of good and outstanding early
  years provision is increasing, now 74
• Gap is narrowing between the most and least
  deprived areas for good and outstanding
  providers, from 19 to 16 for childminders, and
  from 12 to 10 for providers of childcare on
  non-domestic premises.
• Too many providers remain stubbornly
  satisfactory, between 50-60 improve between
  inspections

9
Key findings Annual Report

• The large majority of those found to be
  satisfactory are providing safe and caring
  environments where childrens welfare needs are
  generally well met and children make satisfactory
  progress towards the early learning goals.
• The particular areas for improvement identified
  regularly in inspection reports for providers
  judged satisfactory are more effective
  observation and assessment of childrens
  individual learning needs in order to plan for
  their next steps, the need to involve parents in
  their childrens learning, the need to support
  all aspects of childrens learning and
  development consistently well and the need to
  embed systems for evaluating their practice
  effectively.

10
Key findings Annual Report

• In terms of individual aspects of inspection,
  early years providers perform less well in
  relation to the effectiveness of their
  self-evaluation and their engagement with parents
  than in other areas inspected. However, in both
  these aspects of provision the percentage of
  providers judged good or outstanding has risen
  since last year.
• Providers perform better where they have a
  planned and systematic approach to childrens
  learning and development particularly in the
  areas of communication, language and literacy.

11
Supporting progress towards the early learning
goals

• Early Years Foundation Stage profile results have
  improved nationally since 2008. The proportion of
  children working securely in communication,
  language and literacy rose by six percentage
  points to 59 in 2010. In personal, social and
  emotional development the figure was 77, a rise
  of five percentage points.
• Ofsteds survey, The impact of the Early Years
  Foundation Stage, focused on the impact of these
  two early learning goals. Taken together, these
  form an important foundation from which children
  learn, develop and make progress in their lives.
  They were particularly identified in the Tickell
  review of the Early Years Foundation Stage as
  being two of the areas that are essential
  foundations for childrens learning and success.
  

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Key findings - Impact of the Early Years
Foundation Stage survey

• Distinction between care and education still not
  eliminated
• There are still some lower-performing groups who
  lag behind others
• Still issues in the delivery of some learning and
  development requirements
• Outcomes in childrens personal, social and
  emotional development are better in registered
  provision than those for communication, language
  and literacy whereas in schools they are similar
• Some issues relating to planning, assessment and
  self-evaluation

13
Features of outstanding practice

• Those providers submitting the optional
  self-evaluation form were more likely to be good
  or outstanding. Where reflective practice and
  self-evaluation is well-embedded it has a
  positive impact on outcomes for children
• The partnership with parents helps provide
  practitioners with information about childrens
  interests and abilities. Where there is a strong
  two-way partnership children are well place to
  continue their learning at home. Good providers
  use innovative ways of engaging with working
  parents including texts, emails and meetings at
  different times
• Outstanding providers know and plan for
  developing childrens speaking and listening
  skills, helping provide a good foundation for
  their future learning

14
The case for change

• Frameworks that align with our knowledge of the
  sector, the revised EYFS and government vision
• Frameworks that focus on messages from the three
  key reviews that shaped the governments vision
  including how providers
• equip all children for life and especially those
  who are deprived or otherwise disadvantaged
• assess childrens development and work with
  parents to secure appropriate early intervention
• keep children safe
• secure a well-trained workforce able to meet
  childrens needs

15
The timetable for change

• Consultation on the changes to the Early Years
  Foundation Stage closes 30 September 2011
• Consultation on revised frameworks for inspection
  and regulation between January and March 2012
• Piloting of new arrangements February to April
  2012
• Revised Early Years Foundation Stage published
  end March 2012
• Frameworks published and disseminated June and
  July 2012
• Early Years Foundation Stage and revised
  frameworks take effect September 2012

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Direction of travel

• Maintaining a robust approach to safeguarding
  through a registration process that includes
  checks, premises visits and interviews and a
  follow up inspection very soon after registration
  
• An inspection regime that targets and improves
  weaker settings, including more frequent
  inspection where we receive information about
  potential non-compliance with the Early Years
  Foundation Stage
• More self-regulation for providers to help them
  be flexible and responsive on the way they run
  their provision, for example through limiting the
  way we use of conditions of registration
• Providing more information for parents through
  accessible reports
• Expecting providers to reflect on and evaluate
  what they do to improve practice

17
What we intend to achieve (1)

• From September 2012 regulation will
• minimise risks to children so that they thrive in
  a safe environment when in registered early years
  provision
• allow more autonomy to providers to manage their
  own service alongside robust registration
  arrangements and continued rigorous enforcement
  for those who cannot or will not comply with
  requirements

18
What we intend to achieve (2)

• Inspection will
• focus on childrens progress
• consider the importance of a familys involvement
  with their childs provision  
• judge how well provision is enabling early
  intervention to support childrens identified
  needs
• assess whether childrens personal and emotional
  needs are met through an effective key worker
  system
• set actions and recommendations to secure
  improvement

19
Importance of high quality provision

• It is crucial to their future success that
  childrens earliest experiences help to build a
  secure foundation for learning and give them the
  best start in life
• A high quality early years experience provides a
  firm foundation on which to build future
  academic, social and emotional success
• Through inspection and regulation we will
  continue to improve outcomes for children
  through promoting high quality care, learning and
  development