Today (3 September) Ofsted has published the results of its Big Listen consultation, marking the “beginning of a new chapter”. The inspectorate in England has announced a number of changes aiming to reduce pressure on education settings, improve relationships with the sector and ensure high quality provision for children.

What is changing?

You can read the full breakdown of proposed changes here, including yesterday’s landmark announcement of the removal of ‘single headline grades’.

For the early years, Ofsted will also:

• Consult on introducing “report cards” to give parents and carers more nuanced and descriptive reporting about providers.
• Use its ‘Best start in life’ research to “emphasise the importance of communication, language and numeracy in our inspections and regulation”
• Introduce a new flexible early years inspection framework take into account the different characteristics of settings.
• Make registration more streamlined, with a focus on meeting demand for places as the expansion of funded entitlements rolls out.
• Introduce an “Ofsted Academy” to improve training for inspectors.

Ofsted’s Big Listen had 16,033 respondents with just over half of these answering the questions on early years. Thank you to the PACEY members who took time to contribute to the Big Listen.  PACEY is working closely with the Department for Education and Ofsted on the proposed changes, and we will keep members informed of timings once this is confirmed.

Helen Donohoe, PACEY Chief Executive comments:

“Having met with Minister Morgan to discuss the changes in Ofsted reporting and the results of the Big Listen I feel confident that if we continue in the spirit of cooperation, with the DfE and Ofsted working alongside and listening to our sector, then the proposed changes can be really positive. Our members want to see consistency and proportionality with inspections and a real understanding of how the parts of our sector work from day to day and we’ll continue to reflect that in our representations to government.”