Alliance responds to Ofsted inspection announcement

29th May 2014

Commenting on Ofsted’s decision to bring the management of inspections for schools and further education institutions, but not early years providers, in-house from September 2015, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said:

“We are extremely disappointed that Ofsted has disregarded sector feedback and chosen not to bring early years inspections back in-house. It’s clear that there has been a steady decline in the quality of inspections since the outsourcing of this service in 2010; we have heard far too many reports of providers being visited by inspectors who possess little understanding of early years provision — and in some cases being unfairly graded as a result.

“That Ofsted has chosen to maintain the current flawed system of early years inspection, while at the same time bringing schools and further education inspections in-house, is particularly galling. Sir Michael has said that: ‘Inspection … is just too important for Ofsted to simply have oversight of third-party arrangements.’ Why, then, does this not apply to the early years? If outsourced inspections aren’t good enough for schools and further education institutions, then they aren’t good enough for early years providers. As such, we would urge Ofsted to reconsider its decision.”

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Notes for editors

  1. The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
  2. 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.
  3. For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website:

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