4 Reasons Why Childcare Has to Improve

According to the latest results released by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (or OFSTED) 4% of childminders, nurseries and creche facilities were deemed as inadequate for inspections carried out between April 2006 and March 2007.

The good news of course is that 96% of childcare providers inspected were deemed as adequate or better with 3% rated as outstanding, 54% good and 39% satisfactory.

However for the 4% of childcare providers in the Getting on Well: Enjoying, Achieving and Contributing report who were judged to provide inadequate childcare some of the reasons citied for their rating included:

1. Insufficient range of toys and activities, so that children wander aimlessly

2. Adults with lack of knowledge of how to guide children's learning

3. Lack of regular observation

4. Lack of opportunities to engage children's interest

5. Poorly-organised environment

Another piece of good news from the report seems to be that once a childcare facility has been rated as inadequate steps are often put in place to bring it up to a satisfactory standard. This is highlighted by the fact that inspectors returned to almost 300 childcare providers who were previously deemed as unsatisfactory and upon re-inspection 85% of these had improved.

Clearly however the bad news is that 4% is 4% too many when it comes to inadequate childcare and therefore OFSTED, the Government and Childcare providers are working together to make sure standards improve.

The fact is most childcare facilities are run extremely well with hard working, dedicated and totally professional staff who love what they do and are good at their job. For the 4% of nurseries, childminders and crèches who remain unsatisfactory lessons could certainly be learnt from the vast majority who do such an excellent job in educating and looking after our children.

And for the good of our society as a whole it is imperative that standards amongst carers and educators of children continue to improve. This is because research shows that there is in many cases a direct link between high quality early years learning and care and improved intellectual, social and behavioural development in the future.

Mark Burdett, Marketing Manager of The UK Nursery Insurance Brokers Northern Counties had this to say about OFSTED’s latest results, “We provide Nursery Insurance and other types of Business Insurance to many different types of childcare providers and what strikes me most is how hard people in the childcare industry actually work. It is clear that if 4% of childcare providers aren’t meeting certain standards then improvements will need to be made but I don’t think the vast majority of parents should feel the need to unduly worry as the childcare facilities in the UK are amongst, if not the, best in the world.”

Mark went on to add, “Northern Counties provide protection and peace of mind in the form of Nursery Insurance and I know the vast majority of childcare providers are also doing all they can to make sure the children in their care are happy, safe and develop in the right way.”