Ofsted has today published a series of reports looking at how the pandemic continues to impact on children and students’ learning and personal development, and the approaches education providers are using to help them catch up.
The three reports, which follow on from Ofsted’s autumn 2020 series of COVID-19-themed briefings, look at the findings of 214 routine inspections, from early years through to post-16 education, carried out this term.
The Ofsted education recovery in early years providers autumn report briefing draws together evidence from a sample of routine inspections completed this term.
Describing the ‘picture overall', the Education recovery in early years providers: autumn report said, ‘We recognise the continuing challenges that the pandemic presents to early years providers, and the immense amount of time that providers and parents continue to dedicate to supporting England’s youngest children to learn and develop in very different and uncertain times.
‘Much early years provision has been open since June 2020, including during the national lockdown at the start of 2021. Although this has provided continuity for children, it has not been without its challenges for providers and parents alike. We have amended our inspection handbook to reflect that our inspectors will take this into account.’
Providers identified that the key areas where children had fallen behind were the three prime areas of learning - communication and language, PSED, and physical development - 'with children aged two to three not where children of this age would normally have been pre-pandemic.' Some providers had prioritised these areas of learning for the first half term of the school year for this age group.
The Education recovery in early years providers: autumn report findings are based on evidence collected during inspections of 77 early years providers between 1 and 19 November 2021. This included 39 childminders and 38 nurseries, from across England. This is around 13 per cent of all early years inspection carried out during this time.
Ofsted said that, ‘Despite most early years provision remaining open since June 2020, many childcare providers reported that young children are behind with their communication, language and social skills, as well as their physical development. This was particularly true for children born during the pandemic, or who had spent most of their lives in it, which staff attributed to their lack of opportunity to socialise with other children.
‘To bridge gaps in learning and development, many child carers told inspectors that they are focusing on developing children’s communication and language skills; providing more opportunities for children to interact with each other to build on their social and emotional skills; and helping their physical development - particularly for those who did not have access to outdoor space during lockdowns - by adapting their outside play areas.’
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said, ‘Since the evidence was gathered for this report in autumn, we have seen the numbers of cases shoot up rapidly in the community and that is now seriously impacting nurseries.
‘This report from a small sample of inspections in November highlights the challenges still being experienced by our young children and the providers who are supporting their development and learning. Despite the pandemic conditions, nurseries are carrying out innovative and dedicated work and really making a difference for our children.
‘This really underlines the importance of early years within any educational recovery plans. We must place the sector at the centre of educational recovery spending in order for practitioners to continue this vital role.
‘Unfortunately we are heading into another difficult time of uncertainty during which the wellbeing of children and early years staff is paramount. We welcome the fact that inspections have been paused, but when they resume it’s important that inspectors take the huge challenges settings are facing into account and evaluate settings fairly.’
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said, ‘We know that the pandemic has had a significant effect on the learning and development of young children, many of whom have spent the majority of their lives under some form of Covid-19 restrictions.
'As such, it is encouraging to see that early educators’ efforts to do all they can to support the children in their care to recover from the challenges of the past two years is having such a positive impact.
‘That said, with the long-term effects of Covid-19 restrictions on young children still yet to be fully known, and many of those children impacted by the pandemic yet to attend an early years setting, it’s clear that the challenges facing the early years sector when it comes to supporting education recovery are far from over.
Leitch added that just 3 per cent of overall education recovery programme funding has been allocated to the early years.
'Providers are working hard to uphold their responsibilities to children and families – the government must now uphold theirs to the sector by providing the support that providers need to deliver the best possible care and education throughout the pandemic and beyond,' he said.
- Ofsted’s series of COVID-19-themed briefings with findings from research interviews with early years providers in the autumn term 2020 are available here
