Childcare standards falling, Ofsted

[jelleybabe]

I saw this on the news page on aol, what do you all think?

Childcare standards falling, Ofsted

Some toddlers are being abandoned to cry on their own and exposed to racism in nurseries amid a fall in standards of childcare in England, inspectors have warned.

About 125,000 children are being left with childminders and nurseries that are no better than satisfactory, Ofsted said in a new report. But while most nurseries and playgroups offer good quality childcare, hundreds of parents have complained that their children are being treated badly.

And some centres fail to teach children the difference between right and wrong, leading to poor behaviour.

For overall care, the proportion of groups judged good or better - including childminders, creches, nurseries and school centres - fell from 61% last year to 57% this year.

Ofsted's chief inspector Christine Gilbert stressed that there had been "many improvements".

"But where provision is inadequate we will continue to monitor those providers and take enforcement action where necessary," she said.

The report, Getting on Well: Enjoying, Achieving and Contributing, was based on inspections of 27,200 childcare organisations between April 2006 and March this year.

It said about one in 12 creches were judged "inadequate". And 7% of extended schools - which run after school clubs and childcare - were also rated "inadequate", despite a major drive from ministers to set up more.

Nearly 1,000 complaints were received from parents, according to the report. Ofsted said these complaints included a baby being left to cry and the baby's emotional needs not being met, as well as a child made to sit alone for a long time while others were allowed to play.

Children ordered to remain silent for long periods also generated gave rise to complaint, as did childminders using racially-abusive language and displaying aggressive behaviour towards children. In one case, a member of staff attempted to take a child home, without the parent's consent.

Falling or just now being more aware of it happening than in the past...with parents reporting it more or being more aware, or as in some cases complaining about something which did not hold up when investigated...get a few of those ourselves......do all these all get logged and added to number of complaints made even if not upheld.

[cabin]

Sadly I feel this is a sign of the 'economic' times.... many parents have no option but to return to work - high mortgages and a 'I want it all - and now' attitude to material possessions - including children! This leaves a big gap in the market for childcare providers, sadly many of them ~ not the kind that take time, (their own) to read sites like this and develop good practice ~ but money making businesses, I worked in one for a VERY short time! Most of the staff were very young, and spend much of their time talking about their social life ot tv, and if I'm honest who can blame them when you saw how much they were paid!!
xxx

i agree with the above. do the parents realise the dedication of staff,on low salaries. I left childcare 3 years ago ,after40 plus years and my highest salary in a senior post was £6.50.The present national minimum wage is now over £5 and that is with out any experience or let alone qualifications.Most parents now a days use childcare as a dumping ground. Do anything right for the child and what thanks or praise do you get.Do a minor thing wrong and they are all out to sue you.I agree I've got away from the point but how many parents,carers etc. write to Ofsted etc.to praise the good work.Most of the people I know take work home as the have no time to do it at work .If they did the children would be neglected. I agree there needs to be rules and regs but does anyone agree they are taking freedom of choice out of the lives of children .Let alone not being able to enjoy their childhood.Sorry to go on but this is a subject that more than annoys me

[Air]

Ahhh...what an interesting topic for discussion...one I am very passionate about...
Some interesting points to consider...
Denmark is considered the best practice in Europe for early years..in terms of quality of training, the pre-school care system in Denmark, which covers up to age seven, is as follows-
All staff are graduates and properly trained(?!), and on average they earn only about 10 per cent. less than qualified teachers....surely this is it should be?
However pay and training in the UK are worst in respect of the ages of nought to three, five and eight!!
There is a national shortage of child minders, is the shortage associated with increasing demands on child minders to register, to attend courses and conferences and to obtain qualifications?
Is a shortage that is based on such causes more beneficial, even if it leads to fewer places for youngsters, than providing more places with less qualified child minders would be?
Should we be worried about the bureaucratisation of the profession?
Surely the Government needs to ensure that early years staff are sufficiently well trained, paid and motivated to encourage more high-quality people—men and women—to come into the sector?
And these professionals should, like teachers, have access to professional development as of right....otherwise, how can the UK ensure that it can develop—and, more importantly, maintain—the diverse, innovative and effective early years sector that the UK so badly needs?
I will get off my :soapbox:...
Air
x

Standards are very wide ranging across the sector, some of it is down to poor leadership, corner cutting or just the basic training practitioners recieve

But i agree there is a lot of provision that is questionable in terms of good practice. I visit a lot of settings with the aim of supporting them to deliver quality of care and quite honestly a lot of staff don't have the depth of knowledge to deliver this - not their fault in all cases.

I agree with the comment of poor pay and can say that the schools pay better and they snap up all the good staff - you cant blame the staff for looking at better pay

However on the other hand some settings are excellent

One of my responsibilities for the near future is to develop ways of educating parents what to look for when they choose childcare - hopefully this will mean that the poor setting will not get the children or they will have to look at ways of moving forward to deliver the quality that the children in their care deserve

[Bev 06]

Originally Posted by Patsy

i agree with the above. do the parents realise the dedication of staff,on low salaries. I left childcare 3 years ago ,after40 plus years and my highest salary in a senior post was £6.50.The present national minimum wage is now over £5 and that is with out any experience or let alone qualifications.Most parents now a days use childcare as a dumping ground. Do anything right for the child and what thanks or praise do you get.Do a minor thing wrong and they are all out to sue you.I agree I've got away from the point but how many parents,carers etc. write to Ofsted etc.to praise the good work.Most of the people I know take work home as the have no time to do it at work .If they did the children would be neglected. I agree there needs to be rules and regs but does anyone agree they are taking freedom of choice out of the lives of children .Let alone not being able to enjoy their childhood.Sorry to go on but this is a subject that more than annoys me

LOL well I think most people would agree with you Patsy. The Early Years sector is haemoraging good staff on a daily basis because the expectations put onto staff are increasing and the wages seem to be fairly static.

I think if the government really mean to achieve everything laid down in their 10 year strategy they are going to have to address this problem sooner rather than later. We have an industry that is full of dedicated professional staff who will go the extra mile because they see their job as a vocation, but there are also those who believe that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys so they will just ape around.

A bit of a soap box for me too Patsy because as a Development officer I am witnessing excellent staff leaving the profession and wasting valuable skills in factories or shops because it pays better money with a fraction of the responsibility. Such a shame
Take care
bev