‘R’ is ‘Rebecca’ for FSF ‘J’ is Justine, inspector IH is the inspection handbook SF is the statutory framework [We refer to ‘manager’ throughout the conversation – this is whoever is doing the joint observation – it doesn’t have to be a manager; any nominated senior member of staff can do the joint observation] R: So tell me about the joint observation J: When I have the initial notification call I always remind the manager (or whoever it is I am talking to) about the joint observation because this is one of the new aspects that came in with the new inspection framework. So generally people had never done it before. I always remind them to have a look at the IH (p17, paras 69–72) as this sets out clearly what the joint observation is and what it is for. Then, when I arrive in the morning I talk about it again and check that they have understood what they have read in the IH. When we have our chat, right at the beginning of the inspection, I always explain the joint observation carefully. I say to the manager ‘you can choose who you would like us to observe together. Maybe choose someone who isn’t completely terrified … maybe choose someone who you have been working with trying to bring on an aspect of their practice … maybe choose someone who is going to be working with a particular child for whom there are particular strategies in place’ – I want the manager to understand that the observation is about them as a manager, not about who we are observing. I will have made my own evaluation of the staff practice during my own observations, separately from the joint observation. Through the joint observation I want to know how well the manager supports the staff to develop their practice. Do they recognise good / strong practice – how do they benchmark the quality of their staff? do they use the judgements descriptors at the back of the inspection handbook to match what they are seeing with overall quality judgements? Do they have a different way of moderating staff practice- peers obs for example? I want to know if the practice is not strong what are they going to do about it? How are they going to support that member of staff? If they have had recent training can the manager identify the impact of the training on the quality of the teaching? If the practice is already really strong – ie. meeting the ‘Good / Outstanding’ criteria – how is the manager celebrating this and using this to motivate and challenge other staff? – are they encouraging team teaching or peer support or is the practitioner working with colleagues in other settings for example? The joint observation is about the leadership of the setting, it’s really useful for telling me whether the manager / leaders understand their role and responsibilities. It also tells me a lot about the settings’ capacity to identify areas for improvement and then act upon their findings. I will also tell the manager, when we are discussing the joint observation, that if I would like to do another one I will ask them. I might ask to do another one if I want the manager to see some practice that I think is particularly strong or particularly weak – if we have shared an observation in this way we can look together at the grade descriptors and see where the judgement of the observation fits. Sometimes this helps bring clarity to the manager’s self-evaluation – if they see how I, as an inspector, use the document they can use it in a similar way to plan progress. R: Are all joint observations the same? J: I know that different inspectors do the joint observation in slightly different ways. Personally, I always watch with the manager and then talk about what we have seen later. Other inspectors watch with the manager and then observe them feeding back to the member of staff. We always say thank you to the member of staff but we don’t give formal feedback on what we’ve seen. I always ask the manager / leader how she intends to feedback and I make sure that she thanks them again on my behalf. R: How does it work with childminders who are working on their own? J: With childminder’s it’s slightly different because they can’t watch themselves! If they have an assistant, we can do the joint observation as if it was in a larger setting. If the childminder is working on their own I ask them to choose an activity that they have planned for the day and then I ask them to verbalise what they are thinking, and why they are doing what they are doing. If they have had any recent training I would ask them to talk about how they are using what they have learnt to improve their teaching and if there are still gaps in their professional knowledge and understanding where they might go to improve their skills. With all joint observations I am looking to see how well they (the manager or the childminder) recognises the impact of teaching on children’s’ learning. Without this recognition provisions can’t move forward. R: Some of our members have said that the inspector has needed to talk to them on their own and they have struggled with this because they have included themselves in the ratios for the session. What are the rules on this? J: If the manager is needed in the ratios I can do the joint observation sitting beside them whilst they observe and work with a group – this has worked before when staff have brought the manager’s group of children in with another practitioner so that they kind of ‘double up’ for the joint observation – it only takes 10-15 minutes to do the observation and we can talk about it later at a more convenient time. That’s one of the benefits of the notification call – if managers know I am coming they can usually plan time to meet and go through the ‘leadership and management’ aspects of the inspection. There’s absolutely no obligation for them to be ‘supernumerary’ but some of them choose to be. If we can’t talk to them when the children are there we always know this in advance (through the notification call) and we plan to stay later, after the children have gone so that managers get their chance to talk properly. R: That’s great, thank you for clarifying. Can I ask you about the ‘Leadership and Management’ meeting now please? J: Of course. This is a really important aspect of the inspection because it helps me judge the quality of the leaders and managers of the setting. As is made clear in the IH (p32, para 150) I am looking to gather evidence that allows me to make an accurate judgement against the descriptors listed for leadership and management (L+M) (p33/34). Not all my evidence will come from the L+M meeting. I will look at documents, talk to staff and parents and observe children in the setting to see how well the setting is being run. If there is a SEF I will have read that before the inspection and that can give me a very strong idea of the quality of the L+M at the setting. R: What if there isn’t a SEF? J: L+M need to be reviewing and reflecting on their practise to ensure that they continue to meet the requirements of the EYFS (SF p20, para3.20) but we don’t require them to complete the SEF in any particular format. If there is a different format it is always helpful to have it at the beginning of the inspection – if I haven’t got the SEF I do always ask if there is anything else I can read right at the beginning of the inspection – I can tell so much from seeing where the L+M think they are and how this measures against my own judgements. If L+M are using the grade descriptors it makes it much easier for me! R: What other evidence might you look at? J: I can see from the staffing records whether the safeguarding procedures are robust in terms of recruitment. I can also see that staff have appropriate qualifications and have CRB/DBS checks. Lots of settings give me a huge pile of documents and I will always check the key ones, I will only go into the other ones if I have further questions or I need to ‘dig a little bit deeper’. [note: we discussed documents in a previous conversation. You can access that here]. During my observations in the morning I will have made judgements and assessments of what I have seen – I will use the L+M meeting to clear up any queries or questions that I might have about how the setting is run. R: What happens in the actual meeting? J: I will be using the IH descriptors about L+M and I will be checking that I have enough evidence to secure my judgement so it depends where I feel that I need more clarification – that will be where my focus will start. I am also really keen that the L+M’s are able to ‘showcase’ things they are proud of so I always ask about things they feel have worked really well and demonstrate what they perceive to be their best practice. R: What about when L+M are really nervous and can’t remember things under pressure? J: Often L+M have made an ‘Ofsted folder’ in readiness for this meeting and this helps them to focus on what they want to say R: Can they do that? J: Absolutely – I will have loads of papers out and folders and my laptop! They can have as much as they need to. We are all very experienced in Early Years, we cannot be inspectors without having had a high level Early Years background and we can ‘see through’ situations where everything is written on paper but it isn’t happening in practice. So if the L+M has a folder to remind them what they want to say we will go and check out that these are the things that are happening ‘on the floor’. For example, if L+M tell me about involved induction, appraisal and supervision systems that are in place I will ask to see notes of those meetings and then I will go and ask the relevant staff members to tell me about them. We always secure our evidence very carefully ie. we observe something and then we talk about it. Or we are told something and then we go and observe it or talk to someone else to make sure we have understood fully. I have a series of questions that I use as a guide for me, so that I don’t miss anything – I might not ask them all because some of them I will have seen as a observe the sessions and also as I talk to staff and parents. It’s an aide memoire for me really. R: Can we see that list?! J: Sure, the questions are the L+M grade descriptors turned into questions – they’re here R: Thank you. We’ve had several conversations over the last few weeks and what I’m getting from you is that you are using the IH all the time and that if providers use it as part of their management process the inspection will be a lot more straightforward and less of an ‘unknown’. J: Absolutely, if L+M are confident with the IH and the grade descriptors contained within it they will be well-prepared for their inspection and will understand what the inspector is expecting to see ‘on the day’ R: That’s great thankyou
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