Childminders to be monitored by `Oftot' inspectors

EVERY CHILDMINDER in the country is to be visited by government inspectors as part of a campaign on standards of child care, Chris Woodhead said yesterday.

The chief inspector of schools said extra inspectors could be deployed by the nurseries arm of the education standards agency Ofsted, known as "Oftot", to make sure all childminders were checked.

But childminders warned that if new education standards for the under- fives were imposed by Mr Woodhead, it would increase the exodus from a profession in which many are already leaving their jobs over safety regulations.

Mr Woodhead conceded that the logistics of the exercise would be "complicated and daunting. What we will have to do is visit each and every setting where a childminder has got children under her or his responsibility," he said.

But he added: "That is the long and short of it. However difficult geographically and logistically it is to do, it will have to be done because parents and everybody must be absolutely confident that their [children's] security is as good as it can be."

Some registered childminders fear that `Oftot' will begin to impose educational standards in addition to the wide range of safety measures, such as stairgates, fire blankets and cooker guards, that local authorities have ordered to be fitted in their homes.

"A lot of people are stopping childminding because of all the regulations. If Ofsted gets involved, there will be more education brought into it as they have done with nurseries," said one childminder in East Sussex, who teaches children from ten weeks old to five years through play.

Childminders are vital to the Government's drive to persuade more women, particularly single mothers, to go out to work.

Currently local authority social service inspectors check on safety, while Ofsted assesses quality of education. The new body will take over both responsibilities, as well as making safety checks on registered childminders.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the Parliamentary under- secretary of state for health who is responsible for the Bill, hinted in a recent debate that education could become part of future childminding regulations "We recognise that for young people the line between care and education is becoming increasingly blurred. Given this, reform of the regulatory regime for day care and childminding is important."

The Bill was attacked by the Tory spokesman, Earl Howe, as `prescriptiveness gone mad'.

Margaret Hodge, the minister responsible for early years education, announced last month that she wanted to see more structure in the education of children as young as three.

The "Oftot" inspectors will monitor a new programme of early learning goals, which make up a foundation stage of the national curriculum.

The aim of the Bill, which has had a second reading in the Lords, is to impose new statutory checks on homes for children and the elderly, in response to a series of scandals about institutionalised abuse.

Mr Woodhead has encountered bitter criticism from teachers over the imposition of Ofsted checks on teaching standards and the national curriculum. He is being handed responsibility for Britain's childminders under the Government's Care Standards Bill, which will establish a new arm of Ofsted to oversee childminders and early learning.

The chief inspector of schools confirmed that the moves could mean switching resources and leaving good schools under "light touch" inspection every six years. He said: "I see no point in over-inspecting schools which are clearly doing a good job."