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Ofsted Inspection Reports in Early Childhood Education Settings Narrowly Focussed: A Corpus and Sentiment Analysis

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Title: Ofsted Inspection Reports in Early Childhood Education Settings Narrowly Focussed: A Corpus and Sentiment Analysis
Language: English
Authors: Susana Castro-Kemp (ORCID 0000-0002-9838-7316), Peter Kemp
Source: Journal of Early Childhood Research. 2025 23(2):197-211.
Availability: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 15
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Descriptors: Inspection, Early Childhood Education, Child Development, Educational Quality, Quality Assurance, Decision Making, Computational Linguistics, Teaching Methods, School Readiness, Outcomes of Education, Reports, Program Evaluation, Foreign Countries
Geographic Terms: United Kingdom (England)
DOI: 10.1177/1476718X241306859
ISSN: 1476-718X
1741-2927
Abstract: High-quality early childhood education is key for children's positive and long-term outcomes. Countries differ on how they quality assure provision. In England, Ofsted is the independent inspection body, often the source of controversy for lack of transparency in ratings. However, there is a dearth of evidence on how inspectors' judgements are made, particularly in the early years sector. This study examines the consistency and nature of individual judgements in Ofsted reports, through an in-depth corpus analysis of inspection reports for non-domestic early years providers (nurseries and preschools) in England. It is the first to analyse the extent to which inspections focus on well-regarded understandings of high-quality early childhood pedagogy and provides an appraisal of the affective tone of the reports, using sentiment analysis. Results show that inspectors are fairly consistent, with similar high frequent terms present across reports, but the inspection focus may be too limited in scope. There is an over-emphasis on school readiness based on outcomes of older children, without clear references to the participation and engagement of younger children and process variables. A more positive tone in the reports is more frequent in high-quality rated settings, except for the section describing children's outcomes, the shortest across reports.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1471872
Database: ERIC
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Susana+Castro-Kemp%22">Susana Castro-Kemp</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9838-7316">0000-0002-9838-7316</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Peter+Kemp%22">Peter Kemp</searchLink>
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  Data: SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: https://sagepub.com
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  Data: 10.1177/1476718X241306859
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  Data: High-quality early childhood education is key for children's positive and long-term outcomes. Countries differ on how they quality assure provision. In England, Ofsted is the independent inspection body, often the source of controversy for lack of transparency in ratings. However, there is a dearth of evidence on how inspectors' judgements are made, particularly in the early years sector. This study examines the consistency and nature of individual judgements in Ofsted reports, through an in-depth corpus analysis of inspection reports for non-domestic early years providers (nurseries and preschools) in England. It is the first to analyse the extent to which inspections focus on well-regarded understandings of high-quality early childhood pedagogy and provides an appraisal of the affective tone of the reports, using sentiment analysis. Results show that inspectors are fairly consistent, with similar high frequent terms present across reports, but the inspection focus may be too limited in scope. There is an over-emphasis on school readiness based on outcomes of older children, without clear references to the participation and engagement of younger children and process variables. A more positive tone in the reports is more frequent in high-quality rated settings, except for the section describing children's outcomes, the shortest across reports.
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  Data: 2025
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        Value: 10.1177/1476718X241306859
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      – Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Inspection
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      – SubjectFull: Early Childhood Education
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      – SubjectFull: Child Development
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      – SubjectFull: Computational Linguistics
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      – SubjectFull: Teaching Methods
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      – SubjectFull: School Readiness
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      – SubjectFull: Outcomes of Education
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      – SubjectFull: Program Evaluation
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