Failing nurseries and pre-schools are to face closure if they do not rapidly improve in a shake-up of standards, the head of Ofsted announced today.
Under a major shake-up of early years inspections those that fail to raise their game will have their registration cancelled, said Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw.
The move could affect thousands of nurseries and pre-schools currently caring for young children in England.
Standards: Ofsted's chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has announced a shake-up at thousands of nurseries and pre-schools
Sir Michael also raised fresh concerns about qualifications among those working with babies and toddlers, saying it is an 'absolute nonsense' that more exams are needed to work with animals than young children.
He announced that from September, Ofsted will only consider a rating of good or outstanding to be acceptable for nurseries and pre-schools.
The 'satisfactory' judgment will be scrapped and replaced by 'requires improvement' - a change already made to school inspections in England.
Nurseries and pre-schools which are judged to 'require improvement' will face more inspections and have up to four years to raise standards.
If they are not rated 'good' after two inspections they are expected to be considered 'inadequate'.
And 'inadequate' nurseries and pre-schools that fail to improve will face having their registration cancelled, effectively closing them down.
The move comes amid concerns of the inspectorate that many pre-school children do not have access to good childcare.
'No one thinks they should be allowed to languish in their inadequacy,' he said.
'I wouldn’t have wanted my child to go to an inadequate nursery and I don’t believe that any other parent would either - so we’re going to be less tolerant.'
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'They will have four years to become good,' Sir Michael said in a speech this morning.
'Four years is a long time in a child's life. If they haven't improved by then, they are likely to be judged inadequate and we are going to recommend closure and de-registration.'
He added that Ofsted is examining how it can cancel the registrations of under-performing nurseries and pre-schools more swiftly.
Improve: Sir Michael Wilshaw said it was 'absolute nonsense' that people caring for animals need more exams than those looking after children
Sir Michael said that one of the biggest problems with early years education is that too many of the workforce are under-qualified.
'We simply must get better qualified people working in the right areas in this sector,' he said.
Those working with pre-school children should have at least a Level 3 qualification - equivalent to A-levels, he suggested.
Checks: Inspectors will visit thousands of places offering pre-school and nursery care for children in England
He added: 'We demand more in terms of qualifications from those who want to work with animals.'
Would-be veterinary assistants need to have five good GCSEs, it was suggested.
'There is not that same insistence in this sector and that’s an absolute nonsense,' Sir Michael said.
Ofsted figures show that as of the end of August last year, up to 243,400 children were being cared for by nurseries, childminders and pre-schools that were not yet considered good.
More than two fifths of early years educators were judged no better than satisfactory at their last two inspections, and over one in 10 had dropped a grade, according to the watchdog's annual report, published in November.
Ofsted says it is still considering plans for inspection of childminder agencies, and is not yet making proposals about early re-inspection of childminders.
Graduates: Childcare Miinister Elizabeth Truss has called on pre-schools and nurseries to hire graduate teachers which would allow them to care for and teach more children
In a separate speech today, Childcare Minister Elizabeth Truss called for more nurseries and pre-schools to hire graduate teachers, which would allow them to care for and teach more youngsters.
Teachers can teach up to 13 children aged three and four years, but this falls to one adult for every eight children if a teacher is not present, the Department for Education said.
'At every age we have studied, there is a benefit to involving graduates in education, and particularly so for pre-school age children,' Miss Truss said.