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The purpose of this study is to explore whether performance indicators in children’s services can be used to predict the outcome of Ofsted inspections. Every local authority in England is inspected by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, children’s services and skills) and given a single, overall rating – outstanding, good, requirements improvement or inadequate. These ratings carry immense significance. Persistently inadequate authorities are liable to have legal responsibility for providing services outsourced to another organisation. Ofsted have been criticised in the past for focusing too much on procedure, and previous research has highlighted the importance of deprivation and spending levels. In this paper, we describe a new study using more recent Ofsted and local authority data to see what patterns there might be now between performance indicators and inspection results.

We report an analysis of 45 variables in relation to children in need, children in care and young adults with care experience. Using statistical analysis, we consider to what extent performance measured by these variables differs between authorities based on their Ofsted ratings and which of the variables can be used to predict Ofsted inspection outcomes.

We identified no consistent patterns of difference between local authorities in relation to Ofsted ratings. Deprivation was the best single predictor of Ofsted inspection outcomes.

This study uses relatively recent Ofsted and local authority data and builds on previous research findings which are increasingly highlighting the significance of deprivation as a factor to help explain variable performance between different authorities.

Early years policy and services have been subjected to substantial and rapid reform over the past 20 years. This article provides a brief overview of legislative and policy changes over this period, with a particular focus on regulation and workforce issues, and traces the enduring influence of the Children Act 1989 to the present. It identifies a paradigm shift in early years services from a world view based on public health and care and on devolution of responsibility, to one in which promoting children's learning and development is core and centralised regulation and national standards are seen as essential. This is reflected in changed responsibilities at government department and regulatory body level. Despite these major changes, the article concludes that the key principles of the Act ‐ in terms of children's rights, parents' responsibilities, listening to children and inter‐agency co‐operation ‐ are still apparent.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and evaluate Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) reports on attendance issues within local education authorities' out‐of‐school provision.

A full cohort of Ofsted reports on inspections of out‐of‐school units, often known as pupil referral units (PRUs), undertaken in England in 2003 were scrutinised. The attendance data were then analysed statistically and geographically by region. The regions designated were the north of England, London and the Home Counties, the Midlands and the rest of England.

The findings indicate that unauthorised absence rates in PRUs are more than ten times those reported for primary and secondary schools and for local education authorities (LEAs). Overall, unauthorised absence rates exceed authorised rates throughout a majority of PRUs inspected in England in 2003; the exact opposite to schools. There are considerable variations in rates of authorised and unauthorised absence between PRUs within the same regions and within some LEAs.

Ofsted appear to give more latitude towards attendance issues within PRUs than they do in their inspection reports for schools and LEAs. The implications of these findings are considered along with the need for further research.

This is the first article of its kind to analyse and evaluate the implications of Ofsted reports on attendance issues within LEAs out‐of‐school units.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the response of the relevant authorities to evidence that female primary schoolteachers have an elevated suicide risk in the UK. The paper situates the recent tragic death of a primary school head teacher, following an Ofsted inspection at her school, within the wider context of teacher suicide deaths and asks what, if any, action the authorities have taken to prevent avoidable suicide deaths from occurring.

The paper examines a recent case of suicide by a primary head teacher within the wider context of statistical data on suicides by primary schoolteachers and in relation to previous cases of suicide linked to a school inspection.

The paper suggests that the relevant authorities have failed to act in relation to evidence of high suicide risk amongst female primary schoolteachers and to previous suicide deaths linked to the impact of a school inspection. Without learning from suicide deaths and acting on available evidence, there is a risk that preventable suicide deaths will continue to occur.

The paper draws together case study evidence and statistical data to make the case for regulatory reform to ensure that work-related suicides are investigated, monitored and prevented.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the links between school inspection requirements as represented by Ofsted and the provision of drug education programmes in schools.

An examination of relevant guidance from the Department of Education and the school inspection agency Ofsted; and reference to the research literature and evidence base around drug education.

The provision of drug education programmes in schools is influenced by the requirements of the national curriculum; and the frameworks used by Ofsted in its inspections. Recent reduction in emphasis on drug education in both sources has reduced the extent and quality of drug education in schools.

The paper looks at national documentation and conclusions. It is not a quantitative study of school provision – some indication of this is provided by Ofsted reports.

The paper indicates that reports and conclusions from Ofsted and other bodies, e.g. House of Commons select committees and the ACMD, have in the recent past reported on rather than informed governmental action.

The paper concludes that central government support and professional training and development are essential ingredients in the provision of universal drug education in schools.

The paper illustrates some of the factors involved in the provision of drug education; the contribution this can make to drug prevention, including harm reduction; and the seeming lack of understanding of education and prevention in the wider professional and political discussions about drugs and their use.

The rise of a performativity discourse in education in England emanates from the importation of an economic ‘market’ structure for schools in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the outputs of learning and to increase the opportunity of choice for the ‘consumers’ of education (Ball, 1998). Institutions focus their policies and practice, on improving performance and survival to maintain and develop their market share. This is due to the competitive nature of a market structure. The performativity criterion of efficiency and effectiveness is an optimisation of the relationship between input and output (Lyotard, 1979). In the case of education this means both ensuring a favourable qualitative award from a national inspection service and raising the achievement levels of pupils in national tests to ensure a high position in published tables of educational performance. High ratings on these two performativity indicators improve a school’s attraction to parents and students in the educational market place. This results in improved resources, increasing the opportunity for the school to be more selective about the students it accepts and the quality of the teachers it employs.