Harriet Waldegrave
Education Research Fellow, 2011-2014
Watching the Watchmen calls for a fundamental change in the power relationship between schools and Ofsted. It calls for lesson observations to be ditched, for Ofsted to consider abolishing or radically reducing the number of inspectors contracted to private companies and for inspectors to have relevant and recent teaching experience. It also proposes a new two-stage inspection process that will allow more resources to be focused on struggling schools.
Centres of Excellence? acknowledges that families from all backgrounds face rising childcare costs. However, it argues that in a time of stretched budgets, supporting high quality care for children from deprived backgrounds offers greater value for money than subsidies to the richest parents. It also argues that the government is right to allow childcare to be delivered in a range of settings, rather than just Children’s Centres.
Harriet Waldegrave, Education Research Fellow at Policy Exchange, sets out the importance of preserving early years interventions for children in deprived areas, calling for the lowering of the income-threshold for tax-free childcare to £60,000, saving £238 million for reinvestment. She also highlights the inadequate state of data-collection on the effectiveness of programmes run by Children's Centres and makes recommendations for how this should be improved.
Harriet Waldegrave, Education Research Assistant at Policy Exchange, argues that International Women's Day is a good time to challenge the idea that childcare is a just a woman's issue. Harriet notes that childcare is an economic issue and a child development issue, and should be seen as a women and a men's issue.
With the childcare debate seeing several new developments recently, Policy Exchange Education Research Fellow Harriet Waldegrave examines the issues that have arisen around care quality, regulation and funding. Harriet warns against the debate sliding into an ideological argument on deregulation.
