Ofsted: latest updates

Ofsted is launching a formal consultation on changes to its complaints system.

This is to:

• Resolve complaints made by schools more quickly, by improving dialogue
• Reduce the administrative burden on those making a complaint 
• Increase transparency in the process

Respond to the consultation here.

The consultation closes on 15 September 2023.

Ofsted has announced 2 changes:

1. For schools that are graded 'inadequate' because of safeguarding issues alone:
• Ofsted will follow up with a monitoring visit within 3 months, so the school has an earlier opportunity to be re-graded
• Get the full timings of regular Ofsted inspections
• If the school has resolved the concerns by the monitoring visit, it's likely to be given an improved grade
• Any academy order or warning notice can be revoked if the school has dealt with safeguarding concerns successfully 
• If a school receives an academy order or warning notice after being graded 'inadequate', no action will be taken on it until re-inspection
• If the school has improved, the secretary of state may revoke the order or withdraw the warning notice
2. Safeguarding requirements will be made as clear as possible for schools and parents
• Ofsted will offer more clarity in its inspection handbook about the threshold for effective vs ineffective safeguarding, and will train its inspectors in this. It will also use webinars and blogs to communicate this to you
• Inspection reports will describe any ineffective safeguarding inspectors have found "more clearly" 

You'll still only get 1 day's notice of an inspection, but Ofsted has made it clear by what year and month you're likely to be inspected. 

Use Ofsted's published timetables to get an idea of when to expect inspection. This information will be included in the inspection handbook from September 2023.

Ofsted reports will:

• Explain what the school needs to do (rather than an individual), by default
• Have an updated contextual information section which lists all of those with responsibility for the school

Ofsted will clarify that headteachers can share provisional inspection outcomes with colleagues and governors. It will update cover letters on draft reports to make this clear.

Staff will also be allowed to choose to be accompanied by a colleague when they talk to inspectors (with a few exceptions).

Ofsted recognises that many leaders in formerly exempt schools haven't experienced inspection for a long time, and may be worried about what to expect.

Ofsted is holding small-group, face-to-face seminars for all 'outstanding' schools inspected before September 2015.

The DfE plans to double the support programme offered through the government-funded teacher wellbeing charity Education Support, to support an additional 500 heads by March 2024. 

It also commits to further expand its mental health and wellbeing offer beyond that date.

11 July 2022: Ofsted to end curriculum 'transitional arrangements' from September, and other handbook changes

Ofsted will end the transitional arrangements that are currently in place to help schools transition to the 2019 inspection framework. These arrangements affected how inspectors made judgements about quality of education. 

The new inspection handbooks, which come into force in September, still allow inspectors to consider the work you're doing to redevelop or improve your curriculum, and will judge intent favourably if you have an "accurate, evaluative" understanding of current curriculum practice in your school and have identified appropriate next steps.

Other changes to the inspection handbooks include:

• Incorporating guidance about the impact of COVID-19 throughout (the guidance isn't new, but it no longer sits in a dedicated section)
• Changes to terminology:
• Section 5 inspections are now 'graded inspections'
• Section 8 inspections of 'good' and 'outstanding' schools are now 'ungraded inspections'
• Inspections with no formal designation and unannounced behaviour visits are now 'urgent inspections'
• Fixed-term exclusions are now called 'suspensions', in line with other DfE guidance

The rest of the changes are to format or structure.

You can see a full summary of changes to the handbooks here.

13 June 2022: Ofsted and CQC launch consultation on new area SEND framework

The consultation looks at proposed changes to the way Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspect area special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) arrangements from 2023. 

• Read the draft SEND inspection framework and share your views on the proposed changes – the consultation is open to "those who have an interest in, or expertise relating to" SEND and alternative provision
• Support your pupils with SEND to complete the children and young people's version of the consultation

Both consultations are open until 11.45pm on 11 September 2022.

26 April 2022: Ofsted announces strategy for 2022 to 2027

The new strategy builds on Ofsted's previous emphasis on the curriculum and pupils' learning, and takes the impact of the pandemic into account.

Headlines include:

• Allowing more time to gather evidence during inspections
• Evaluating the performance of its inspection frameworks, including the education inspection framework (EIF)
• A stronger focus on early years
• A tougher stance on safeguarding and pupil welfare, including unregistered settings and harmful sexual behaviour
• MAT inspections and more summary evaluations
• More research and analysis, including into MATs and alternative provision (AP)
• Reaching out to the wider society, including those who might not be as familiar with Ofsted's work
• Diversifying and expanding its workforce, including developing a knowledge of MATs

Read Ofsted's strategy for 2022-27 for more detail.

28 March 2022: DfE launches consultation on supporting schools not making necessary improvements

What is the consultation on?

The DfE proposes to introduce a new intervention measure from September 2022, which would give the secretary of state the power to move schools into strong trusts, to help them improve. The academy orders would be decided by regional directors (RDs) on a case-by-case basis.

Which schools would it apply to?

The measure would apply to schools:

• With between 2 and 4 consecutive Ofsted judgements below ‘good’ (if they have received their most recent section 5 Ofsted inspection since 1 May 2021)
• With 5 or more consecutive Ofsted judgements below ‘good’ regardless of when their last section 5 Ofsted inspection took place
• Located in the new Education Investment Areas (EIAs), initially (however, it could also apply to some schools outside of EIAs, under an RD's discretion)
• That are:
• Mainstream local authority (LA) maintained primary, middle and secondary schools, and academies (excluding 16 to 19 academies)
• Maintained special schools, special academies, pupil referral units (PRUs) and AP academies

When is the consultation open until?

• The consultation is open until 11.59pm on 23 May 2022 – share your response online

17 November 2021: Ofsted to inspect all schools by summer 2025

• Previously, it would have taken Ofsted until 1 August 2026 to complete all school and college inspections
• Beginning with last term’s inspections, all schools and colleges will now receive at least 1 inspection by summer 2025
• The acceleration of inspections won’t start until September 2022, as Ofsted has "pretty much fixed" its inspection schedule for this year, Ofsted's chief inspector Amanda Spielman confirmed
• Schools will continue to receive either graded or ungraded inspections depending on your circumstances, as you do now
• Read more here

22 September 2021: Ofsted will review tutoring and teachers’ professional development

The independent reviews will:

• Focus on 2 key catch-up reforms: tutoring and teachers' professional development
• Investigate how the reforms are helping with education recovery following disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic

Tutoring in schools, and 16 to 19 providers

Ofsted will look at:

• How schools identify the need for tutoring
• The suitability of tutors
• How tutoring aligns with the intended curriculum
• The implementation and impact of tutoring
• How tutoring affects the school

It will do this through:

• Visiting a sample of schools to carry out interviews, focus groups and observations of tutoring
• Interviews with leadership and management teams of some National Tutoring Programme (NTP) tuition partners
• Pupil and parent surveys 

Ofsted will publish the findings in summer 2022 and summer 2023.

Teachers' professional development

Ofsted will look at:

• What training and professional development teachers and leaders are receiving
• How professional development is managed
• Teachers' and leaders' awareness of professional development
• The quality and impact of professional development

It will do this through:

• Large-scale questionnaires in autumn 2021 and 2022
• Research visits to schools in spring term 2022 and 2023
• A small-scale teacher cohort study throughout the duration of the review
• Data from early career framework (ECF) / national professional qualification (NPQ) monitoring inspections, beginning summer term 2022

Ofsted will publish the findings in early 2023 and early 2024.