Proposals for changes to Ofsted inspection

Sir Michael Wilshaw HMCI has launched detailed proposals for changes to Ofsted inspection. The consultation, which covers changes to school, FE and skills and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) inspection, sets out seven proposals in total for changes to the way schools are inspected. From September 2012, it is proposed that:

Schools cannot be judged ‘outstanding’ unless their teaching is ‘outstanding’.
   
Schools will only be deemed to be providing an acceptable standard of education where they are judged to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. 

A single judgement of ‘requires improvement’ will replace the current  ‘satisfactory’ judgement and ‘notice to improve’ category.

Schools judged as ‘requires improvement’ will be subject to a full re-inspection earlier than is currently the case.
   
A school can only be judged as ‘requires improvement’ on two consecutive inspections before it is deemed to require special measures.

Inspections will be undertaken without notice.

Inspectors should undertake an analysis of an anonymised summary, provided by the school, of the outcomes of the most recent performance management of all teachers within the school, as part of the evidence for a judgement on leadership and management.

The consultations for FE and ITE cover very similar areas to the schools consultation, the full details are available at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/good-education-for-all The full details of Michael Wilshaw’s speech are also available at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/high-expectation-no-excuses-sir-michael-wilshaw-hmci-outlines-changes-ofsted-inspection-drive-delive-0

ASCL has said that inspection based on threats and intimidation will not raise standards and strongly refutes the allegation that schools and colleges serving challenging areas are ‘making excuses’ for not achieving results equal to those in less deprived areas. Please see ASCL’s response to the announcement.

If you want to feed into ASCL’s response to the consultation please email: consultations@ascl.org.uk  The consultation closes on 3 May.