The chair of Ofsted’s board Dame Christine Ryan will be stepping down from the role in 2025.
She will continue as chair while the Department for Education starts a formal process to find her successor.
Until that point, Ofsted has said its board will focus on “scoping governance reforms” in response to a review into Ofsted carried out by former chief inspector Dame Christine Gilbert, which was published in September.
She was asked to review Ofsted’s response to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, after a coroner ruled that an inspection contributed to her taking her own life.
‘Still much to accomplish’
Ofsted said its response to this review would strengthen accountability and support “a newly appointed chair to take forward an ambitious, longer-term reform agenda”.
Dame Christine Ryan has been chair of Ofsted’s board since summer 2020.
She said: “It has been a privilege to work with dedicated colleagues during my time as chair of Ofsted. Of course, there have been challenges - from the impact of the pandemic at the outset of my tenure, to the scrutiny and changes of more recent times.”
Dame Christine added that “there is still much to accomplish” in the months ahead before she steps down.
The Gilbert report warned Ofsted’s efforts to give school inspections a more “human face” were “undermined” by budget cuts and a “pressure to complete the volume of required inspections”.
She also warned over the dangers of chasing inspection volume over quality and raised concerns over the role of Ofsted’s board, which she described as “curiously limited”.
This comes as Ofsted is in the process of designing its new report card before it goes to consultation in the new year.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said that Dame Christine had led the Ofsted board “during a period of significant challenges”.
She added: “Over the past four years, she has overseen critical initiatives, including reviews of board effectiveness, a substantial renewal of board membership, a successful transition to a new chief inspector, supported Ofsted’s Big Listen, the largest public consultation in its history, and conducted a comprehensive review of Ofsted’s corporate governance arrangements.”
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