Ofsted has told sector leaders that teaching could be assessed as a separate category under draft plans for its new inspection framework.
Tes understands that the school watchdog has been sharing its initial plans for inspection areas with a wide range of senior figures in the education sector in recent weeks, ahead of a formal consultation launch in the new year.
The inspectorate has disclosed a number of potential inspection areas that could be included in school inspection as Ofsted moves to a report card system in September 2025.
A report in the Financial Times has said that Ofsted is also proposing replacing its current grading system with a five-point scale in which schools would be rated as being exemplary, strong practice, secure, attention needed or causing concern in each area.
Tes understands that there had been another version of the proposals that included a seven-point scale.
Headteachers’ leaders have raised concerns that Ofsted’s plans are too complicated and warned that the Department for Education and the inspectorate are “engaged in a headlong rush” to create a new system against a tight timetable.
New Ofsted inspection framework
The plans involve separating out teaching and the curriculum into separate inspection areas, which has caused concern among those who have been consulted, particularly amid the recruitment and retention challenges affecting the sector.
Teaching and curriculum are assessed together in the current education inspection framework (EIF) under its quality of education judgement.
Before the EIF was introduced in 2019 by Amanda Spielman, who was chief inspector at the time, teaching and learning and pupil outcomes were separate categories. These were then replaced with quality of education, which placed an increased emphasis on curriculum.
Ofsted’s informal consultation comes after the inspectorate was warned not to draw up its new framework “behind closed doors”, following its announcement of reform in September.
Other categories understood to be included in the new report card proposals include attendance, opportunities to thrive, outcomes, behaviour, leadership, preparation for next steps and also inclusion, which Ofsted has already announced will be a key focus.
Responding to a report in the Financial Times on Ofsted’s plans, Pepe Di’lasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the union was concerned about “the apparent direction of travel, which seems to us to be overcomplicated”.
He added: “While we cannot divulge the discussions taking place, we are worried about what the DfE and Ofsted appear to have in mind. It feels as though they are engaged in a headlong rush to devise a new system against a very tight timetable in order to have it up and running by next September.
“We’d support them if they wanted to take longer, as it is vital to get this right.”
‘No return to lesson observations’
An Ofsted source, frustrated by the leak of the draft proposals, told Tes the proposal to make teaching a separate category was not about returning to Ofsted conducting lesson observations. Instead it was about making it clear that the focus would be on how teachers are supported.
They added: “Ensuring every teacher is supported in delivering high-quality teaching is essential to raising standards. The best available evidence is clear that great teaching is the most important lever schools have to improve pupil attainment, especially for the most disadvantaged pupils.
“That’s why it is right that the new framework will focus on whether teachers are being supported to deliver high-quality teaching.”
Ofsted has declined to comment.
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