Ofsted has extended the transition period it has given schools to develop their curriculum plans by another six months to take into account the ongoing Covid disruption.
The inspectorate has updated its inspection handbook this week to extend “transition arrangements and Covid-related considerations” until the end of this academic year for schools and other education providers.
The watchdog said this has been done because of Covid disruption and that it would review whether these measures would need to be extended into the 2022-23 academic year.
For schools, this means inspectors will be asked to take into account the fact that schools may still be in the process of developing their curriculum and also making amendments in response to the Covid pandemic.
These transition arrangements relate to the judgements that Ofsted makes about whether a school’s curriculum intent is “good” or “requires improvement”.
Transitional arrangements have been in place since the watchdog first launched its current Education Inspection Framework in September 2019.
Ofsted grants schools more time on curriculum plans
Schools were initially given a one-year grace period, which was then extended into 2021 and has remained in place as Ofsted returned to full inspections this autumn. Inspectors have also been asked to take Covid into account.
This transitional period was set to end next month.
However, Ofsted has now extended this by six months in an update to its inspection handbook.
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “We have updated the handbooks for all of our education remits to confirm that transition arrangements and/or the Covid-related considerations will continue to be in place until the end of this academic year.
“In September 2021, we added the review period for transition arrangements as March 2022. We recognised that we would need longer to review the use of the transition statements due to ongoing Covid disruption, so we updated to reflect a longer review period in time for September 2022.
“We’ll review whether there is a need for them to continue into the next academic year.”
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said: ”We are pleased to see that Ofsted is extending the transition period in its school handbook in recognition of the extraordinary pressures caused by the pandemic.
“Schools and colleges are working under extremely demanding conditions because of very high levels of pupil and staff absence caused by Covid. For many it is a huge task just keeping their school or college fully open, let alone conducting new rafts of curriculum planning.
“We are not wholly convinced either that the extension is enough given that the time in which to carry out this work in this academic year is increasingly constrained and the disruption caused by Covid continues to be relentless. This does need to be kept under review and Ofsted needs to be prepared to extend it further if necessary.”
Curriculum-focused inspections
The school curriculum is at the heart of Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework.
To assess a school’s quality of education, Ofsted judges its curriculum on the school’s intent, implementation and impact.
The transitional arrangements mean Ofsted can judge a school’s curriculum intent as “good” rather than “requires improvement” if “it is clear from leaders’ actions that they are in the process” of making improvements that will see the school meet the criteria to be “good” in future.
Ofsted’s criteria for rating a school’s curriculum intent as “good” include:
- Leaders adopt or construct a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and including pupils with SEND, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. This is either the national curriculum or a curriculum of comparable breadth and ambition.
- The school’s curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.
During the extended transition period, Ofsted inspectors can rate a school as “good” for curriculum intent if, on the above points, “this is not yet fully the case, it is clear from leaders’ actions that they are in the process of bringing this about, and are making any necessary amendments in response to the pandemic”.
To be judged “good” on curriculum intent, schools are also expected to ensure that:
- Their curriculum is successfully adapted, designed or developed to be ambitious and meet the needs of pupils with SEND, developing their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence.
- Pupils study the full curriculum; it is not narrowed. In primary schools, a broad range of subjects (exemplified by the national curriculum) is taught in key stage 2 throughout each and all of Years 3 to 6. In secondary schools, the school teaches a broad range of subjects (exemplified by the national curriculum) throughout Years 7 to 9.
During the extended transition period, Ofsted inspectors can rate a school as “good” in these areas “if this is not yet fully the case, it is clear from leaders’ actions that they are in the process of bringing this about”.
