Ofsted is set to give schools more of a steer on when they should expect to be inspected, the watchdog’s national director for education has told school leaders today.
Chris Russell said the Covid pandemic has created increased uncertainty about the timings of inspection, with “outstanding”-rated schools “on tenterhooks” with “no idea” about when they will next be visited.
As a result, Ofsted is finalising work on giving schools more information about when they will be inspected, Mr Russell told the Schools and Academies Show in London today.
However, he warned that being too specific and identifying the year in which inspection will take place could “intensify” the stress of inspection.
In a statement last month, chief inspector Amanda Spielman said that, for “outstanding” schools that are yet to be inspected, Ofsted will “provide additional clarity about the broad timing of their next visit”.
Ofsted resumed routine inspection of “outstanding”-rated schools in September 2021, after an exemption that had been in place for most of the last decade was lifted.
Today, Mr Russell told school leaders that this work was being finalised and would benefit “outstanding” schools as well as those with other inspection ratings.
He said that Ofsted has identified that there are increased concerns over inspection timings since the pandemic.
“In normal times, people have a pretty good idea - roughly - of when their inspection is going to be. But, of course, Covid has disrupted that, so we are trying to do things to give people more of an idea of roughly when their inspection is going to be,” he said.
Mr Russell added: “We know, particularly ‘outstanding’ schools, they really feel they have got no idea. They are on tenterhooks, they have no idea when they are likely to be inspected.
“Now, of course, we don’t tell people inspection dates, and we don’t want people to prepare for inspection, but we understand that people like to have a bit of a feeling for when that is likely to be.
“We are just finalising that work so that we can give, particularly ‘outstanding’ schools, but other schools as well, more of an idea of when an inspection is likely to be in the period in the run-up to 2025.”
He was later asked whether Ofsted would follow the Church of England’s example of publishing the year in which schools are due to be inspected.
Mr Russell said he questioned if this would “reduce inspection stress or is it going to heighten it?”
He added: “What we would say is that schools do really well when they don’t prepare for inspection, they just do the right thing for their young people
“And, sometimes, people are trying to do things which they think inspectors will want to see and it isn’t in young people’s interests and means people are wasting time.
“The concern is that if we went that precise, would we actually be helping to reduce the stress around inspection or could we potentially be intensifying it?”
