Ofsted and the government are set to be warned about the wellbeing of “pressured” inspectors as the watchdog strives to hit its target to inspect all schools by next summer, Tes has learned.
The union representing His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) in England has told Tes it is set to raise concerns with the Department for Education and the watchdog, saying that its drive to meet next summer’s target could come at the “expense of staff wellbeing”.
Matt Newman, national officer for Ofsted at the public service union the FDA, told Tes that although the union “appreciates targets can be useful, they must be realistic”.
He added that “simply ramping up pressure on HMIs to deliver the same quality but with less time to prepare for inspections is in nobody’s best interests”.
Ofsted still has to inspect quarter of schools
Mr Newman comments come as new analysis of Ofsted data, shared with Tes, revealed that the watchdog still needs to visit a quarter of all schools (4,741) to achieve its summer 2025 inspection goal.
This includes 447 schools that have not had either a graded (Section 5) or ungraded (Section 8) inspection for over a decade, with one school waiting a huge 17 years to receive a visit from the watchdog, according to the analysis of latest published Ofsted inspection reports by SchoolDash.
The DfE gave Ofsted £23 million in extra funding in 2021 to help it meet its target, as part of a wider plan to assess education recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Inspectors are feeling pressured to cover the volumes of inspections required. While we appreciate targets can be useful, they must be realistic and can’t come at the expense of staff wellbeing,” Mr Newman said.
He added that inspectors are “at their most effective when they are given the freedom to properly consider outcomes”.
Mr Newman said the FDA is planning to raise its concerns with the watchdog.
‘Impossible’ school inspection target
His comments chime with those made by serving HMIs who spoke to Tes, with one, who wished to remain anonymous, warning that the “feeling on the ground is that the August 2025 goal is an impossible target”.
They added that “the goal feels counterproductive as, while upping the inspection rate will likely mean Ofsted will reach its inspection goal, the pressure placed on inspectors will also push more of them to quit”.
Tes revealed last month that Ofsted had scrapped its curriculum unit, with the subject leads who previously contributed work to the unit expected to switch to inspecting full-time.
This will have “more impact on the attrition rate of HMIs who don’t just want to be out inspecting every week non-stop,” the HMI said.
The push to meet quotas has recently become more of an issue for inspectors, Tes understands, and can potentially put pressure on the inspection process.
For instance, if a school inspection is deferred, inspectors are then given a second inspection to handle in the interim, which can mean an inspector can face having to effectively run two ongoing inspections at the same time.
“The flawed Ofsted framework creates enormous time pressures for inspectors,” warned Ian Hartwright, head of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union.
“This can inevitably affect both the conduct and reliability of inspections, which, in turn, impacts the experiences, wellbeing and safety of school leaders and their staff.”
The NAHT is urging Ofsted to commit to “longer-term, fundamental reform of inspection in collaboration with representatives of the profession”.
Half of schools awaiting inspection are ‘outstanding’
Of the schools still waiting for an inspection, over half of them (55 per cent) are rated “outstanding”, according to the SchoolDash analysis.
Ofsted has previously promised to reinspect all “outstanding” schools by next summer, after the government policy to exempt them from routine inspection was dropped in 2020. Routine inspection of “outstanding” schools actually resumed in September 2021 following a pause in Ofsted inspection because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
There were 3,400 previously exempt “outstanding” schools that had not been inspected for 15 years when routine inspection restarted, according to an evaluation by the DfE.
And Ofsted inspected 763 previously exempt schools in 2022-23, compared with 279 in the year before the pandemic.
The inspectorate has had two breaks in its inspection cycle in recent years - most significantly, routine inspections were paused from March 2020 to September 2021 due to the pandemic.
And Ofsted chief Sir Martyn Oliver began his tenure in January with a pause on all routine school inspections to allow HMIs to undertake mental health awareness training after the coroner who looked into the death of headteacher Ruth Perry published a report warning of a risk of future deaths.
Top-rated secondaries are least inspected
Across all primary schools, more than 70 per cent have received an inspection since the pandemic and the vast majority (98 per cent) have done so within the past decade, SchoolDash analysis shows.
However, among schools judged “outstanding” at their last inspection, only 40 per cent have had an inspection since 2020-21 - the academic year that schools reopened after the pandemic.
In comparison, more than half of secondary schools (55 per cent) have received a graded inspection since the pandemic and 90 per cent have done so within the past 10 years.
Among “outstanding” secondary schools, 45 per cent have been inspected since 2020-21. The figure for “good” secondary schools is 50 per cent.
In contrast, most schools graded “inadequate” or “requires Improvement” have been fully inspected within the past three years.
Ofsted has been approached for comment.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered directly to your inbox every weekday morning, sign up to the Tes Daily newsletter
