Ofsted’s curriculum focused inspection framework had less than two terms before the Covid crisis effectively put it on hold.

But in that time it carried out  3,250 school inspections in the 2019-20 academic year

Ofsted has been evaluating feedback it received from these inspections.

In a new article published today the watchdog’s director of corporate strategy Chris Jones has summarised its findings.

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Here is everything you need to know.

1. Mixed views on curriculum focus

Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework (EIF) places more emphasis on the curriculum and gives less weight to school exam and test results than previous inspection regimes.

The watchdog has found that for some school staff, the new approach to inspection “felt more aligned to what they were trying to achieve, enabling better and broader conversations about the curriculum to take place”.

But a small number of the leaders and staff told Ofsted focus groups that they felt that the pendulum had swung too far away from considering attainment.

Mr Jones added: “There was a perception among some of these that Ofsted no longer considers pupils’ attainment at all. This is not the case: inspectors still use published national performance data as a starting point in inspection.”

His article says future inspections will use 2019 data.

2. ‘Exhausting but very fair’

Mr Jones said that Ofsted is “always aware of the intense nature of the inspection process” and that it was clear that being inspected under the EIF was demanding for leaders.

He also acknowledged that  many middle leaders - particularly those who lead areas of the curriculum - are more involved in an inspection now than they might have been in the past because of the new focus of the framework.

The article says Ofsted has explored leaders’ perspectives on their involvement in the new inspections and found that responses “reflected a process that was seen as demanding but fair.”

One head said: “This was the fairest inspection process I have experienced as a headteacher; it was thorough, intense and therefore exhausting but very fair and the inspection team genuinely listened to us.”

3. Dialogue and a lack of feedback

Some curriculum leaders said that they had had valuable, in-depth professional dialogue with inspectors, which they had really appreciated.

But others felt that they were not receiving enough informal feedback throughout the inspection, despite their significant investment of time in the process. Some had received feedback from their head teacher, but not until a while after the inspection.

Mr Jones added: “We also heard that some staff who did not receive direct feedback during the inspection were left feeling a bit worried. This was especially true for those who had been involved in a deep dive.”

Ofsted also found that “in general, when teachers, curriculum leaders or headteachers did receive feedback directly, they were extremely positive about the experience - even when they were disappointed by the feedback and final judgement”.

4. Concerns new style inspection reports are ‘too short’

Before the EIF, Ofsted reports were aimed more towards schools, Mr Jones said today.  

He added: “Now, EIF reports are written with parents in mind, so they can get a real flavour of what a school is like for their child.”

His article said there were “mixed views” about the new style of reports.

Ofsted found that some senior leaders felt that the report was now too short to cover the depth and breadth of the inspection adequately.

And some curriculum leaders said that they had been expecting to see more detail about their subject in the final report.

5. In small schools staff can feel overwhelmed 

Under the EIF, the shift away from discussion with headteachers, which made up a large part of inspection under the previous framework, and towards time spent with teachers and curriculum leaders has had an impact on smaller schools.

Ofsted has heard from leaders in small schools about the logistical demands of releasing staff to spend time with inspectors. A few leaders also said that they felt that some staff had been “somewhat overwhelmed” by the amount of time that inspectors had been with them during the inspection.

6. No consensus on how to best inspect smaller schools

Ofsted has carried out a survey of leaders of small schools that had been inspected under the framework to find out whether they thought that two days on site with one inspector, or one day with two inspectors, would be better.

It found there was no real consensus. Those who preferred the one-day model saw this as reducing the impact on staff and learners by “getting it over and done with” in a short space of time but others felt having another day would reduce the burden by spreading out the workload.