Ofsted will carry out a rolling programme of special educational needs and disability (SEND) area inspections from next year, with local areas given one of three judgements.
The inspectorate and the Care Quality Commission’s previous framework for SEND had two inspection outcomes as it would highlight if significant weaknesses were found in an area’s provision. This framework was created as a one‐off check of SEND services in local authority areas.
Now Ofsted and the CQC are launching a new rolling inspection framework, which will come into effect early next year with three separate inspection outcomes.
Chief inspector Amanda Spielman said that it would be wrong to delay the introduction of the new framework to wait for the government’s anticipated SEND reforms because there should be no “accountability gap” in the sector.
The Ofsted announcement comes a day after the Department for Education said that its response to its SEND review consultation would not now be published until next year.
SEND: three Ofsted inspection outcomes
The new SEND area inspection framework will give local area partnerships one of three inspection outcomes.
The first is that “local area partnership’s arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership is taking action where improvements are needed”.
Areas that get this judgement will receive a full area SEND inspection within five years.
The second judgement is that “a local area partnership’s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements”.
Areas that get this middle judgement will receive their next full area SEND inspection “within approximately three years”.
Where systemic failings are found
The third and worst outcome is that Ofsted and the CQC “find widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND, which the local area partnership must address urgently”.
When this judgement is found, Ofsted has said that a monitoring inspection will be carried out within approximately 18 months and the next full area SEND inspection will take place within around three years.
In these cases, His Majesty’s chief inspector will also require the local area partnership to prepare and submit a priority action plan (area SEND) to address the identified areas for priority action.
In a commentary published to accompany the launch of the SEND Area framework, Ms Spielman revealed that a minority of consultation respondents suggested that Ofsted should wait for the government to implement proposed SEND reforms before updating its own inspection framework.
She added: “We know that large-scale system reform can take many years to implement and embed into practice. It would not be right to wait until reforms are implemented, given the scale and depth of problems in the SEND system.
“There can be no accountability gap while any new reforms are agreed and put into action.”
Ms Spielman warned that there are longstanding issues in the SEND system, including “poor-quality education, health and care plans, poor co-production and poor outcomes for pupils with SEND”.
She added: “They existed before the pandemic and have only been worsened by it. Given the persistent and worsening issues in the SEND system, we have been clear throughout that we cannot wait to act. To do so would risk creating an unacceptable accountability gap in a system that needs to improve urgently.”
Ms Spielman said that as a result of the consultation, Ofsted had altered the wording of the first inspection outcome. She said this will ensure that a local partnership that is performing well in many areas, but may still need to make some improvements, could receive this outcome if it is aware of weaknesses and is taking action to address them.
The framework has been clarified to make it clear that inspectors will continue to take account of compliance with legal duties, Ms Spielman added.
She said: “We will focus more on the impact that the local area partnership’s arrangements are having on the lives of children and young people with SEND.
“However, we have made it clearer that inspectors will continue to take account of the local area’s compliance with legal duties and will report on how it affects children and young people with SEND if these duties are not being met.”
Review of alternative provision
Ofsted will also carry out an annual series of thematic reviews as part of the SEND area inspections.
Ms Spielman said the first set of visits will focus on alternative provision, to improve the inspectorate’s knowledge of how it is used in practice, and the extent to which it meets pupils’ education, health and care needs.
Findings from this review will be shared in autumn 2023.
The government first asked Ofsted and the CQC to develop new SEND inspection plans more than four years ago.
