Schools’ remote lessons are “not fully aligned” with the classroom curriculum, Ofsted has warned.

The findings come in a new report published today by the watchdog, highlighting the findings of its visits to schools this term.

In a commentary published alongside the report, chief inspector Amanda Spielman said there was a “curriculum issue” at play, whereby schools’ remote learning provision was “not fully aligned” with what would be taught in the classroom.

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“It became apparent on our visits that there is a curriculum issue here as well,” Ms Spielman said.

Ofsted: ‘Curriculum issue’ with remote learning

“Schools told us that they had plans to provide remote learning, through technology or printed work, but they said much of the content they could provide remotely was not fully aligned with the classroom curriculum.

“If we expect many children to find themselves at home in term time once or even more often this year, for possibly a fortnight at a time, they must not lose the progression that a strong, well-sequenced curriculum brings.

“Without that structure, remote education becomes more about filling time than about effective learning.”

The Ofsted report says “most schools” the inspectorate visited were providing remote learning for “some pupils”. 

“The schools were generally using online methods of delivery - recorded online lessons, individual study modules or often a combination of the two. Occasionally, leaders said they were using live online lessons,” the report says.

Many leaders also told the watchdog that they were “working on what content they can best use to align their remote learning with their existing curriculum”.

“Leaders reported that in some subjects their remote education was only aligned with their pre-existing curriculum to some extent. In others, it was not yet aligned,” the report says.

Ofsted says it will “explore remote learning in more detail during this term”.

The report adds that some schools had returned to teaching all subjects “straight away”, while others were taking a more “gradual approach”.

“In both primary and special schools, we saw a variety of approaches taken to their autumn-term curriculum,” the report says.

“Some schools have returned to teaching all subjects straight away. Others are taking a gradual approach to reintroducing foundation subjects such as modern foreign languages and geography.

“Practical aspects of subjects such as physical education (PE) and music were sometimes not being taught. All the primary school leaders told us that they are concentrating hard on reading, including phonics.

“Many leaders explained that they wanted to make sure that if there have been any losses in learning, particularly in reading, these are quickly put right.”

Ofsted is to visit more than 1,000 schools this term to check on how well pupils are being supported to return to full-time education.