Government Announces Plans for Universal School Inspections

[6Foot2]

Link: Government announces plans for universal school inspections [Gov.uk]

 

Ofsted will visit all schools judged to be outstanding, helping to give parents a complete picture of school performance.

 

Ofsted will visit all schools judged to be outstanding within the next 5 academic years under Government proposals, bringing an end to the era of some schools going over a decade without inspection

 

The change will mean schools rated as outstanding by Ofsted will no longer be exempt from routine inspection, as is currently the case, and underlines the government’s position that school inspection serves a vital purpose in improving standards and behaviour.

 

Under the proposals in the consultation being launched today (10 January), all outstanding schools and colleges will be brought back into a regular inspection cycle – with Ofsted visiting every 4 to 5 years. This will affect around 3,700 schools and colleges rated outstanding when the exemption is lifted in September.

 

Ending the exemption, which was introduced in 2012, will mean all parents have up to date information about every school and can be confident that their children’s schools are continuing to deliver the best education. It will also help to maintain the rising standards that have enabled schools to help pupils get to grips with the new, more demanding curriculum at both primary and secondary level.

 

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:

 

• Parents want to know that they are making the best, most informed choices about their children’s education. Making sure that all schools are regularly inspected means they will benefit from the expert insight Ofsted provides when making these decisions.
   
   
  
• We know parents trust Ofsted – and with good reason. It serves a valuable purpose as the only organisation that gives a clear, accessible and impartial view on school and college performance.
   
   
  
• But it’s also far more than that – it’s a driver of improvement. Although we continue to trust our best schools and colleges to get on with the job of educating, without Ofsted standards would go unchecked and the exemption meant there is often not an up to date picture.

Last year the Department for Education announced plans to remove the exemption that means schools judged outstanding by Ofsted are not subject to routine inspection.

 

The proposals in the consultation, which will be subject to parliamentary approval, will prioritise those schools that have gone the longest without inspection. Ofsted is preparing so that it is ready to inspect from September 2020.

 

It means every school in the country will receive regular inspection, giving parents a clear picture of the standard of schools in their area.

 

The exemption was introduced in 2012 in part so that Ofsted could focus on failing and underperforming schools. Standards have risen since then, with the percentage of schools graded inadequate or require improvement dropping from 33% in 2012 to just 14% in August 2019, so now is the right time to end the exemption and restore universal inspection.

[elsiegee40]

Whilst discussion of school inspection will be permitted, any posts turning this into political discussion will be removed.

[6Foot2]

Whilst discussion of school inspection will be permitted, any posts turning this into political discussion will be removed.

Context: A school not far from us, which has been rated outstanding, has not been inspected in quite some time. Perhaps they will be inspected before we have our next inspection, maybe?

[elsiegee40]

We have several round us - all grammar schools - that haven’t been inspected for a decade or more.

[Sylv3r]

Our last Ofsted inspection was 13th February 2009 where we were rated outstanding. We've been on red alert for a few years expecting them to come but as our results have been pretty consistent and we haven't been classed as 'coasting' I think we've missed inspections. To be honest, we don't think we'd get Outstanding on the next inspection after arguing strongly to get Outstanding the first time round - we'll be happy with Good this time.

[mikeprice]

A school I worked in for several months had been Outstanding for some time.

Naturally I had to visiting many classroom - often during lessons - to fix problems etc. This was increased as some of the classrooms were added by walling in 2 ends of a wide corridor - hence I still had to walk through the room in order to get to other rooms, as did other people.

 

My impression of the teaching and behaviour indicated that the school was nowhere how it presumably was when it got the Outstanding - some teachers were great - but some seemed to be in trouble and received little help from senior people and there was little consistancy

 

I presume this is fairly common as I have met a lot of people whose kids go to Outstanding school who tell me about things changing over teh years

 

In reality - as teachers and SMT leave and join and move around every year - it is totally unrealistic to think that a school will stay the same over a period of years

[Ditto]

Presumably the school has maintained good results and hasn't had any strong complaints made about it, as those could have triggered an inspection. My sons secondary school has been living on an Outstanding rating for over a decade, but just before Xmas was inspected. Given current rules, presumably results have dropped enough to trigger the inspection or some other data point has or a complaint has been made.

The inspection result is due in the next few weeks, but I'm expecting a downgrade, which is no bad thing as this is a strong school that is the lead in what is now a sizeable MAT. I think being 'Good' pushing for 'Outstanding' is a positive thing. Overall I'm in favour outstanding schools being inspected, but I think we need recall Ofsted wanted to focus on improving lower rated schools (which they now seem to regard as sufficiently achieved as to want to change focus from September 2020), that inspecting all schools regularly wasn't achievable with the number of suitably qualified inspectors available. Currently it's not clear to me how the greater number of inspections required is being resourced.

[elsiegee40]

I think quite a number of Outstanding schools want to be inspected to validate what they do and prove they’re still on top of the game. That’s the message that I am getting in governance circles.

 

Also, with the current push for outstanding schools to lead improvement in weaker ones, it’s better to be sure which schools actually are best placed to do this.

[hardtailstar]

I think quite a number of Outstanding schools want to be inspected to validate what they do and prove they’re still on top of the game. That’s the message that I am getting in governance circles.

 

Also, with the current push for outstanding schools to lead improvement in weaker ones, it’s better to be sure which schools actually are best placed to do this.

I used to work in an Outstanding primary school and they were constantly getting other schools to inspect them using Ofsted framework so I'd agree with you on that one.

 

They were constantly wanting to keep the rating even in mock inspections.

[mikeprice]

Those last 2 point are good to hear - my experience in an outstandig school was one where they believed themselves to be perfect and no-one could criticise them - or so it appeared

 

So it is good to see that some of these schools are still striving to move forward

 

I also have wondered whether some schools keep up with what OFSTED (or Estyn and whatever in Scotland and NI are) think of as best practice. I know that when I was teaching we used to get training sessions showing us what had changed over the last term and SMT would go make changes to the 'standard lesson' so that it kept up-to-date. As we needed these a couple of times a year I wonder if a school which knows it cannot be inspected would do the same - apparently some do - which is good!

[Sheridan]

I know of a school in our region that was Outstanding and wasn't inspected for a long time, at which point it was classed as Requires Improvement - probably a 10 year gap between the two.

 

Quite why it was inspected I'm not sure, maybe a whistleblower as apparently the leadership had really gone downhill.

[DrCheese]

It is nonsense that a school can go without an inspection for 10 years - When I think of all the changes in leadership/staffing/governing body in general we've had, we're an entirely different school to what we were 10 years ago, even tho we've held onto our good rating. I think this would be the same in any school.

[sonofsanta]

My kids' primary went without inspection for a decade or so because it was outstanding, and lo and behold, turns out it slipped to Requires Improvement. (Change in leadership is what caused it, IMHO.)

 

I don't have a problem with the idea of inspection per se, more with the daft things Ofsted prioritise that seem completely unrelated to how teachers actually go about their jobs. If the only time formal lesson plans are produced are when we're expecting Ofsted, what's the point of judging by them?

[DrBeaker]

Our last Ofsted inspection was 13th February 2009 where we were rated outstanding. We've been on red alert for a few years expecting them to come but as our results have been pretty consistent and we haven't been classed as 'coasting' I think we've missed inspections. To be honest, we don't think we'd get Outstanding on the next inspection after arguing strongly to get Outstanding the first time round - we'll be happy with Good this time.

 

I know of a school in our region that was Outstanding and wasn't inspected for a long time, at which point it was classed as Requires Improvement - probably a 10 year gap between the two.

 

Quite why it was inspected I'm not sure, maybe a whistleblower as apparently the leadership had really gone downhill.

 

My kids' primary went without inspection for a decade or so because it was outstanding, and lo and behold, turns out it slipped to Requires Improvement. (Change in leadership is what caused it, IMHO.)

 

I don't have a problem with the idea of inspection per se, more with the daft things Ofsted prioritise that seem completely unrelated to how teachers actually go about their jobs. If the only time formal lesson plans are produced are when we're expecting Ofsted, what's the point of judging by them?

 

This it.

 

Surely not inspecting something for nearly 10x years simply isn't good enough?

 

Can you imagine if we didn't inspect our IT systems for 10x years? I mean an old car gets an MOT every year! Why don't schools get inspected more often? I don't get it.

[jthompson]

I'm not a parent, but I would like to think that if I was looking at Ofsted gradings of schools, I'd take into account the date of the grading. If a school claims to be 'Outstanding', the first thing I'd look for is that date of that inspection.

 

Maybe Ofsted should stipulate that a grading lasts only for a certain number of years before an uninspected school defaults back to 'Not inspected' as their official status. I'm perhaps too used to staring at Nagios all day, where overdue checks show as being stale.

[mikeprice]

 

I don't have a problem with the idea of inspection per se, more with the daft things Ofsted prioritise that seem completely unrelated to how teachers actually go about their jobs. If the only time formal lesson plans are produced are when we're expecting Ofsted, what's the point of judging by them?

 

It is strange - SMT normlly tell people to do lesson plans - but I have never seen an inspector that wants one.

I have seen them ask, if possible, for a very short statement of what the lesson the background is - so they can be handed it if they come into a class

 

After that - the ones I have spoken to have said that if they can;t work out what the lesson objectives are from the setup of the classroom and what the teacher says then that is a bad sign - because how else can the kids know it!

[GREED]

Surely in 2020 with all this focus on automation, huge amounts of data floating about (cloud?!), and reductions in paperwork etc etc, there should be something smarter than going into a school every x years. Just like the afore mentioned MOT, you make everything look good so it passes, then the moment the school is off the forecourt the MOT means nothing, for possibly 4 years or even longer it seams. Surely some automation with results, independent surveys and other monitoring, more regular informal and smaller visits to schools by inspectors to flag up the need for more significant or formal inspections would be better?

 

I recently became a governor in a primary school and we are awaiting the dreaded call for a few months now, everything is focused on or around that (meaning that an element of BAU is not happening) it just seems barmy.

[mikeprice]

If I'm right the main aim is for schools to inspect themselves continually.

The inspections should then focus on checking 3 things

a) the self inspections are actually happening i.e. there is proper evidence of them

b) they are being done properly and properly recorded

c) then checking the lessons themselves to ensure that the results from the self inspection are credible - i.e. are the school self-inspecting using the right criteria ad standards

 

or at least that was the theory at one

 

Not sure what happened to that - or if I got the wrong end of the stick (again!) - but if that was the plan then they should be able to turn up at any time as all the evidence should always be available

[GREED]

If I'm right the main aim is for schools to inspect themselves continually.

The inspections should then focus on checking 3 things

a) the self inspections are actually happening i.e. there is proper evidence of them

b) they are being done properly and properly recorded

c) then checking the lessons themselves to ensure that the results from the self inspection are credible - i.e. are the school self-inspecting using the right criteria ad standards

 

or at least that was the theory at one

 

Not sure what happened to that - or if I got the wrong end of the stick (again!) - but if that was the plan then they should be able to turn up at any time as all the evidence should always be available

 

IV and EV - when I used to work with apprentices that was the case, internally you Internally Verify - that the teaching is following the practices you lay down and evidence is clearly there - and EV - External Verification where you are checking that the checking is being done correctly.