Ofsted has announced that it is changing the way that ungraded inspections will be done, in order to reduce the burden on schools, whilst also improving flexibility for inspectors.
Coming in from September, the move will see ‘deep dives’ removed from ungraded inspections, allowing more flexibility for schools to discuss where they have made progress, as well as where more improvement can be unlocked, with inspectors. This change comes following feedback from schools around the country that find the ‘deep dive’ method to be a challenge and is set to benefit all schools.
With almost 3,000 ungraded inspections slated for next year, the schools involved will benefit from a more collaborative approach to these inspections – which currently represent more than 40% of all inspections that are planned for next year.
Speaking at the National Association of Head Teachers Conference, Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver said:
“We’ve been listening to thousands of people at visits and events, at meetings and roundtables, at small discussions, and at big conference like this one.
“On ungraded inspections, we will no longer conduct deep dives from September… The emphasis of these inspections will be on providing school leaders with opportunities to demonstrate where they have improved and to discuss where they still have work to do.
“We also hope that this change will reduce the burden on subject leaders and more junior colleagues. We’ll focus on a dialogue with you and your senior leaders. So, while we still want to have conversations with subject leads, this will be less intensive for them.”
Feedback was given through Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation and more than 15,000 recommendations are to be considered over the course of the summer. This will lead to further developments being made in the autumn.
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