Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has told Ofsted’s chief inspector of her “disappointment” that schools will not see finalised plans for new inspections until after the summer holidays, Tes can reveal.
In a letter to Sir Martyn Oliver, seen by Tes, Ms Phillipson says it is “disappointing that Ofsted has found it necessary to delay its consultation response, and the publication of inspection materials, until the start of September”.
She also says it is “important that Ofsted delivers to the expected timescales”, adding that she notes Sir Martyn’s “absolute commitment to introduce the revised framework in November as planned and communicated to the sector”.
Ofsted has now published Sir Martyn’s letter to the education secretary confirming that the watchdog’s consultation response has been delayed until September but stating that its new inspections of schools are still set to start in November.
This is despite Ofsted previously telling schools that they would have a term’s notice between its final plans being published and inspections starting.
‘Nonsensical timetable’ for new Ofsted inspections
Responding to this, Pepe Di’lasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The introduction of a nonsensical inspection framework is now compounded by a nonsensical timetable. The idea that schools and colleges can prepare for a complete change in the inspection system on this scale in two months is, frankly, ridiculous.”
The watchdog has consulted with schools on its plans to move to a new inspection system using report cards, which will involve inspecting schools in up to 11 areas using a five-point scoring scale.
In her letter, Ms Phillipson says: “I look forward to receiving regular reports on your progress in the coming weeks and months. My expectation is that Ofsted’s engagement plans will give education providers a comprehensive understanding of the new arrangements before they are introduced.
“This will, of course, need to be accompanied by in-depth training of your inspection workforce.”
Her letter also confirms that Dame Christine Gilbert has been appointed as the new chair of Ofsted.
In his letter, Sir Martyn says that early feedback on the report cards shows “strong parental support” but he admits that “further work is needed to refine the final approach”.
The letter confirms that concerns have also been raised about the number of evaluation areas involved, and insights from test visits have suggested that these could be “streamlined to make inspections more workable for all involved”, as Tes has previously revealed.
Sir Martyn calls the delay “regrettable”, but tells the education secretary that he “firmly believes it will result in a better and more effective inspection regime”.
Ofsted has said it will publish an independent assessment of the impact of the new inspection approach on professionals’ wellbeing, in order to “minimise the pressure of inspection”. This was called for by the NAHT school leaders’ union in its plan to seek a judicial review case against the schools watchdog.
Ofsted has said that test inspection visits for its new framework will be continued until the end of this term. It will will hold briefings for school leaders and teachers in the first half of the autumn term, while routine inspections are on hold.
Responding to the delayed consultation response, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, warned that “schools will end up suffering for Ofsted’s failings” and he urged the government to intervene.
He added: “Any pretence by the government and Ofsted that they care about the wellbeing of school leaders and teachers appears to have now gone out of the window. If these proposals go ahead, school leaders will now have to spend the first half-term of the new school year preparing for an entirely new inspection framework. “
Mr Whiteman said Ofsted delaying its consultation response leads to a “growing suspicion that the overall response to Ofsted’s proposals was largely negative and that the pilots they have been running are exposing the major problems we predicted”.
Mr Di’lasio added: “Ofsted’s consultation document made specific reference to taking an approach that ensured a notice period equivalent to one term between the publication of the post-consultation response and the start of the new inspections. This already ambitious timeframe has now been cut in half.”
He said it would make more sense to postpone the introduction of the new inspection system or, even better, “to start from scratch and come up with a sensible framework, such is the mess that Ofsted have made of this”.
Steve Rollett, deputy chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said: “Getting the new Ofsted frameworks right matters, so a September publication is sensible if it helps achieve this. But dropping the commitment to a term’s notice before implementation in schools is a real concern.”
Ofsted’s plans were criticised during its consultation, but last month Tes revealed that the watchdog had told its inspectors that it was not considering delaying the date for new inspections starting.
Tes also previously revealed that Ofsted was carrying out a “substantial” rewrite of the toolkits that inspectors would use to grade schools under the new inspection system.
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