Ofsted’s work with schools – Education Committee Report

The House of Commons Education Committee has published its report on Ofsted. Some of the report’s conclusions are:

School inspections are not currently carried out in sufficient length or depth to cover the full range of areas of a school’s work.
The short notice period appears to be causing operational difficulties for many schools.
There is evidence regarding lack of relevant expertise among inspectors, and reports of poor behaviour by some inspectors.
The short and formulaic nature of inspection reports is limiting the extent to which they are useful to schools.
One of the most strongly criticised aspects of inspection is the single-word overall effectiveness judgement.
Ofsted’s complaints procedure has come under heavy criticism.
There is broad support for the 2019 Education Inspection Framework’s (EIF) move away from focusing on data, but there appear to be some problems with how the framework has worked in practice.
Suggestions that safeguarding should be inspected separately from routine school inspections.
Ofsted to be able to inspect multi-academy trusts, which the Department has so far failed to deliver.
Ofsted should also explore ways in which it can improve its engagement with parents, pupils, governors, and trustees before and during the inspection process, to ensure that the voices of all groups are fully heard and taken into account.