Ofsted has announced its new arrangements for inspecting schools from January 2012 in response to developments in education policy and in anticipation of Parliament passing the Education Bill 2011.
Ofsted has stated its aim as being to focus more extensively on the quality of teaching when judging the quality of the school, with inspectors spending most of their time in classrooms.
Inspections will now focus on four areas:
1. the achievement of pupils at the school
2. the quality of teaching in the school
3. the quality of leadership and management of the school
4. the behaviour and safety of pupils at the school.
In reporting, inspectors must also consider:
- the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development at the school
- the extent to which the education provided by the school meets the needs of the range of pupils at the school, and in particular the needs of disabled pupils and pupils who have special educational needs.
Other key reforms are that:
- Schools will be able to request an Ofsted inspection in addition to scheduled inspections and Ofsted will be able to charge for this.
- Schools will not have to fill in a Self Evaluation Form but schools self assessments will be taken into account in planning inspections and in assessing leadership.
- Schools judged to be Outstanding will be exempt from regular inspections (subject to Parliament passing the Education Bill)
- Schools judged to be good will be re-inspected within five years
- Additional inspections can be triggered for these schools by: a decline in parental confidence, concerns highlighted by the risk assessment process, safeguarding concerns, concerns raised by subject or thematic reports or other complaints.
- Schools with a notice to improve will be re-inspected between 12 and 16 months.
- Schools in special measures which have demonstrated sufficient improvement in its monitoring visits may be removed from that category, otherwise they will be re-inspected within 24-28 months.
You can read the new framework in full here:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/draft-framework-for-school-inspection-january-2012
Source: SSAT Blog
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