The latest Ofsted updates to the school inspection handbook
Ofsted has issued its latest updated version of the school inspection handbook, complete with a document aimed at dispelling ‘myths’.
Sean Harford HMI, Ofsted’s National Director for Education, put together a summary of changes to Section 5 school inspection handbook and Section 8 handbook for short, monitoring and unannounced behaviour inspections.
Section 5:
- In the section on seeking views during inspections, there is updated information about how staff and pupils are consulted during inspections to reflect the fact that the surveys are now online.
- In the ‘schools causing concern’ section, changes have been made to guidance on monitoring inspections of grade 4 schools to take into account the recent legislative changes and the government’s new Schools Causing Concern guidance.
- Under ‘what happens during the inspection’, details have been clarified about who inspectors need to meet with to inspect governance at the school.
- Under ‘effectiveness of leadership and management’, reference has been added to inspectors having consideration for governors’ development in their role as part of the effectiveness of school leadership.
- In the ‘outcomes’ section, amendments have been made to the grade descriptors to reflect changes to national assessment and accountability measures.
- Linked to this, in the ‘outcomes’ section, revised guidance has been issued about inspecting the performance of disadvantaged pupils to take account of the new -measures relating to pupil progress , including comparing the progress made nationally with other pupils with the same starting points.
Section 8:
- The clarification about inspecting governance and who inspectors should meet with updated in the section 5 handbook is also reflected in the updated section 8 handbook.
- A minor change had been made to reflect the fact that Ofsted Inspectors (as distinct from Her Majesty’s Inspectors) may now be asked on occasion to lead section 8 ‘no formal designation’ inspections.
- Under ‘short inspections’, reference has been made to online surveys to gather staff and pupil views.
- There has been a revision to the section on Requires Improvement monitoring to reflect the government’s White Paper proposal on improvement periods for schools with new Head Teachers.
- There is a detailed update to the guidance on monitoring of schools causing concern in the light of recent legislative changes (Education and Adoption Act 2016) and the revised Schools Causing Concern statutory guidance. This includes requirements relating to statements of action for schools in categories of concern.
A document confirming facts about the requirements of Ofsted and dispelling myths that can results in unnecessary workloads can be read here.