OFSTED’s new Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, took up post at the beginning of January. At the same time, OFSTED started to apply the new and tougher school inspection framework.
The new HMCI has not wasted much time before announcing two new proposals that will raise the inspection bar even further.
No notice inspections
From September 2012, OFSTED is proposing to introduce no-notice inspections for all regular school inspections.
More about this proposal can be found here.
No more ‘satisfactory’ schools
OFSTED has also announced its intention to scrap the ‘satisfactory’ judgement in school inspections, to be replaced with a ‘requires improvement’ grade. No school will be allowed to remain in the ‘requires improvement’ category for more than three years. Under these new proposals, schools judged in this new category would be subject to earlier re-inspection, within 12 – 18 months. Schools will be given up to two inspections in the three year period to demonstrate improvement. Any school failing to do so will then require special measures. Currently, there are 3,000 schools across the country that have been judged to be ‘satisfactory’ two inspections in a row. It is likely that they will be the top priority to receive follow up inspections to judge whether sufficient progress is now being made.
More information about this proposal can be found here.
Later this month Sir Michael will outline his full set of proposals for changes to school inspection including these proposed changes. There will then be a consultation period followed by the final announcements.
This may be a set of proposals for consultation but it is highly likely they will be introduced and that inspections will start to reflect this tougher approach well before September.
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