Lorna Fitzjohn, Regional Director for West Midlands addressed the Leek Education Partnership Conference 2016 on 24 June 2016 which looks at the recent changes to inspection and the possible future of inspection.

1. Leek Education Partnership
Conference 2016
Lorna Fitzjohn
West Midlands Regional Director
24 June 2016

2. Inspecting schools and improving
education
Key messages informing our priorities
Changes to inspection
Improving schools
What does the future hold for inspection?

3. Subtitle
Speaker’s name
Strategic Priorities
Improved
quality,
efficiency and
effectiveness
ensuring that
inspection and
regulation provide
value for money
Improved focus
so that we target
inspection and
regulation where we
can make the most
difference
Improved
engagement
Ensuring that we are
credible, valued and
trusted and do not
introduce
unforeseen burdens
 Keeping children and young people safe
 Improving education and care for the
disadvantaged
 Raising aspirations and better transition
 Prioritising less than good
with a regional focus on...

4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 Embed the new education inspection
arrangements
 Review early years inspection
 Review social care inspection
 Transform administrative, professional and
technical support
 Develop and implement our workforce strategy
Across Ofsted we will:
Improved
quality,
efficiency and
effectiveness
ensuring that
inspection and
regulation provide
value for money

5.  Focus inspection on services that are less than
good
 Focus on the performance of the most
disadvantaged and vulnerable
 Identify and promote exceptional leadership
 Ensure that inspection looks at safeguarding
issues, including preventing radicalisation
 Promote the improvement of vocational and
further education
Across Ofsted we will:
Improved focus
so that we target
inspection and
regulation where we
can make the most
difference
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6. Across Ofsted we will:
 Work with parents and carers, learners and
employers
 Work with policy makers and influencers
 Work with those we inspect
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Improved
engagement
Ensuring that we are
credible, valued and
trusted and do not
introduce
unforeseen burdens

7. How are we doing in the
West Midlands?

8. The proportion of good or better early years
by local authority (December 2015)
Sandwell
Walsall

9. | 9
The proportion of good or better primary
schools by local authority (April 2016)
Sandwell
Walsall

10. The proportion of good or better secondary
schools by local authority (April 2016)
Sandwell
Walsall

11. How do inspection outcomes compare
between Staffordshire and West
Midlands for primary schools? (April 2016)

12. How do inspection outcomes compare
between Staffordshire and West
Midlands for secondary schools? (April 2016)

13. How does attainment in Staffordshire
compare with West Midlands and
England?

14. | 14
% pupils achieving 5 A*-C including
English and mathematics - fsm pupils

15. With the exception of Birmingham and Coventry low
attainers at KS2 make less progress to KS4 than similar
pupils nationally

16. Changes to inspection

17.  A new Common Inspection Framework
 Short inspections for all good maintained schools and
academies
 Short inspections also apply to good and outstanding
special schools, pupil referral units and
maintained nursery schools
 Ofsted Inspectors
We will:
 Do everything we can to remove the pressure for schools
to ‘get ready for inspection’ – we want to see what you do
daily for all of your pupils.
Changes to the way that we inspect:

18.  Emphasis on impact across all key judgements
 Impact of the culture of the school
 Importance of safeguarding as a golden
thread throughout all judgements, including the
testing of leaders’ work to meet the new Prevent
Duty
 The importance of a broad and balanced
curriculum
 A new judgement – personal development,
behaviour and welfare
 Alignment of the judgements on early years and
16-19 study programmes.
CIF Key messages

19. You may have heard some
myths
on what Ofsted expects around:
lesson planning
grading and observation
self-evaluation
marking and pupil feedback.
School inspections: myths

20. We don’t expect:
 schools to provide evidence beyond
that in our inspection handbook
 teachers or pupils to do work
specifically for the inspection
 evidence of the sub-headings in the
teachers’ standards for each teacher
 performance and pupil-tracking
information in a specific format for the
inspection. Just use the format you’d
ordinarily use to monitor the progress
of pupils.
Evidence for inspection

21. ‘We take a range of evidence into
account …
 published performance data
 school’s in-year performance
information
 work in pupils’ books/folders/online
 how teaching and learning is
routinely monitored and its link to
teachers’ performance
management and standards
but we don’t expect you to prepare
this specifically.’
Evidence for inspection

22. Effectiveness of leadership
and management
Increased emphasis on:
impact of leaders’ work in developing and sustaining an
ambitious culture and vision
tackling mediocrity and using robust performance
management to improve staff performance
ensuring that safeguarding arrangements to protect pupils
meet statutory requirements, promote their welfare and prevent
radicalisation and extremism.
An example from the descriptor for grade 1:
Leaders and governors have a deep, accurate understanding of
the school’s effectiveness informed by the views of pupils, parents
and staff. They use this to keep the school improving by focusing
on the impact of their actions in key areas.
CIF

23. ‘Choose a format that’s right for your school.’
Self-evaluation
Self-evaluation should
be part of the school’s
business processes –
not just for inspection.

24. ‘Inspectors are interested in the effectiveness of
planning rather than the form it takes.’
Planning for learning
We don’t specify:
 how planning should be set out
 the length of time it should take
 the amount of detail it should
contain.
And we don’t need to see individual or
previous lesson plans.

25. Teaching, learning
and assessment
Increased emphasis on:
the importance of developing pupils’ knowledge,
understanding and skills in all aspects of the curriculum
and across key stages – not just English and mathematics
assessment in all its forms.
No grading of lesson observations – removing myths
CIF

26. ‘We don’t grade the quality of teaching or
outcomes in the individual lessons visited.’
Grading of lessons
We don’t
grade
individual
lessons.

27. ‘Inspectors are interested in the effectiveness of
planning rather than the form it takes.’
Lesson observations
We don’t:
expect schools to
carry out a specified
amount of
observations
need to see specific
pay grade details of
individual teachers
that we observe.

28. Personal development,
behaviour and welfare
Personal development:
A key focus on pupils’ self-confidence and self-
awareness, and their understanding about how to be
successful learners
Welfare:
Physical and emotional well-being, including
healthy eating, fitness and mental health awareness
Staying safe online
Safe from all forms of bullying
CIF

29. ‘We don’t expect to see any specific frequency,
type, volume or written records of all feedback.’
Marking and feedback
 It’s for schools to decide
through their assessment
policy.
 We’ll look at how it’s used to
promote learning.
 If marking needs to improve,
we’ll make sure that our
recommendations don’t lead
to unnecessary workload for
teachers.

30. Personal development,
behaviour and welfare
Behaviour:
Emphasis on attitudes – are pupils ready to learn?
Behaviours that show respect for the school and
other pupils
Conduct and self-discipline
Attendance
CIF

31. Outcomes
Key message:
In judging outcomes, inspectors will give most
weight to pupils’ progress. They will take account
of pupils’ starting points in terms of their prior
attainment and age when evaluating progress.
Within this, they will give most weight to the
progress of pupils currently in the school,
taking account of how this compares with the progress
of recent cohorts, where relevant.
CIF

32. ‘We don’t expect to see a particular frequency or
quantity of work in pupils’ books or folders.’
Pupils’ work – in books and folders
We understand that this
depends on the subject
being studied and the
age and ability of the
pupils.

33. Short inspections

34. A different kind of inspection
 All short inspections are led by HMI for 1 day approximately
every three years.
 One HMI in most primary schools; two HMI in secondary schools
 No requirement to prepare documentary evidence solely for
inspection purposes. No preferred format for documentation.
 Two judgements: Is the school continuing to be a good
school? Is safeguarding effective?
 If more evidence is needed to reach a decision, or there is
evidence of improvement/decline, it will be converted to a
section 5 inspection.
 A short inspection will not change any of the graded
judgements for the school nor the overall effectiveness grade.
Short
inspections

35.  Schools receive half a day’s notice, as at present.
 Every good school is different. There is no ‘standard’
short inspection timetable.
 Meeting the headteacher/leaders throughout the day.
 Gathering first hand evidence from observing learning
and behaviour in lessons and around the school.
 Meetings with governors, leaders, staff and parents.
 Talking to pupils in lessons and at break/lunchtimes.
 Gathering evidence about the effectiveness of
safeguarding – not just relating to statutory requirements,
but all aspects of safeguarding.
The short inspection
day
Short
inspections

36. Professional dialogue
between HMI and school
leaders
 HMI will begin the discussions with leaders from the
starting hypothesis that the school remains
good.
 School leaders will need to demonstrate that the school
is still good, where there are areas for development, and
how they are tackling these.
 HMI will test leaders’ and governors’ assessment through
a range of inspection activity including observations and
discussion with pupils, staff, governors and parents.
 Professional dialogue with ongoing feedback to school
leaders throughout the day.
Short
inspections

37.  Have the leaders got a grip on the institution? Do they fully
understand its strengths and weaknesses?
 Have they communicated their strategy for raising standards to the
key stakeholders?
 Are they focussed on what really benefits children and young people,
rather than wasting their time endlessly preparing for an Ofsted
inspection which could be years away?
 Do they refuse to accept excuses for underachievement and are they
prepared to go the extra mile to compensate for family background?
 Are they presiding over the status quo, content to take the path of
least resistance or are they prepared to challenge staff and students
to do better?
 Have they built, or are they developing, a culture that is calm, orderly
and aspirational?
Questions for school leaders in short
inspections

38. When will school leaders know if the inspection
is converting?
Regular dialogue throughout the day, with a final
decision usually no later than 4pm.
Does a conversion always mean that the overall
effectiveness grade of the school will change?
No! Once the additional evidence to complete a full
section 5 inspection is gathered, inspectors may still find
the school to be good.
Converting to a full
inspection
Short
inspections

39. Reasons for conversion
 From the 364 inspections that converted:
- 100 inspections, or 27%, were because there was sufficient
evidence to suggest the overall effectiveness judgement
might be outstanding
- 248 inspections, or 68%, required more evidence
- 16 inspections, or 4%, identified concerns regarding
safeguarding that required further investigation
(Percentages may not add up to 100% because of rounding)
Short
inspections

40.  Evaluations of the school’s performance are
inaccurate, often based on over-generous views
about the quality of teaching or school standards
 Poor strategic leadership and a lack of clarity on key
performance issues
 Leaders and governors often slow to identify
weaknesses or fail to act quickly and decisively to
turn these round
 Too much inconsistency and variation in
performance across the school, particularly in the quality
of teaching, behaviour of pupils or middle leadership
(Taken from HMCI monthly commentary January 2016)
Common threads of schools that
declined from ‘good’
Short
inspections

41.  Self-critical leadership
 An aspirational culture in which the whole school
community was striving to do better
 Commitment to enriching all aspects of school life
 Robust plans in place for addressing weaknesses and
headteachers able to demonstrate how these are
making a difference to performance
(Taken from HMCI monthly commentary January 2016)
Common threads of schools remaining
‘good’ or improving
Short
inspections

42. Update and future of
inspection?

43. Lessons learnt so far on the new
framework
Further positives
 New Ofsted Inspectors (OI) have been well received by schools
and are performing well
 Schools have valued new notification arrangements and sharing
of lines of enquiry between Headteachers and lead inspectors
 New short inspection reports are succinct but detailed, with a
strong focus on leadership, ethos and safeguarding
 Methodology tests so far confirm that inspectors apply the
framework consistently and come to the same judgements about
conversion.

44. Lessons learnt so far on the new
framework
 We have recently moved to inspecting new schools in their
third year
 Academy converters that were previously good qualify for a
short inspection
 We await the outcome of the Education and Adoption Bill
which is seeking to enable earlier intervention on failing schools
in terms of academisation. This Bill also includes the new
powers for intervention in coasting schools.

45. Improving
schools
HMCI commentaries
and national reports
Rich sources of key messages and other information for
providers to help them to improve their provision can be found in:
HMCI monthly commentaries:
Improving primary schools (October 2015)
Governance (November 2015)
Short inspections (January 2016)
Teacher recruitment and retention (February 2016)
National reports, for example:
Key Stage 3: the wasted years?
Alternative provision

46. Government proposals for Ofsted
inspections
The Government’s White Paper: Educational
Excellence Everywhere, published March 2016,
announced the transformation of England’s
schools and included specific reference to the
work of Ofsted through two key proposals.

47. Government proposals for Ofsted
inspections
The paper proposes:
 the removal of the specific judgement on the quality of
teaching, learning and assessment from our
inspections of schools, early years and further education
and skills.
A consultation process to canvas views about how this
might work and the impact it would have will start
sometime in the new academic year of 2016/17. This will
ensure that everyone with an interest is given the
chance to contribute their views.

48. Government proposals for Ofsted
inspections
The paper proposes:
 new leaders of challenging schools will have ‘inspection
breaks’
- It will become established policy to carry out a re-inspection, of
a school that was judged to ‘require improvement’ at its last
inspection, around 30 months after the previous inspection
when a school has appointed a new headteacher.
- Similar arrangements are proposed for existing academies
where a new sponsor takes over the operation of the
academy. The academy would not normally be inspected
before its third year of operation, in line with the current policy
for new schools.

49. Raising standards through inspection
 The White Paper makes clear that inspection remains an
important part of the accountability system.
 Ofsted looks forward to continuing our work with the
Government and listening to the profession to alleviate
unnecessary burdens on school leaders and classroom
teachers.
 Ofsted will never decrease the rigour of our inspections as we
champion the rights of every child to a good
education.

50. Thank you
Any questions?

51. https://www.gov.uk/ofsted
http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/
And many of our presentations are at:
Ofsted on the web and on social media
https://uk.linkedin.com/company/ofsted
@Ofstednews
http://www.slideshare.net/Ofstednews