Ofsted launches engagement programme ahead of November inspections

Ofsted has announced it will run a programme of webinars and regional events from September to help education providers prepare for inspections under its renewed framework, which comes into effect in November.

The sector engagement programme will begin when Ofsted publishes its final set of inspection reforms in September. The events, running throughout the autumn term, will allow providers to familiarise themselves with the changes. Routine school and further education inspections will remain on hold during the first part of the term.

Live webinars will be held for different provider types across early years, schools, further education and skills, and initial teacher education. Recordings will be made available on Ofsted’s YouTube channel. Regional events, both in person and online, will also be hosted by local providers, local authorities and partners.

For the early years sector, there will be separate webinars for childminders, group-based provision and out-of-school clubs. Schools will have individual webinars for maintained nurseries, primary and secondary schools, non-association independent schools, University Technical Colleges, special schools and alternative provision.

Further education and skills providers will have sessions on 16 to 19 programmes, apprenticeships, adult learning and high needs provision. For initial teacher education, there will be one webinar for all phases and another for further education and skills programmes.

Ofsted will also introduce the use of nominees – already used in further education inspections – across other education remits from November. Nominees help inspections run smoothly by providing contextual information and acting as a point of contact between providers and inspection teams. 

Inspectors will receive face-to-face training and complete pilot visits to volunteer settings before the renewed framework begins. Full inspector training materials will be published online once the training programme is complete.

Sir Martyn Oliver, chief inspector of Ofsted, said: “I want to reassure education providers that, through our national engagement programme and published materials, they will be able to familiarise themselves with the changes during the first part of the autumn term – while routine school and further education and skills inspections are on hold.

“Our inspectors will all receive extensive training between now and November, and many will have had the experience of a full pilot inspection. I know there are some concerns about the timeline for these changes, that’s why we are planning such a comprehensive programme. I have every confidence that our approach will support a successful roll-out of new-look inspections in November.”