Ofsted launches five year strategy

Ofsted has published its five year corporate strategy on how it will deliver its mission of improving the lives of children and young people.

To understand how its reports can provide more information and enable choice, Ofsted will undertake a series of parent focus groups. Ofsted will undertake research and learn from others to ensure that Ofsted is reliably measuring the right things, and that these measures add up to a meaningful overall judgement.

Ofsted will also be bringing back its state-of-the-nation reports and will inspect ‘outstanding’ schools more often so best practice can be shared.

Ofsted is also calling for new regulation that would allow it to inspect MATs. The schools’ inspectorate states: “In the coming months, we will work with the Department for Education to develop new approaches and expertise to allow us to be better scrutinise education, training and care structures, including at the multi-academy trust level.”

Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector of Ofsted, said: “I am pleased to announce our new corporate strategy, which will set Ofsted’s direction during my tenure as Chief Inspector. I am determined that Ofsted will be a force for improvement.

“By really drilling down on how, where and why we inspect and report, we can ensure that inspection and regulation are more than the sum of their parts. One of our greatest strengths is our bird’s eye view of the education, training and care systems. Over my time in office, we will do more to aggregate the insights from individual inspections, so that we can better encourage and support improvement across all the areas we inspect and regulate.

“This high-reaching strategy commits us to inspection that is intelligent, responsible and focused. It will allow us to tackle emerging challenges and take advantage of new opportunities, ensuring that we can have maximum impact in improving young people’s lives.”