Schools will not be judged on COVID-19 response

Speaking by video link to the Parliamentary education committee this morning, Ofsted's chief inspector Amanda Speilman said they would not be judging schools on how schools have responded to the coronavirus.

She said: “There is no standard of home or online learning by which we would be able to judge schools.”

She added: “We wouldn’t be asking for evidence of what you set children. There would be no ‘prove that you set children meaningful work’.”

Spielman also said that Ofsted is not expecting to be asked to resume full routine inspections before the end of the summer term, and that it was too early for her to say how any return to routine inspections might work.

“We’re going to have a year where there are going to be no tests and exam results, so there is going to be more weight, not less weight, put on the outcomes of Ofsted visits,” she said.

“I think it’s very important that parents aren’t left completely in the dark.”

She added: “Of course it’s about finding the right time, and it’s about using the inspection tools we have, because we have full inspections but we also have various kinds of short inspection visits, making sure that we’re using the right tool at the right time.”

Spielman also spoke of Ofsted's concern about vulnerable pupils and the impact of partial closures on them.
She said: “The longer the closure or almost closure, the greater the problems for those children,” she said.

The chief inspector added that COVID-19 “is clearly going to present the biggest problem for the poorest, the lowest-achieving academically and the least motivated children.

“Whether we like it or not, it is going to widen gaps, especially in the short term.”