Ofsted teams to make better use of inspectors' expertise

Ofsted has restructured its inspection teams for schools and further education, following feedback from the Big Listen last year and the recent consultation on inspection reform. The new team structures will focus on consistency, and using complementary skills of inspectors.

The changes will come into practice following the introduction of the renewed education inspection framework in November 2025, and will see all school and further education inspections led by current Ofsted His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs), or contracted Ofsted inspectors (OIs) with recent HMI experience, to utilise their more in-depth expertise and training.

OIs and their current sector knowledge will see them deployed as team inspectors, placing greater emphasis on matching their expertise to specific types of provision to complement the inspection expertise brought by HMIs.

This restructuring recognises the individual strengths of both HMIs and OI by more deliberately strategically combining them. Ofsted hopes that this will deliver a renewed approach to education inspection with more insightful, context-aware inspections that will better serve children, learners and education providers.

The Big Listen revealed that Ofsted inspectors do not always have the necessary expertise or experience to match the specific types of provision they’re inspecting, which makes it harder for them to understand the context the provider is working in. From November, most school and further education and skills inspectors will now have at least one inspector on the team with previous experience of working in a similar type of provision.

This comes alongside other changes Ofsted has already made, such as using Fridays to gather HMI teams for reflection and training.

Ofsted’s chief inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said: “We want to make sure our inspections are as consistent as possible, from Cornwall to Northumberland. We have already put stronger quality assurance measures in place, and utilising the expertise of our workforce as effectively as we can is another significant step forward.

“All inspection teams will have the right blend of inspection expertise and current sector insight. This will help us better understand the context of the schools and colleges we inspect, to provide a fair and accurate report for parents.”