Response to new Ofsted short inspections ‘largely positive’, Wilshaw says

The response to Ofsted’s new short inspection system for schools judged as ‘good’ has been ‘largely positive’, according to Ofsted’s chief inspector.

In his monthly commentary, Sir Michael Wilshaw reflected on what has been learned from the first round of the new short inspections, reiterating that they were designed to be more flexible and ‘reduce the burden of inspection without losing any of the rigour that parents rightly expect’.

The Ofsted chief was complimentary to head teachers, saying they had ‘generally been open and candid with inspectors about the relative strengths and weaknesses of their schools’. He said that feedback on the new inspections had been ‘largely positive’ and that inspectors felt that one day is ‘usually enough time’ to make a proper assessment of the school and to collect the views of teachers, governors and pupils as well as the leadership team.

Further explaining how the new inspections work, Wilshaw explained that if an inspector feels that they have not seen enough evidence in a day to form a clear view that a school is still ‘good’, the short inspections is then converted into a full ‘section five’, which results in more inspectors called to the school to gather additional evidence. The same applies for when an inspector feels a school may deserve to be judged as ‘outstanding’.