At the Apprenticeships and Training Conference in March 2025, I attended a couple of Ofsted sessions which understandably focused on their consultation.
Here are my key takeaways from those sessions:
In his keynote speech Lee Owston, Ofsted’s National Director of Education said that:
- Inclusion will become even more important, with a particular focus on what this means for older, post-16 learners
- Inspection is going to be a “professional dialogue on a completely equal footing” (between inspectors and nominees)
- The Toolkits which are currently being consulted on should support continuous improvement between inspections.
Most people working in education would agree that these are all positive changes. The difficulty comes in making them a reality. The aspiration that inspection becomes a professional dialogue is laudable but will require a further cultural shift the Ofsted their inspection workforce (that this training has already started was confirmed at the conference). As one attendee who has recently been through a voluntary trial inspection as part of the consultation put it “Changing the culture in Ofsted will be harder than changing the paperwork”.
Of course, providers will need to make that shift too because dialogue can involve challenge – and nominees will need to feel confident to suggest to an inspector that they may not be looking at things the right way.
It seems that the intention is to cement a model which treats both providers and inspectors as adult professionals and inspection as a considered and mutually respectful activity. Inspectors will be empowered to drive the flow of what they see at inspection to properly reflect what the provider does, rather than being restricted by the rigid lines of a deep dive. This should also give providers a greater ability to highlight areas of excellence, innovation and impact on their learner’s lives. Ofsted can only ever be a sampling activity, so be prepared to influence what they sample.
Key takeaways for me from the Ofsted consultation workshop were:
Of the four themes graded at provision level (education programmes for young people, provision for learners with high needs, apprenticeships and adult learning programmes), Ofsted suggested that three of the four had an equivalence with the three Is in the EIF:
- Curriculum = Intent
- Developing teaching and training = Implementation
- Achievement = Impact
- Participation and development
As for the new documentation and guidance, the view was that:
- The Inspection framework will provide the Why?
- The Operational guides, the How?
- And the Toolkits the What?
All interesting stuff but no substitute for reading the proposals yourself and responding to the consultation. The FE and Skills sector had the highest engagement rate with Ofsted’s previous Big Listen, so let’s make sure that we keep that up. Click here for more information
Also of interest
- Join our upcoming webinar, Navigating Ofsted: Understand the requirements and how to streamline compliance processes on Thursday 1 May. Secure your spot today and get the insights you need to navigate Ofsted with confidence!
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