Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 40
40
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 131
Inspection-related workload pressures on teachers and leaders remain despite Ofsted's 'myth-busting'.
Conclusion
It is clear that many teachers and school leaders are struggling with workload pressures in their roles, which are exacerbated by perceptions of what Ofsted expects to see in inspections. There are also concerns that the new framework has caused additional workload pressures for teachers, particularly subject leaders, and school leaders. Ofsted has taken steps to address this through its ‘myth-busting’ work, but the evidence presented to us suggests that this has not been effective or reached all the audiences who need to hear it.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges workload pressures and states the 'Big Listen' will gather feedback on the impact of inspection. It commits to evaluating how leaders address staff wellbeing and workload, and continuing efforts to reduce burdens associated with the inspection process.
Paragraph Reference:
131
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
A key element of the Big Listen, as a programme of research, is to hear more about the impact of inspection (as referred to in Recommendation 24). We know that inspection puts pressure on the sectors we inspect, which is why we are determined to strike the right balance between carrying out our role and reducing pressures on the leaders and staff we inspect. We are determined to hear feedback on how we can better strike this balance in the coming months. Since 2015, we have tried to tackle misconceptions about inspection through our ‘myth-busting’ work. We remain committed to reducing workload for teachers and leaders. We will do this by evaluating how effectively leaders address well-being and reduce workload for their staff as part of our judgement on the quality of leadership and management, and through our commitment to reducing the burdens and potential anxieties associated with the inspection process itself. We also remain a long-term partner of the DfE’s workload taskforce and have worked directly with it to develop and deliver a series of webinars about reducing the burden of inspection.