Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Recommendation 41
41
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 132
Undertake research to understand and reduce inspection-related workload pressures on school staff.
Conclusion
The Department and Ofsted must go further than simply ‘myth-busting’: they must undertake a programme of research to fully understand the causes of inspection- related workload pressure and assess what changes would be genuinely helpful in reducing this. The new HMCI should prioritise work in this area as part of his “Big Listen” with the sector.
Government Response Summary
The government states that the 'Big Listen' initiative will serve as a programme of research to gather feedback on the impact of inspection and is committed to reducing workload. They will evaluate how leaders address well-being and reduce workload as part of this.
Paragraph Reference:
132
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
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.