Second Special Report - Ofsted’s work with schools: Ofsted response to the Committee’s First Report

This is the government's response, published 11 March 2024.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

Ofsted says it has already acted on some recommendations, will explore most others through its 'Big Listen' consultation, and does not intend to action Recommendation 11.

• Ofsted reports action already taken, including mental health awareness training for all lead inspectors of schools and further education and skills, and a new policy allowing a school inspection to be paused. It says the whole inspection and regulatory workforce will complete the training before the end of March 2024.
• On inspection frequency and notice periods, it says the current five-year interval is set in legislation and gives reassurance to parents. It is "happy to consider potential changes to our notice periods" through the Big Listen, but "cannot immediately see how to implement different notice periods fairly".
• It does not intend to action Recommendation 11, an independent assessment of factors affecting retention of experienced HMIs, because it does not believe this is "a good use of public money".
• It commits to providing percentages of complaints per inspection remit from 2024-25, and intends to publish its evaluation of the education inspection framework as part of its response to the Big Listen. It says several other recommendations are matters for the DfE.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error