inspection

The role of data on school and further education inspections

Text reads: The role of data on school and further education inspections. Two teenage students in uniform walk together outdoors.

This week we released information sets to schools, further education providers and inspectors that help frame our inspection activity. These are called the Inspection Data Summary Report (IDSR) for schools and Further Education and Skills Inspection Tool (FESIT) for further …

Our renewed inspection framework: what we’ve learned from pilots 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: inspection, schools
Text reads: Our renewed inspection framework: what we've learned from pilots. Three adults in blazers, wearing lanyards, are photographed walking along together and smiling.

Since September, we’ve carried out pilot inspections in 115 schools and taken time to carefully review the findings.  Overall, feedback on the renewed framework has continued to be really encouraging. Many providers described the toolkit and methodology as a positive …

Registering and inspecting school-based early years provision: what the updated guidance means for you  

Text reads: Registering and inspecting school-based early years provision: what the updated guidance means for you. On the right, an image of a young girl engrossed in crafts, with a woman calmly helping.

In this blog, we take you through the changes we’ve made to our guidance on registering and inspecting school-based provision to reflect how we are seeing early years or childcare provision being delivered.   Our updated guidance offers clearer definitions and …

Testing our proposals to improve education inspections

A teacher in front of a class of young children. Next to the image, text reads: 'Blog post: Testing our proposals to improve education inspections'

Earlier this month, we launched a public consultation on our new approach to inspecting education providers. This includes new toolkits for how we will inspect, and the introduction of report cards. We want to hear from parents, carers, learners and …

School inspection update September 2023 - changes to how we inspect schools

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: education inspection framework, inspection, schools
A class of students facing a teacher at a whiteboard

With pupils and teachers now returning to school for a new academic year, this blog gives an overview of some of the recent changes to the school inspection handbook and the way we inspect schools. In June 2023, we committed …

Our approach to inspecting the curriculum in alternative provision

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Alternative provider (AP) settings provide education for pupils with complex needs that can’t typically be met in mainstream schools. APs rightly differ from mainstream schools – they serve different purposes and have different objectives. When we inspect an AP, we …