Almost 1,000 school leaders put forward for Ofsted peer inspector pilot

More than 180 trusts and school groups collectively put forward almost 1,000 leaders take part in Ofsted’s ongoing “peer inspector” pilot, it has emerged.

Chief inspector Martyn Oliver revealed in March that Ofsted was launching a pilot to batch-recruit groups of leaders from trusts and school networks, as Ofsted inspectors.

Under the Ofsted peer inspector (OPI) programme, the watchdog contributes directly to employers’ costs so staff can inspect “as part of their professional development”.

A freedom of information request by Schools Week has revealed that, as of late July, 181 trusts and school networks had expressed interest in the pilot, putting forward 958 leaders to be trained.

‘Strengthen relationship with sector’

Ofsted declined to name the trusts and schools taking part.

But Ark Schools multi-academy trust confirmed it has enrolled 20 leaders from across its schools and central team to take part in the pilot.

Director of primary Lorraine Clarke said: “We see this as a valuable way for school and trust leaders to gain a deeper understanding of the inspection process.

“We also hope participation will help strengthen the relationship between the sector and Ofsted, support greater consistency in the application of inspection frameworks, and create opportunities for constructive feedback that ultimately benefit all schools and pupils.”

Tom Campbell, chief executive of E-ACT, revealed in an article for Schools Week that his trust also put forward 20 leaders.

He said the concept of the pilot is “intuitive and appealing”.

Leaders ‘bring empathy’

“Inspections will feel less adversarial if the person across the table has walked in your shoes…practitioners will bring empathy, credibility and current knowledge and, over time, relationships with the sector will duly start to heal”.

But Campbell added that OPIs still have “a framework, a deadline, an evidence base to assemble and a lead inspector to satisfy”.

“Changing who inspects, without changing what inspection is, treats the symptom and leaves the situation intact,” he added.

He said his trust is “thinking carefully about how we support our leaders in navigating [the] dual persona”, of being “practitioner-inspectors”.

‘Significant ongoing commitment’

Meanwhile 16 members of staff from Lift Schools are taking part in the pilot, from primary, secondary and special schools across the MAT’s five regions.

“While the training has been intense and necessitates a significant initial and then ongoing time commitment, the benefits of taking part have far-outweighed any logistical challenges,” said Lift’s regional education director, Karl Sampon.

“For our staff, it has meant high-quality professional development, including the opportunity to see first-hand different educational settings and practices within their specialist phase.”

‘Helps demystify inspections’

He said it has also brought his leaders “a stronger understanding of the inspection framework, judgments, and current expectations”.

“This insight is invaluable when supporting improvement work in our own schools and when preparing for our own inspections. It helps to demystify the whole inspection process and supports better dialogue.”

Meanwhile, the programme benefits the watchdog by “bringing current sector practice and insight from serving leaders directly into Ofsted’s operations in a more regular and systematic way”.

“This means we can share the realities and sector challenges that the inspectorate can then use to refine and improve their approach to inspection.”

Former HMI Adrian Gray described the programme as “a good way of disseminating understanding of inspection amongst trust staff”.

He said this would “ideally…then lead to better schools”, but said it should “not just lead to better grades”.

Gray added it is important OPIs take part in inspections regularly, pointing out that “one or two inspections a year…is not enough” to keep practised.

‘OI quality can be varied’

But another former HMI, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “The quality of Ofsted inspectors can be quite varied because there are some that haven’t been in schools for a long time or have retired and now just do sporadic inspections.

“When you do something sporadically or infrequently, you aren’t going to have that same level of expertise.

“Whereas OPIs work for a trust or for a local authority. They’re in it, which means they have current knowledge and expertise.”

They said they had recently inspected alongside an OPI, who “had a brilliant knowledge of how pupils learn”.

They added that the process of training together means OPIs “can develop together, and share knowledge” – in a way that is more akin to the experience of HMI than OI.

Ofsted ‘very pleased’

Ofsted previously said the pilot will continue throughout 2026, and feedback “will help inform how Ofsted recruit OIs in the future”.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: We’re very pleased with progress so far and encouraged by the positive feedback from colleagues taking part in the pilot

“Sir Martyn has a clear ambition to make inspections more collaborative than ever.

“We want to do that by bringing in more inspectors who are current school leaders, with up-to-the minute understanding of what’s happening in schools, to inspect alongside our expert His Majesty’s Inspectors.”