Ofsted has faced a “difficult” year in which it has “rightly” come under scrutiny over Ruth Perry’s death, and faced “significant” financial challenges, its annual report and accounts states.
The watchdog has has published its corporate report for the 2023-24 financial year.
The documents cover the last nine months of Amanda Spielman’s tenure as chief inspector and the first three months under Sir Martyn Oliver.
Here’s what we learned.
1. ‘A difficult year’
Ofsted said its guiding principle was to be a “force for improvement” and the sectors it inspects and regulates “must have confidence in our ability to improve standards”.
But they added the last year “has been a difficult one”.
A coroner ruled last year that an Ofsted inspection contributed to Perry’s death. In response, Oliver launched his “Big Listen” consultation in order to shape proposed reforms.
“We launched the Big Listen at a time when Ofsted has – rightly – been under scrutiny following the tragic death of headteacher Ruth Perry last year. HMCI and everyone at Ofsted are determined that such tragedies should never happen again,” the report stated.
The watchdog said stakeholder engagement continues to be “a critical part of our response, with government, the public and sector representatives”.
2. Financial position a ‘significant challenge’
The civil service pay increase last year meant Ofsted’s staffing costs were “significantly more than we had been funded for”. Managing the financial position has been a “significant challenge”.
The watchdog said it required “some significant and difficult choices to mitigate the risk of overspending” and engaged “extensively” with DfE and the Treasury to “agree the savings proposals we put in place”.
However, Ofsted has not set out what savings it made.
3. Digital developments ‘paused’
Sir Martyn Oliver, chief inspector, said that as Ofsted responds to its “Big Listen” consultation, it “will need to marry the calls for change with the need to provide value for money”.
Ofsted said it had to slash its spend on digital developments during the year, in response to underfunded civil service pay rises.
It did this by “pausing work on a number of developments”, including a new service it was building to “support education inspections”.
Ofsted has not set out what the new service was, but said it would look into resuming it in the run up to the next spending review.
4. Auditors downgrade watchdog
The government’s internal audit agency previously gave Ofsted a “substantial opinion”, meaning its governance, risk management and control was “adequate and effective”.
This has now changed to “moderate”, meaning it is “largely adequate and effective”.
Ofsted said this reflected the impact of external factors, such as “significant criticism” of the inspection system and “adverse media coverage that Ofsted has received in the past year”.
5. Departing chief Spielman got a pay rise
Before Spielman left Ofsted at Christmas, it appears she received a pay rise. However there was a pay increase for most staff of between 4.5 to 6 per cent, the report added.
Spielman’s salary rose from the £190,000 to £195,000 pay bracket to £200,000 to £205,000.
Her successor Oliver is paid between £160,000 to £165,000 a year. Neither have received bonus payments.
6. More grades changed and inspections ‘incomplete’
This year, Ofsted changed the overall judgment given to schools on 36 occasions following a quality assurance process, nearly double the 19 instances the year before.
And 51 state schools inspections were found to be incomplete in 2023-24, more than double the 24 recorded the year before.
7. Inspection target missed due to pause
Ofsted conducted 6,696 inspections of state-funded schools, missing its target by 417 inspections, or six per cent.
It said this was caused by pausing routine inspections, in the wake of Perry’s inquest, between December 2023 and January 2024 to roll out mental health awareness training for inspectors.
8. Big Listen changes will come in next year
Ofsted reiterated that it will consult on any major changes it proposes as a result of the “Big Listen”.
It plans to put those changes in place during the 2024-25 academic year.
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