Ofsted is in talks with the government over pushing back the start of the initial teacher training inspection cycle, Schools Week understands.
Ofsted today confirmed it has postponed training planned for its ITT inspectors in January, raising questions about whether ITT inspections will start in the new year as planned.
A spokesperson for the inspectorate said it’s in discussion with the Department for Education about its ITT inspection activity and when this will commence.
The National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers and the Universities Council for the Education Of Teachers have been lobbying for ITT inspections to be delayed until the 2025-2026 academic year, amid a slew of incoming Ofsted inspection framework changes.
Providers still in the dark over framework after marked review changes
A number of big changes came into effect from September, following the government’s 2021 market review when ITT providers went through a reaccreditation process.
These included a requirement that mentors of trainee teachers must complete up to 20 hours of initial training.
This was scrapped on Wednesday after schools warned they were turning away trainees and struggling to cover mentors’ time.
Other key changes include is an intensive training and practice (ITAP) requirement that undergraduate trainees must set aside at least 20 days for.
Ofsted has said it will update its ITT inspection framework and handbook to reflect the changes.
In July, it told providers these would be published this autumn.
With ITT inspection due to restart in January, providers previously told Schools Week they feel in the dark about what they will be assessed against.
Ofsted claims move isn’t connected to axed mentor training requirement
Today, Ofsted said the ITT inspector training postponement isn’t connected to the DfE relaxing the mentor training requirement.
Questions are still likely to be raised that the two are linked, however.
Following its Big Listen consultation, Ofsted has also pledged to make a number of changes to the way it inspects teacher training.
It is due to consult on reforms to its education inspection framework in January.
Ofsted has pledged to axe the overall effectiveness grade for its teacher development inspections and to roll out report cards looking at a “broader range” of criteria.
It’s also committed to introducing “rubrics to highlight the areas that make the most difference to the quality of teacher development”, among other slated changes.
Calls to abandon proposed three-year inspection cycle
Another marked review reform is Ofsted moving from six-year to a three-year inspection cycle from September 2024, as part of a new approach to “external quality assurance”.
But, in its Big Listen response, Ofsted pledged to do more to reduce the “burden” of inspection, such as by working with the DfE to review the length of the inspection cycle.
In light of all this, NASBTT wants inspections of ITT providers to be paused for this academic year to give Ofsted time to test out new approaches to the framework, carry out focused monitoring visits and develop a “robust approach”, Schools Week previously reported.
“We would also support abandoning the proposed three-year inspection cycle and returning, from 2025-26, to a six yearly cycle, which should be sufficient for Ofsted to maintain a timely and effective oversight of quality,” James-Noble Rogers, executive director of UCET, said in September.
He said postponing ITT inspections for this academic year “will give the new programmes time to bed in and would reduce the pressures faced by both providers and their partner schools”.
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