Full graded inspections of initial teacher education will recommence in April, Ofsted has confirmed.
Like its other inspections, Ofsted’s activity in ITE was suspended earlier this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
But the inspectorate has issued a note today confirming the inspections will resume in April. It follows an announcement that full inspections of schools will resume at Easter at the earliest.
Ofsted has also announced it will carry out a “thematic survey of ITE providers” from January before full inspections begin again.
The survey “will focus on how Covid-19 has affected the provision of ITE”, and result in a “single published report” before the start of inspections in April.
It comes after Ofsted rewrote its ITE inspection framework to bring it into line with its new school inspection regime.
When the inspections resume, they will have changed from a two-stage to a one-stage model, and will have a greater focus on the quality of what is taught rather than outcomes.
Ofsted has also published its risk assessment methodology for inspections once they resume. These are updated annually.
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