Amanda Spielman | Schools Week

Under-fire Ofsted plans research to assess impact of school funding cuts

Ofsted is planning to research the impact of funding cuts, as its chief inspector comes under fire for standing firm on her insistence there is no “clear evidence” to show funding pressures are hitting schools. Daniel Muijs, Ofsted’s head of research, told Schools Week the inspectorate will be running research next year on the impact […]

Ofsted attempts parental charm offensive

Ofsted wants to make its inspection reports more accessible to parents because they are its “most important education stakeholders”, according to a senior official. Amy Finch, its head of strategic development, said this week that when Ofsted’s new framework comes into effect from September 2019, it will improve parental communication by using clearer language in […]

Amanda Spielman’s Ofsted moves away from ‘male-dominated’ culture

Ofsted’s next inspection framework will promote a more “collaborative” approach to leadership, in a move away from the “male-dominated” culture of the watchdog’s past, a senior inspector has said. According to Gill Jones, Ofsted’s deputy director for early education, Amanda Spielman has sought to steer the organisation’s approach to rating school leadership away from the legacy […]

Ofsted leadership approval soars under Spielman

A survey of civil servants working at the schools watchdog shows a surge in approval of Ofsted’s leadership and ability to manage change this year. The 2017 civil service people survey has offered the first glimpse into life at the inspectorate under Amanda Spielman, who took over as chief inspector from Sir Michael Wilshaw in […]

Hijabs are none of Ofsted’s business

Schools should be safe spaces – allowing outside authority figures to probe young girls’ choice of religious expression is precisely the wrong approach to take, argues Zubeda Limbada Last week, Amanda Spielman recommended that Ofsted inspectors in England should question Muslim primary school girls who wear a headscarf. She wants to tackle situations in which […]

Ofsted’s Spielman examines book scrutiny in inspections

Ofsted is considering a new approach to book scrutiny, in which off-site inspectors will look at scanned versions of pupils’ books. The watchdog’s chief inspection Amanda Spielman gave a speech at the fifth annual national conference of ResearchED today, in which she explained areas of development she will be focusing on in the coming months. […]

Amanda Spielman is right: our schools are too risk averse

Risk-aversion in schools has gone too far, argues Andy Phippen. We need to empower our pupils to manage and mitigate risks themselves. In last week’s Sunday Times, Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, called for a change in the risk-averse culture in our schools, claiming they have become places where children are so wrapped in cotton […]

New Ofsted chief sets out her battle plans

Amanda Spielman is starting to warm up in her role at Ofsted and it is exciting, if slightly alarming, to watch. Her inspector’s focus on curriculum is correct and difficult. Correct because schools have started to concentrate too much on exams. Primary pupils spend most of their final year learning the contrived version of English […]

Amanda Spielman, chief inspector, Ofsted

When Amanda Spielman told a packed audience at the Festival of Education that she aspired to be like Bismarck, it was hoped that the chief inspector meant Otto von, the iron chancellor who unified 19th-century Germany through diplomacy, rather than the battleship that was fatally damaged on its first offensive operation. In her first speech […]