Ofsted | Schools Week

Fury over Spielman rejection ramped up by Morgan aide’s letter

Education heavyweights have today publicly backed Amanda Spielman to be the next Ofsted chief inspector after a cross-party group of MPs rejected her appointment. Among those who have publicly announced their support for Spielman this morning are Sir David Carter, the schools commissioner, and Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director of education. Schools Week also learned […]

Amanda Spielman rejected by cross-party MPs for Ofsted chief inspector role

The House of Commons education committee has rejected the government’s proposal that Amanda Spielman become the next chief inspector of Ofsted. But Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, has signalled her belief that her candidate is still “the best person” for the job. Spielman, chair of Ofqual, was named on June 10 as the government’s preferred […]

New Ofsted chief faces £31 million funding black hole, Wilshaw admits

Ofsted’s new chief inspector will be left with a budget black hole of more than £30 million, Sir Michael Wilshaw has admitted. The inspectorate’s current boss says Ofsted needs to save £31.5 million over the next four years, and that its financial situation will present “risks” and pose a “challenge” for the organisation as a […]

Ofsted will consider scrapping ‘outstanding’ grade, says new chief inspector

Ofsted will consider scrapping its controversial ‘outstanding’ grade, the new chief inspector has told MPs. Amanda Spielman, who has been selected by the government to succeed Sir Michael Wilshaw when his term ends at the end of the year, told MPs on the education select committee this morning that she wanted to have “discussions” about […]

Ofsted letter to inspectors: ‘Clamp down on gaming’

Ofsted has formally written to inspectors urging them to look out for schools entering pupils for qualifications to boost their league-table standings, rather than in the best interests of pupils. The move follows a string of investigations by Schools Week which revealed how schools were entering pupils en-masse to obscure qualifications to boost their performance. […]

INVESTIGATION: Ofsted saves over £3m by delaying inspections

School leaders blame the struggle to recruit inspectors Ofsted has saved more than £3 million this year by delaying inspections, amid concerns about the lack of available inspectors. Schools Week can reveal that board minutes published by the education watchdog this week show it is forecasting an underspend of £3.1 million. The document states this […]

If I were Ofsted chief inspector…

Two grades, three categories, central data analysis and no aggregation. Go on Amanda Spielman, urges Matt Hood, what do you say to that? We have a new Ofsted chief inspector agreed by Number 10 and awaiting sign-off. Hurray. But what should Amanda Spielman do on day one? Ofsted has already made big improvements in the […]

Someone knock their bloody heads together

One of the few Shakespearean phrases I knew growing up was “someone knock their bloody heads together”. Unfortunately, I learned one day when I was about 20 that Shakespeare never said it. It’s still a good phrase though. And it’s an important one this week. A problem of politics is that it makes personalities impinge […]

Ofsted should take responsibility for primary curriculum bias

In his latest commentary, Sir Michael Wilshaw said subjects like science and modern languages have become the ‘poor relations’ of the primary school curriculum. Colin Richards argues that Ofsted is in large part responsible for the status quo. Ofsted has a lot to answer for when the chief inspector’s latest monthly commentary dares to criticise primary schools […]