Ofsted calls for greater role in inspections of private schools
EDUCATION WATCHDOG Ofsted is demanding greater power to scrutinise private school inspectors amid concerns there is not enough evidence to show that problems can be spotted and tackled.
The watchdog’s chief inspector Amanda Spielman wrote to Education Secretary Damian Hinds asking him to allow it carry out more checks on the quality of inspections carried out at private schools.
Her request follows the watchdog publishing its annual reports into the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) and the School Inspection Service (SIS), which carry out inspections of private schools.
Each year, Ofsted is required to monitor performance and report back to the Education Secretary, but Ms Spielman said 2017-18 was the third year she had been unable to make a recommendation about continued approval due to a lack of evidence. She said that while many of the two organisations’ inspections are carried out to a high standard, Ofsted’s ability to monitor them is “seriously hampered” by the existing arrangements with the Department for Education (DfE).
Ms Spielman said the DfE had commissioned the watchdog to conduct on-site monitoring visits of only two ISI and two SIS school inspections since 2015-16.
She added: “This level of evidence and information is clearly not sufficient to provide for an objective assessment of the quality or standards of their inspections.
“I am therefore concerned that, while many inspections are doubtless carried out to a high standard, the system is not currently configured so that any problems can be spotted and tackled, for example regarding potential safeguarding issues in the schools.”
A DfE spokesman said: “Following a request from Ofsted to scale back their role in monitoring arrangements in 2015, the inspectorate still plays an important role in maintaining the high standards we expect in independent schools.”