ASCL has called on Ofsted to defer school and college inspections
on request because of the ongoing disruption caused by the
coronavirus pandemic.
Ofsted resumed all types of routine inspections in September
2021, after they were suspended in March 2020 during the first
school lockdown. Around 500 inspections took place between
September 2021 and October half-term.
During the autumn term Covid has caused increasingly high levels
of pupil and staff absence. The latest set of government
statistics showed that 248,000 pupils were out of school because
of the virus in the week before most half-term breaks took place.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, said: “Ofsted has to recognise that it is not
business as usual in schools and colleges and that many are
experiencing huge disruption.
“Lots are juggling online learning and in-person teaching with
different groups of pupils at different points in time and with
fewer staff available.
“It isn’t fair to insist that schools must be inspected when they
are in crisis mode. They need to be able to focus their time and
energy on the core business of teaching and supporting children,
rather than having to deal with inspections that could easily be
done at another time.
“Inspectors won’t be able to form a valid judgement because they
aren’t seeing the school as it operates normally. An inspection
in these circumstances just adds to the pressure and could end up
unfairly punishing a school if it results in an adverse
judgement.
“Ofsted introduced changes into inspection handbooks at the start
of this term to take coronavirus into account but these changes
don’t go far enough in recognising very serious disruption.
“The circumstances vary between schools so we are not calling for
a general moratorium on inspections, but for Ofsted to grant
deferrals on request. There is a deferral process already in
place but the bar for deferrals is set very high and isn’t
suitable for this situation.”
ASCL has written to Ofsted formally requesting this change in
policy. The only exception would be where there are serious
safeguarding concerns or concerns about a breakdown in leadership
and management. In these circumstances, ASCL would continue to
support immediate inspections.
