Responding to Ofsted’s report into how
multi-academy trusts are involved in school inspections, Tom
Middlehurst, Curriculum, Assessment and Inspection Specialist at
the Association of School and College Leaders, said:
“This research makes clear that, while trusts are involved
throughout the inspection process, their exact role varies
greatly and is not well defined due to the legal requirement for
Ofsted to inspect at school level. This is frustrating for trust
leaders who are responsible for the education provided in their
schools, including providing the necessary support and changes in
the case of an inadequate or requires improvement judgement from
Ofsted.
“In the short term, it is essential that trust leaders are
involved at an appropriate level in school inspections, to more
accurately reflect where decisions are made and where
responsibility sits. In the longer term, considering the
government’s ambition for all schools to be part of a strong
trust, we should be considering a system which formally inspects
groups of schools.
“An integral part of getting this system right will be ensuring
inspectors have relevant expertise and we suggest the lead
inspector of any future trust inspection should themselves have
experience of having led a trust. It is also essential that any
move towards trust inspection doesn’t increase the workload of
leaders and teachers.
“Any new approach to inspection will take time to develop. We
would like to see the Department for Education fund Ofsted to
pilot trust inspections to help establish whether a single set of
standards can work equally well for trusts of different sizes,
and how such inspections might sit alongside or replace school
inspections. This should form part of a broader review of whether
or not Ofsted is fit for purpose, given other concerns about the
way in which the inspectorate currently operates.”
