Terms of reference: Commissioned research on vulnerability and inclusion
Published 3 October 2024
Applies to England
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Introduction
We want to put the interests of disadvantaged and vulnerable children at the heart of future reforms at Ofsted. In our response to the Big Listen, we explained that we want to increase our focus on and scrutiny of how providers are meeting the needs of vulnerable children, learners and young people. As part of this, we will be introducing a new inspection criterion on inclusion. We want to help direct attention and resources to those with the highest need.
In order to look at inclusion in our inspection and regulatory work, we want to gather information on how others in the education and social care sectors understand vulnerability.
Following a competitive tendering exercise, we have appointed the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) to carry out research to help us with this. The work will be led by Research in Practice, which is part of the NCB.
Purpose of the research
The research will aim to help us answer the following questions:
- How is vulnerability currently understood in the education and social care sectors? What are the strengths and limitations of different understandings?
- How can Ofsted better understand vulnerability and its complexity, so that we can assess inclusive practice when inspecting or regulating in both the education and social care sectors?
Our approach
To answer these questions, the NCB will:
- carry out a rapid evidence review of existing literature that covers current theoretical foundations, definitions and understandings of vulnerability in both education and children’s social care contexts
- create an academic reference panel made up of inter-disciplinary researchers from education, social care and social policy; this will provide additional quality assurance within the project
- engage with a diverse and representative range of stakeholders, including children and young people, adult learners and professionals and senior leaders across the social care, education, early years and further education and skills sectors
- consolidate key findings from the literature review and stakeholder engagement into a report that will help us better understand vulnerability; we can then use this to inform our future inspection and regulation work.
We aim to publish the findings of this research (anticipated in 2025).
For further information about the project, please contact Research_Surveys@ofsted.gov.uk.