Guidance

Initial teacher education (ITE) inspection framework and handbook

This framework and handbook document sets out Ofsted’s inspection principles, guidance and the main judgements that inspectors make when inspecting initial teacher education (ITE).

Applies to England

Documents

Details

The first part of the document is the ITE inspection framework, which sets out how Ofsted will inspect ITE providers and make judgements about the different phases of ITE training.

The second part of the document is the inspection handbook. This is primarily a guide for Ofsted inspectors on how to carry out inspections of ITE in England.

ITE providers and other interested parties may use the framework and handbook to find out about Ofsted’s ITE inspection processes and procedures. We also have a leaflet for providers that explains what happens when we carry out ITE inspections.

We ran a consultation on the framework and draft handbook between January and April 2020.

Updates to this page

Published 24 June 2020
Last updated 5 April 2024 + show all updates
  1. See 'Summary of changes'.

  2. See 'Summary of changes'.

  3. We are in the process of updating this handbook to reflect the changes mentioned in our statement published on 7 December.

  4. See 'Summary of changes'.

  5. See 'Summary of changes' for details.

  6. See 'Summary of changes' for details of the updates.

  7. See 'Summary of changes' for details of the updates.

  8. Added a new section: ‘Inspection during the COVID-19 pandemic’ and minor edits. See summary of changes for more information.

  9. Added a note confirming that Ofsted will carry out full graded ITE inspections from April 2021.

  10. First published.

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