Guidance

Summary of changes

Updated 5 April 2024

Applies to England

April 2024

Paragraph 49: clarification that, when applying the handbook, inspectors will take appropriate action to comply with Ofsted’s Equality Act duties.

Paragraph 74: clarification on opportunities to provide information on and/or discuss potential equalities duties, including reasonable adjustments for individuals.

Paragraph 75: clarification regarding Ofsted’s updated complaints policy.

Paragraph 101: clarification regarding Ofsted’s pausing policy.

Paragraph 120: minor amendment to provide clarification on when inspectors should contact the regional duty desk to discuss the appropriate action to take when there are well-being concerns.

Paragraph 147 to 148, 150: clarification regarding updated arrangements for publishing reports in line with Ofsted’s new complaints process.

Paragraph 158: clarification regarding updated arrangements for quality assurance in line with Ofsted’s new complaints process.

Paragraph 162: clarification regarding updated arrangements for handling concerns and complaints in line with Ofsted’s new complaints process.

January 2024

Paragraph 16: clarification regarding Ofsted’s role as an inspectorate of ITE providers, and not of the specific individuals that work in them.

Paragraph 51, 75, 130 to 131, 142: clarifications on involving the provider representative and leaders during inspections, who may attend meetings, including end of day meetings, how they can contribute and how inspectors will ensure leaders are kept informed of how the inspection is progressing.

Paragraph 99: clarification on requesting a deferral.

Paragraph 61, 72: clarification regarding the preparatory conversations between the lead inspector and provider representatives.

Paragraph 63: clarification that the lead inspector will encourage the provider representative to have someone else present during the planning and reflective, educationally focused conversations.

Paragraph 67 to 68, 73 to 74: updates to reflect the information inspectors will request and discuss during the planning and reflective, educationally focused conversations and who may attend these conversations.

Paragraph 117 to 119: clarification regarding meetings with staff, trainees, ECTs, and former trainees to reflect who may be present and how inspectors should engage with leaders and respond if they see or suspect that a staff member is upset or distressed.

Paragraph 100, 120: new section providing clarification that there may be exceptional occasions when a pause to inspection needs to be considered.

Paragraph 142: clarification on who provisional inspection outcomes may be shared with, including people not involved with the provider.

Paragraph 146 to 147, 150, 153: clarification on when draft inspection reports are sent to providers, who they may be shared with and when the inspection is considered complete.

Paragraph 74, 131, 142, 160 to 162: updated to reflect how leaders may raise concerns both during the inspection and afterwards.

Paragraph 163 to 165: clarification regarding the expectations for inspectors’ and providers’ conduct during inspections.

July 2023

In this update, we have:

• provided clarifications that the Department for Education’s current criteria will remain active until the end of August 2024, and the new initial teacher training criteria and quality requirements will be published after this date and that further education and skills phase ITE inspections can take place in any term.

• provided more information on making a complaint and Ofsted’s code of conduct.

• updated Annex B: Glossary of common terminology, including adding an early career framework reference to define the purpose of the programme and remove introductory text on piloting.

February 2022

We have updated the note under the ‘Good’ grade descriptor for the quality of education and training judgement to reflect that we intend to review transition arrangements relating to COVID-19 in time for September 2022.

December 2021

References to newly qualified teachers (NQTs)

We have updated all references to newly qualified teachers (NQTs) to refer to early career teachers (ECTs), including the glossary, due to the recently published DfE guidance, ‘Induction for early career teachers (England)’.

References to ITE ‘providers’ and ‘partnerships’

Paragraphs 9 to 11: we have included a new explanatory statement to clarify the meaning of references made to ‘partnerships’ and ‘providers’ throughout the handbook. This is to reflect that not all teacher training provision inspected under the framework is a formal ‘partnership’.

References to centre-based and placement-based teacher training

Paragraphs 12 to 13: We have included new paragraphs to clarify the meaning of references to centre-based and placement-based teacher training and how these are used in the context of further education teacher training.

Teacher Training provision in scope of ITE inspections

Paragraph 14: We have included a new section to confirm the routes into teaching (for all age phases) that are in scope of an ITE inspection.

Reference to pupils

Paragraph 17: We have included a note to define the term ‘pupils’ used throughout the document. This is to clarify that the term ‘pupils’ is used to refer to children in early years, pupils at primary and secondary, students in post-16 provision and learners in FES, as appropriate to the teacher education phase.

How we determine the timing of an ITE inspection

Paragraph 20: We have included confirmation of the change to the ITE inspection cycle following the conclusion of Department for Education’s Initial teacher training (ITT) market review.

Concurrent inspection of validated programmes

Paragraphs 46 to 47: We have revised previous statements, to simplify and clarify arrangements for the inspection of validated programmes.

Transitional arrangements

First paragraph under ‘good’ criteria for quality of education and training: We have updated the transitional statement, confirming that we will review the arrangements in March 2022. This approach aligns with other remits under the education inspection framework (EIF).

Annex A – Instructions and guidance for thematic subject inspections

We have removed all references to ‘focused’ in Annex A to avoid confusion with refences to ‘focused reviews’. We confirm that thematic subject inspections are not part of a full routine inspection.

April 2021

This section outlines changes to inspection practice. This does not include corrections or changes made to improve clarity in how the framework is written.

• Page 6, paragraph 14 – a new footnote reference has been included, to redirect readers to the published risk assessment methodology for ITE inspections.

• Page 10, paragraphs 40-45 – a new section on ‘Inspection during the COVID-19 pandemic’ has been included. This section provides clarity around inspection practice in the COVID-19 context, such as expectations around on-site inspections and the inspection preparation discussions.

• Page 19, paragraphs 77 and 80 – new references to the point-of-inspection trainee and staff surveys that are introduced under the new framework.

December 2020

Following a review of the consultation responses we received during January to April 2020, we have reviewed the draft framework and handbook document in full.

Most of the amendments made have been to tidy up formatting and the language used and to remove any repetition that might cause confusion.

However, we have made the following amendments that are important to draw your attention to.

Concurrent inspection of validated programmes

See page 10, paragraphs 42 and 43.

We received feedback that our original statement, setting out arrangements for validated programmes was not very clear (previously set out as paragraph 83). We have now revised this section to expand on our explanation about validated programmes and the fact that we will carry out the inspection of these programmes concurrently.

Information that partnerships must provide

See pages 10–18.

We received feedback that the list of information expected from partnerships was confusing in terms of whether we require information for planning purposes or for the first day of inspection. We have reviewed this section in full to set out what we expect to receive and by when.

References to formative and summative assessment

See pages 9, 11, 16, 27, 36, 43, 44, 46, 48 and 51.

Respondents raised concerns about the expectations around trainee assessment within the draft handbook. To provide clarity, we have provided a response to this concern within our consultation report and have distinguished between formative and summative assessment. Specific references to ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ assessment are now included throughout the handbook

Transitional arrangements

See page 38 (first paragraph under ‘good’).

We have added a transitional arrangement statement to the handbook. This addresses the fact that we are aware partnerships may have made significant progress in developing their curriculum plans but may not have fully completed this by the time we start inspecting. This approach aligns with that of education inspection framework (EIF).

Leadership and management

See pages 46–50.

The leadership and management paragraphs that precede the grade descriptors have been restructured to make a clearer distinction between:

• statements that indicate sources of evidence that inspectors will or must consider
• criteria that inspectors use in applying their judgement when considering the evidence