Research and analysis

Ofsted's response to the independent learning review by Dame Christine Gilbert

Published 3 September 2024

Applies to England

Context

Dame Christine Gilbert’s review makes 14 recommendations. Here, we will respond to each one.

Alongside this response, we also published evidence from other activities that formed part of the Big Listen:

• Report detailing results of the public consultation
• Independent report, written by IFF Research, into the views of the professionals we work with
• Independent report, written by NatCen, into the views of the parents and carers we work for
• Report detailing results of our children’s survey
• Independent learning review led by Dame Christine Gilbert

Find all supporting documents for the Ofsted Big Listen response.

Recommendation 1

Ofsted’s actions following the reports of both the Coroner and the Education Select Committee should continue with a sense of urgency. The outstanding actions and other improvement and development initiatives (including those arising from the Big Listen) should be integrated into a single, overarching improvement and development plan which is owned by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI), staff and the Board. This top-level plan and regular monitoring reports should be published for transparency on Ofsted’s website.

We fully accept this recommendation.

Our new strategy delivery unit is now responsible for all the actions from our response to the Coroner and the Education Select Committee. This unit monitors how we are putting the actions into place across the organisation, through the ‘Ofsted 2025’ programme.

The Board will oversee and scrutinise how we do this. They will hold regular challenge sessions, involving the Chair, HMCI and the Head of Legal. We will also give regular updates to the whole Board.

We will incorporate the new actions described in the Big Listen response and this independent review into a single top-level plan. As recommended – and as part of our commitment to transparency – we will publish this plan. We will also update it regularly to show our progress.

Recommendation 2

The changes following Ofsted’s consultation and engagement exercise, the Big Listen, should be implemented in a way that shows explicitly that staff have been listened to. The ‘upward communication’ that has been enabled by the Big Listen needs to be built into Ofsted’s culture and ways of working in the future.

We fully accept this recommendation.

The staff at Ofsted are professionals who are dedicated to our mission to raise standards and improve lives for children. This includes the thousands of inspectors who work part-time for us while also leading providers in the system.

As part of our broader commitment to improving the organisation’s culture, we engaged directly with hundreds of our staff through the Big Listen. We have published our internal Big Listen, sharing staff feedback and outlining our actions. Through this, we want to show to both our staff and the public our dedication to maintaining an open dialogue with all Ofsted staff.

Recommendation 3

Ofsted should organise a senior leadership development session, involving Board members and the executive team, to work through a range of critical and serious incident scenarios. This session should include input from experts on crisis communications. The learning can then be used to broaden the procedure. The National Directors, supported by other senior leaders, should play a leading and authoritative role as the guardian of inspection standards and practice in any future critical or serious incident.

We fully accept this recommendation.

We will hold ‘extraordinary’ Board meetings, including Ofsted’s executive team, to deal with critical incident scenarios. This will feature National Directors in their key role as guardians of our inspection standards.

To make sure that these meetings are effective, we will work with external communications experts on how to design and facilitate them.

Recommendation 4

A programme of external review and evaluation, undertaken by an independent research organisation, should be built into Ofsted’s plans for reform, particularly of school inspection, at key stages of implementation. Rather than just annual surveys, research will need to be nuanced in timing and approach to support decision-making. As part of this transparent approach, rather than being returned directly by the school to Ofsted, post-inspection surveys should be administered through a third-party, independent organisation.

We accept the recommendation to carry out independent research to monitor and evaluate our reforms. We understand that this will help us reduce any unintended consequences and make adjustments to improve our effectiveness. Importantly, independent monitoring will enhance the transparency of our operations.

As detailed in the Big Listen response, we will track perceptions of our culture over time through independently commissioned polling. The Board will scrutinise this data to help us continuously refine and improve our performance.

We appreciate the spirit of the recommendation on post-inspection surveys. However, we want to spend longer considering how to respond to it, including reviewing the budgetary implications.

We acknowledge the concern raised about the power dynamic between Ofsted and those we inspect. It is crucial that providers feel confident in raising concerns about inspections. We know this is not always the case currently. So we agree that we need to reform how we gather feedback from those we inspect. We want providers to feel empowered to offer candid feedback – both positive and negative – about the conduct or outcome of an inspection.

Recommendation 5

Ofsted should ensure that the changed approach to safeguarding does not shift the balance to the point where it causes inspectors to avoid making the right decisions in the interest of keeping children safe.

We fully accept this recommendation.

Keeping children safe is our priority, whether children are in schools, children’s homes, nurseries or any other provider we inspect or regulate. So we will continue to highlight where providers are not meeting their duties around safeguarding. We will make sure inspectors have the confidence and training to give difficult judgements, which are always in the best interests of children.

As we have stated previously, we hope that no provider fails in respect of safeguarding. We are working hard to make sure safeguarding expectations are as clear as possible. And, where possible, we are giving providers the opportunities to raise issues during inspection.

We will monitor the evaluation of safeguarding through our national consistency meetings (see recommendation 7).

Recommendation 6

Ofsted should continue to improve its complaints procedure, with a focus on embedding an element of independent external oversight with the power to re-open inspection judgements.

As set out in the Big Listen response, we are introducing a complaints against Ofsted hub. This will centralise our oversight of complaints. In addition, we have also made several changes to our process for complaints against Ofsted.

Changes included:

• setting up a new provider contact helpline so that leaders can speak to a senior inspector at any time during an inspection, or afterwards
• introducing the opportunity for complainants to talk to the investigating officer so that the investigating officer fully understands the concerns being raised
• providing an earlier opportunity for complainants to appeal to the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted (ICASO) when they are dissatisfied with our complaints investigation.

In addition, we have piloted complaints panels – chaired by the National Directors and their teams – in our schools and early years remits. These have included external sector representatives. The panels review whether we have handled a sample of complaints fairly and in line with our policy. We will make this a permanent feature of our complaints processes across all areas.

Finally, we have centralised two important processes:

• We now have a centralised process for scrutinising complaints so that this is always done by an inspector from a different Ofsted region to where the complaint originated from. This ensures that the inspectors are independent of the inspection teams involved and provides more internal quality assurance earlier in the process.
• We have also centralised our approach to gathering additional evidence when this is needed to make a secure judgement. We are conscious of the potential extra stress that additional days of inspection place on a provider, so we hope to continue to use this process sparingly.

Recommendation 7

There should be an internal drive for Ofsted to operate as a unified organisation to help ensure a more holistic approach to learning and development. This should also address inconsistencies in practice. This drive should use the experience and insights from all staff in its different areas of work to learn proactively and collectively.

We fully accept this recommendation.

HMCI has led a series of reforms to centralise processes within Ofsted, including by creating the hubs and the Ofsted Academy.

In education remits, for example, we now have weekly consistency meetings. These involve all Regional Directors, the National Director for Education, the Director of Strategy and Engagement and the Deputy His Majesty’s Chief Inspector. They consider the most demanding inspections from the previous week, drawing lessons from these and challenging one another on consistency. Similar processes exist or are in the process of being established for other remits.

This is just one example of how we are reinforcing the principle of ‘one Ofsted’, without compromising the regional and local intelligence that regional teams offer.

Recommendation 8

Ofsted should place a greater emphasis on managing and supporting the performance of inspectors so that everyone is clear about what is expected of them, how well they are doing and what support might be needed to do better.

We fully accept this recommendation.

Quality assurance and consistency must run through all of our work. This means providing regular learning and reflection opportunities for all staff and inspectors. In particular, we must make sure inspectors receive regular individual feedback on their work, not only as a part of their performance management but also as a core function of the quality assurance and professional standards hub.

Building on this, we intend to give notice of routine school inspections on a Monday (unless an inspection has previously been deferred). This will mean inspections taking place on a Tuesday and Wednesday, with time for report writing on a Thursday. We are piloting this approach. It will free up teams of inspectors to engage in consistency meetings and reflective conversations about recent inspections with their peers. These meetings, taking place across all regions, will feed into the work of the Ofsted Academy and will help bring in cases for discussion at the national consistency meeting. We intend to develop similar approaches to consistency across remits.

Recommendation 9

Ofsted should review its key performance indicators and the way it drives priorities. For example, the emphasis on meeting inspection volume and timeliness targets should be balanced by an equal focus on key performance indicators relating to stakeholders’ satisfaction with the inspection process.

We fully agree with this recommendation.

The Board will expect new strategy proposals from HMCI. We expect this new strategy to have key performance indicators – agreed by the Board – that make sure Ofsted achieves the right balance where there are competing priorities of quality and volume.

Recommendation 10

Ofsted’s work to roll out mental health training in 2024 should now be built on with more sophisticated training, regularly refreshed. This should be specifically designed to reflect the unique power dynamic of inspection, with specific models and tools to support inspectors to build appropriate relationships during inspection.

We fully agree with this recommendation.

We gave training to our entire inspection workforce by the end of March 2024. We have also worked closely with Mental Health First Aid England to develop a bespoke induction package on mental health. That now forms part of our general induction for all inspectors. In addition, we shall also introduce mental health training for other Ofsted staff who wish to have it.

Through the new Ofsted Academy, we will further build inspectors’ mental health awareness and make sure they know how to use this in inspection practice. We will make sure this training equips inspectors with the skills to make confident judgements that are in the best interests of children.

We will evaluate the impact of this training, updating as required, and ensure that inspectors refresh it throughout their careers.

Recommendation 11

Ofsted should advise the DfE and the new government of the dangers associated with chasing school inspection volume at the expense of inspection quality. Ofsted’s processes and reports should support improvement by being useful and meaningful to those subject to inspection, to parents and to the public.

Ofsted has a unique position in the system: we have oversight over almost every aspect of a child’s education and care.

At every stage of inspection, we prioritise quality. This is our key tool for delivering on our mission to keep children safe and improve their lives.

As documented by Dame Christine, the financial situation Ofsted faces has meant we have had to make difficult trade-offs. Our focus now is on negotiating a positive Spending Review settlement, building on the commitments made in the Labour Manifesto.

We do not accept that we have chased inspection volumes over inspection quality. We regret that we have been forced to de-prioritise vital system improvements in order to prioritise inspections. We agree that we have had to make difficult decisions about what to prioritise. But we have always prioritised – to the detriment of much else – the quality of inspection.

Recommendation 12

Learning from inspection has to be a two-way process. Listening hard to internal and external feedback, both inspectors and support staff should be fully engaged in the design of Ofsted’s new approach to professional learning and development. Their views on the first phase of implementation should be used formatively to improve what follows.

We fully agree with this recommendation.

We have designed the Ofsted Academy in collaboration with our staff. Their feedback and views will continue to be central to its evolution.

Recommendation 13

Ofsted should review its governance framework to strengthen the role of the Board with the aim of establishing constructive challenge to support Ofsted in its learning and reform, by:

• ensuring that it is safe for people both inside and outside the organisation to say and do the right thing, promoting a culture of openness, dialogue and active communication
• engaging with processes and metrics that give the Board a clear line of sight not only to those experiencing inspection but to those seeing the outcomes such as parents, the public and the government
• harnessing the strengths of each Board member so that the Board becomes bigger than the sum of its parts, and plays a crucial role in ensuring a culture that prevents a tragedy like this from ever happening again.

We fully accept this recommendation.

The Board and HMCI will be working on a new governance framework this autumn. This will strengthen accountability and give strong oversight of Ofsted’s effectiveness across all our remits.

Recommendation 14

As part of its planning for a school report card, the government should initiate a debate about the essential elements of the wider public accountability system, of which Ofsted is a part. This system should not only provide clear information to government, parents and the public but also ensure that school evaluation is a dynamic and inclusive process that builds confidence, professionalism and better practice.

We recognise that this recommendation is not solely for Ofsted to respond to.

However, we agree with its spirit. Consultation on the report card will be one part of a wider conversation about the future of accountability, which we welcome.

We look forward to working with the Secretary of State on her agenda.