Corporate report

Ofsted’s equality objectives 2023 to 2027

Updated 26 July 2024

Applies to England

The Equality Act 2010 places an equality duty on all public bodies and requires them to publish equality objectives every 4 years. This document identifies the equality objectives that we will focus on over the next 4 years, from 2023 to 2027.

Introduction

Ofsted exists to raise standards and improve lives. Our guiding principle, set out in our strategy, is to be a force for improvement through the intelligent, responsible, and focused use of inspection, regulation and insights.

Improved standards of education and care in England will advance equality for children and young people with protected characteristics, as well as for those who are socio-economically disadvantaged. However, it is not always possible for children with certain protected characteristics to achieve exactly the same educational outcomes as children who do not have those protected characteristics. For example, outcomes will differ between children with severe learning disabilities and those without.

Evidence

We know that educational outcomes nationally are different for some groups with protected characteristics, and that certain groups are disproportionately represented in particular types of education setting. For example:

• more girls than boys get a grade 5 or above in GCSE maths and English

• pupils from the following ethnic groups are least likely to achieve grade 5 or above in GCSE maths and English: Gypsy, Roma, Irish Traveller, Black Caribbean and Mixed White/Black Caribbean

• pupils from the Chinese ethnic group had the highest Progress 8 scores of all ethnic groups

• White British pupils perform below the national average in their Progress 8 scores

• young people who are LGBT+ are more likely to report seeking medical help, self-harming or having suicidal thoughts than their non-LGBT+ peers

• Irish Traveller children are most likely to have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and Chinese children are least likely to have SEND

• there is unequal representation of ethnic minorities in special education in England

• children living in low-income families are more likely than their peers to be born with inherited SEND, are more likely to develop some forms of SEND in childhood and are less likely to move out of SEND categories while at school

Alternative provision (AP) provides education for children who cannot go to a mainstream school and therefore educates a higher proportion of children with SEND than mainstream provision (around 80% of children in AP have identified SEND). The AP population is also skewed towards children from poorer families and older children. More than half of children with SEND who are in AP have social, emotional and mental health issues as a primary need category on the SEND register. It makes sense that children at risk of exclusion are in this category.

We also know that some groups with protected characteristics are disproportionately represented in the care population:

• Black children are more likely than others to be looked after, and less likely to be adopted
• boys and White children are over-represented in children’s homes
• a high proportion of the children living in children’s homes have, at some point, been recorded as having a special educational need

There are similar imbalances in the criminal justice system:

• Black children are arrested more often than children from other ethnic groups, and form a disproportionate part of the youth custody population
• a disproportionate number of prisoners have learning difficulties and/or disabilities^{[footnote 1]}

Among our own workforce, engagement level and representation of staff vary:

• Ofsted’s employee engagement index for all staff was good in 2022, was higher than the Civil Service average and included strong engagement from most groups
• engagement was similar among male and female colleagues and LGBT+ colleagues
• by ethnic group, Asian or Asian British staff were the group with the highest engagement index
• engagement was lower for Black and Black British staff
• colleagues with long-term conditions or illnesses also reported lower engagement

Our objectives will be reviewed and updated by the end of 2027.

Equality objective 1

Through our inspections and insights, we will raise standards in education, helping to advance equality of opportunity for those with protected characteristics, as well as those who are socio-economically disadvantaged.

Actions

We will inspect early years, schools and further education providers according to the education inspection framework (EIF). The EIF requires providers to have high ambitions for all children, including those with SEND and from lower socio-economic backgrounds. It is based on research into what makes an effective education. We know that our inspections result in leaders taking action to improve their provision.

By accelerating school and college inspections – all schools and FE providers will be inspected at least once by summer 2025 – and increasing the time we spend on some inspections, we will increase the impact of our work. We will assess the extent to which education providers comply with the relevant legal duties, as set out in the Equality Act 2010 (including, where applicable, the public sector equality duty) and the Human Rights Act 1998. We will train inspectors and other relevant staff on how to do this during inspections and/or when carrying out regulatory activity.

Implement a new area SEND inspection framework to promote further improvement in the SEND system. We will do this by strengthening accountability and focusing on the features that we know make local area arrangements most effective in improving the lives of children and young people. We are also strengthening our focus on AP, looking at how it is commissioned, used and overseen by local authorities, including through a series of thematic visits.

We will develop an AP strategy to improve the quality and consistency of our inspections of AP providers and of schools’ commissioning of AP. This will promote higher standards in the sector and will have a larger effect on groups that are disproportionately represented in AP.

Research consistently shows that quality of teaching is the most important school-based influence on pupils’ educational attainment and progress. We will inspect teacher training providers according to our ITE inspection framework, published in 2021, and our new early career framework and national professional qualification inspection framework, published in 2022. We will provide assurance on the quality of teacher training, and insight into teachers’ and leaders’ development at all stages of their careers. This will ultimately improve all pupils’ education in schools, including that of children who tend to have lower educational outcomes.

We will continue to focus on the quality of education in prisons. We are particularly concerned about prisoners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. During our inspections, we will act on the results of our review of reading education in prisons by concentrating on the quality of education and support for those who are learning to read. We will do so regardless of whether this is commissioned as part of the core education offer. We will also do research on whether female prisoners need to access a different curriculum to male prisoners.

Equality objective 2

Through our inspections and regulatory activity, Ofsted will be a force for improvement for children in care and care leavers. This will particularly benefit some groups with protected characteristics who are disproportionately represented in the care population.

Actions

Our inspections of local authority children’s services (ILACS) will be carried out according to our ILACS framework. We keep the framework updated based on the evidence we gather during inspections. Our approach to ILACS is underpinned by 3 principles: focus on the things that matter most in children’s lives; be consistent in our expectations of providers; and prioritise our work so that it supports improvement where it is needed most.

Through ILACS, we will report on how well virtual schools support the educational progress of children looked after.

From January 2023, ILACS will include a new stand-alone judgement on the experiences and progress of care leavers. There is a growing awareness and an increasing body of research regarding the stigma and prejudice often faced by care-experienced young adults. The new judgement will help Ofsted to assess how well local authorities are eliminating discrimination by improving their oversight of services for care leavers, including those with protected characteristics. Inspectors’ evaluation will include looking at the experiences of care leavers who share relevant protected characteristics.

Through the social care common inspection framework, we will inspect children’s social care services and children’s homes. We will continue to use our full range of regulatory powers to tackle poor provision and improve quality in residential children’s homes.

During our inspections and regulatory activity, we will continue to identify when children are unnecessarily criminalised, which evidence shows is particularly the case for children with some protected characteristics.

We will continue to review our approach to inspecting secure provision, including how providers prepare for the opening of a secure school.

From April 2023, we will register and regulate supported accommodation for 16- and 17-year-old children in care and care leavers. There are approximately 7,000 young people in this cohort – a similar figure to the number of children currently living in children’s homes. The quality of supported accommodation is too variable and we believe that regulation will raise standards, to the benefit of all young people who are currently within the regulatory scope. This will particularly benefit some groups with protected characteristics who are disproportionately represented in the care population.

Equality objective 3

We will use our independent voice to share our insights, which will inform practitioners, policymakers and decision-makers. This will improve the education and social care systems, often impacting most on those with protected characteristics.

Actions

We will build the evidence base on effective practice, especially where there are gaps, such as in the care system or AP. In early years, we will highlight systemic issues that need to be addressed, including for those with protected characteristics. We will consider the needs of those with protected characteristics when designing and carrying out our research and analysis programmes.

We will collaborate with other organisations to broaden the data we can lawfully share and analyse, which will enhance our ability to look at equality trends over time.

We are improving the platforms and channels we use to consult with stakeholders, including children and learners and groups that have historically not engaged with us. We will ensure that these channels are accessible for those with protected characteristics and those from a lower socio-economic background.

Equality objective 4

Ofsted will be a welcoming and inclusive workplace with equality of opportunity for our workforce, attracting talent from wherever it comes. We will ensure that our policies take account of our duties under the Equality Act, and are based on robust data analysis. We will take action to address inequalities where we find them.

Actions

We will strive to improve the representation of minority groups who have protected characteristics that are under-represented across the organisation. We will achieve this through talent schemes that support individuals from diverse backgrounds. Our recruitment process will demonstrate to suitably qualified and experienced candidates that Ofsted is an organisation where candidates from any background can develop their careers.

We will encourage all members of our workforce to challenge bullying, harassment and discrimination. We will provide space for them to do so by setting clear expectations, which will be role-modelled by our Senior Civil Servants and passed on to all staff through training. We will measure our success through our annual People Survey results.

We will monitor our workforce data and use the analysis to make proportionate changes to our policies and processes, as necessary. This will also allow us track whether our development opportunities are inclusive and accessible to all, and to take action to reduce inequality in the development of our staff.

1. A learning difficulty is a type of special education needs that affects areas of learning such as reading, writing, spelling and mathematics. There are several levels of learning difficulties; for example, a specific learning difficulty is a particular difficulty in learning to read, write and spell. A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities. ↩