The debate about school inspection has intensified over the last few weeks, with fundamental questions being asked about Ofsted and the future of the school inspection system. Here, members share their views on one of the issues being discussed – notice of inspections and whether they would like more or less notice.

Tense presence?

Short notice can be helpful

The current very short notice of inspections has been helpful in some ways; for example, we don’t spend days (or weeks as it was) over-preparing for inspection and inflicting the stress on colleagues and families.

However, it is challenging in other ways, such as that you never quite know what tomorrow will bring until after lunch on a Wednesday, when we all relax, but that’s teaching, and, on balance, it’s been good. But as an ‘outstanding’ school, if we move to a one-day inspection by one HMI [Her Majesty’s Inspector], it would be nice to have much more notice to ensure that all of the key people are in school and so that we can present as much as possible in such a short inspection.

A bit like a SIP [School Improvement Partner] visit, it would be on the calendar and we’d be ready to do a good job so they can do a good job in such a short time.

Paul Haigh
Director of the Hallam Teaching School Alliance, Notre Dame High School, Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Current system is inflexible

I believe the current, inflexible system does not allow for unforeseen events in school. The 48-hour notice period previously enforced provided a brief period to collate evidence and enable schools to be ready. More than this, it is unhealthy for staff.

Jo Perry
Headteacher, The Quay School, Poole, Dorset

Need at least a week

How can a sensible, constructive, professional dialogue take place when neither of the parties has any time at all to prepare? No notice can mean you come when the head is at an ASCL conference. Half a day just gives them enough time to get back from that conference. What about a week? Then the school can have no excuse for not being ready. And neither can the Ofsted team involved.

Roger Hale
Headmaster, Caistor Grammar School, Caistor, Lincolnshire

Need at least two days

I’d like at least two clear days after the phone call to give me time to prepare the documentation and evidence, distribute the letter to parents, arrange for staff and students to be present that the inspectors will need to interview and to have enough time to alert external participants such as governors and the local authority adviser to be ready.

Thank you, ASCL, for setting out your proposals for an effective alternative to the current Ofsted inspection model. Ofsted has grown into a vehicle of fear and unacceptable stress. Inspections are too often carried out by individuals who clearly would not last a day leading a school, yet have the power to determine the reputation of a school, and its headteacher. As a headteacher, yours is an inspection model that I would welcome. It proposes the right balance of ongoing internal self-evaluation and external challenge and support. It replaces the subjectivity and unpredictability of Ofsted judgements with an objective, fixed and comprehensive set of evaluation criteria. It supports dynamic school improvement, with headteachers and well-respected, well-trained HMI working in collaboration.

I am tired of trying to second-guess how to please Ofsted and protect my school from its wrath. This is not what my priority should be as a school leader. We urgently need a plausible alternative to the current Ofsted model; please use your considerable powers of negotiation and persuasion to shape the future of inspections.

Monica Austin
Headteacher, Ashcroft High School, Luton, Bedfordshire

Minimal difference

Having been a member of a senior leadership team [SLT] for at least four Ofsted inspections, some with a long lead-in and others with very short notice, I can honestly say I think the difference is minimal. It is always stressful.

Schools have become used to estimating when they will get the ‘call’. A strong and robust system of self-evaluation and being really clear on your priorities should mean you are always ‘oven-ready’. Schools can’t be sitting by the telephone waiting for it to ring all of the time – they have a job to do.

For me, the important point is that, when they do come to call, the inspection team has integrity, relevant and recent experience and the skills to do a better job than we can do ourselves. I’m not sure that is the case at the moment with all of the teams that are put together. Here’s an idea... make the headteacher a member of the Ofsted team from the start.

Dawn Roberts
Assistant Headteacher, Cheslyn Hay Sport & Community High School, Walsall

No-notice inspections

It is essential that the findings of an inspection are based on the ‘typical’ provision that a school offers and that the outcome, whether it be ‘outstanding’ or ‘inadequate’, is a fair representation of the provision offered at the school: validity is the key.

Providing long periods of notice runs the risk of reducing the level of validity, as school leaders would have time to ‘get their house in order’. ‘No-notice’ inspections should become the ‘norm’, with the clear rationale that these would provide the inspection team with valid findings, which represent typicality for individual schools. Furthermore, the high-quality leadership and management required to ensure that a school is always prepared to justify its rigorous evaluation and drive for further improvement would, by default, raise standards.

No-notice inspections, therefore, may occur without the headteacher being present. However, a strong leadership team should not be phased by such distributed leadership, which should be seen as a strength rather than a risk.

Gareth Burton
Deputy Headteacher, Gloucestershire

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