Ofsted sets out proposals for fairer education inspections and new, more detailed report cards
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-03)

Ofsted is consulting on a new approach to inspecting education providers and the introduction of report cards.

Proposals for a new inspection model include:

Introducing the Ofsted report card, giving parents detailed information about standards across more areas of practice in their child’s school, early years, or further education provider.

Replacing the ‘single word judgement’ with a new 5-point grading scale for each evaluation area, including a new top ‘exemplary’ grade to help raise standards.

Returning to schools with identified weaknesses, to check timely action is being taken to raise standards.

Increasing focus on support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and learners , including those with SEND.

More emphasis on providers’ circumstances and local context.

New toolkits to tailor inspections to the phase and type of provider.

Ofsted has today launched a major consultation, seeking the views of parents, carers, professionals and learners, on a new approach to inspecting and reporting on education providers, from the autumn.

The consultation sets out a series of proposals that aim to serve the interests of the parents and children Ofsted works for, while strengthening the trust and cooperation of professionals working in the services it inspects and regulates.

In the past 12 months Ofsted has already made some significant changes to support education providers’ wellbeing, but further reforms were promised in the response to last year’s Big Listen. Today’s proposals apply to inspections of early years settings, state-funded schools, non-association independent schools, FE and skills providers, and initial teacher education (ITE) providers.

Respond to the consultation (https://gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-the-way-ofsted-inspects-education)

New Ofsted report cards

The Big Listen (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/ofsted-big-listen) returned a clear message from parents, carers and professionals that the overall effectiveness grade should go, and that inspection reports should provide a more nuanced view of a provider’s strengths and areas for improvement. But there were different views on how to do that. Parents and carers favoured a clear assessment of a wider set of categories, while most professionals wanted narrative descriptions of performance.

Today’s proposals aim to bring both preferences together. New Ofsted report cards will give better information to parents in a simple format, as well as driving higher standards for children and learners. They include a colour-coded 5-point grading scale to evaluate more areas of a provider’s work at-a-glance, accompanied by short summaries of inspectors’ findings in more detail. An overall effectiveness grade will not be awarded.

The 5-point scale will allow inspectors to highlight success when things are working well, provide reassurance that leaders are taking the right action where improvement is needed, and identify where more urgent action is required to avoid standards declining. As well as giving parents more nuanced information, this approach will help reduce pressure on staff – by presenting a balanced picture of practice across more areas, not a single overall grade.

The proposed scale ranges from ‘causing concern’ at the lowest end, through ‘attention needed’, ‘secure’ and ‘strong’, to ‘exemplary’ – where a provider’s practice is of such exceptional quality that it should be shared with others across the country so they can learn from it.

Ofsted is seeking feedback on the proposed layout for the new inspection reports and has produced this video demonstrating how they could look (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqK_sQHxYOQ).

Disadvantage and inclusion

Under the proposals, evaluation areas differ slightly by education phase (early years, schools, further education) but in all cases include a new focus on inclusion. This means inspectors will look at how well providers support vulnerable and disadvantaged children and learners, including those with SEND, making sure these children are always at the centre of inspection.

Taking context into account

Ofsted is also proposing to include more contextual data in inspections and reports, such as learner characteristics, performance outcomes, absence and attendance figures, and local area demographics. Inspectors will use this information to help understand the circumstances in which leaders are operating and to assess their work in context – for instance, whether they are working hard in a disadvantaged area facing particular challenges, or – if they have a high-attaining intake – whether they are stretching their most able pupils. This will help parents make national and local comparisons, and comparisons between providers working in similar contexts.

Tailoring inspections to each phase of education

Under the proposals, the inspection process will be better tailored to the phase and type of provider, to make sure the focus is on what really matters for children and learners in that setting. New inspection ‘toolkits’ list the standards that each type of provider will be evaluated against.

These toolkits provide more detail and clarity about what will be considered on inspection. They are intended to help drive greater consistency on inspection and give providers clarity about the expected standards and what they need to do to improve.

Changes to monitoring arrangements for schools

From autumn 2025, it’s proposed that Ofsted will no longer carry out ungraded inspections of state-funded schools. This means every school will know that its next routine Ofsted inspection will be a full, graded one. Ofsted is also proposing that all schools with an identified need for improvement will receive monitoring calls and visits, to check that timely action is being taken to raise standards. This includes schools with any evaluation area graded ‘attention needed’. Ofsted will only monitor for as long as is necessary to see a tangible difference for children.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said:

Our mission is to raise standards and improve the lives of children, particularly the most disadvantaged. Today’s proposals for a new Ofsted report card and a new way of inspecting are designed to do just that.

The report card will replace the simplistic overall judgement with a suite of grades, giving parents much more detail and better identifying the strengths and areas for improvement for a school, early years or further education provider.

Our new top ‘exemplary’ grade will help raise standards, identifying world-class practice that should be shared with the rest of the country. And by quickly returning to monitor schools that have areas for improvement, we will ensure timely action is taken to raise standards.

We also hope that this more balanced, fairer approach will reduce the pressure on professionals working in education, as well as giving them a much clearer understanding of what we will be considering on inspection.

Tom Rees, CEO of Ormiston Academies Trust & Chair of the DfE Expert Advisory Group for Inclusion said:

It is right that Ofsted is putting disadvantaged children and children with SEND at the heart of their reforms. Inclusion should not be a secondary consideration, but a fundamental principle of schooling and education – a truly great education system serves the needs of all children.

It is vital that schools, nurseries and colleges have the highest possible expectations for all children. Schools with expert teaching, a stretching curriculum, high standards of behaviour and attendance are the entitlement of every child – especially the most vulnerable.

Jason Elsom, Chief Executive of Parentkind said:

We know that an effective partnership between school and home is a cornerstone of the most successful of schools, enhances pupil well-being, and can add the equivalent impact of up to 3 years of education.

Schools increasingly face issues with attendance, behaviour, and the mental health and well-being of their pupils. Years of evidence shows that getting parental engagement right is vital to reducing these challenges, which is why we welcome Ofsted making parental engagement an important part of the process for inspecting schools.

We are delighted to have supported Ofsted’s work on a new ‘report card’ for schools, which recognises the need for school leaders to focus on building sustainable, long-term partnerships with parents, as well as the role of parents in helping improve behaviour and attitudes to learning, attendance, and personal development and well-being. Getting this right will deliver significant benefits for schools and children.

The consultation will run for 12 weeks, from 3 February to 28 April 2025. As well as the online survey, Ofsted will hold focus groups during the consultation period. Formal pilots of the inspection approach and further user testing of report cards will also be carried out over the coming months, to help inform and improve the proposals.

Ofsted will publish a report on the outcome of the consultation in the summer, reflecting on all feedback and challenge received. The final agreed reforms will then be piloted again across all education remits, before being formally implemented from autumn 2025.

Changes to children’s social care inspections will follow in 2026.

Notes to editors

In parallel with this consultation, the Department for Education (DfE) is consulting on proposed changes to intervention and support in maintained schools and academies. The plan is to put those changes in place in the autumn, alongside Ofsted’s new inspection approach. The Department is also seeking feedback on a product that could include Ofsted reports, along with other information about a provider.

Proposed evaluation areas for schools, including independent schools:
- leadership and governance
- curriculum
- developing teaching
- achievement
- behaviour and attitudes
- attendance
- personal development and well-being
- inclusion
- safeguarding (assessed as met or not met)
- early years in schools
- sixth form in school
Proposed evaluation areas for early years providers:
- leadership and governance
- achievement
- curriculum
- teaching
- behaviour, attitudes and establishing routine
- children’s welfare and well-being
- inclusion
- safeguarding
Proposed evaluation areas for FE and skills providers:

Provider as a whole:
- leadership
- inclusion
- safeguarding
Provider as a whole, but only in colleges and specialist designated institutions:
- contribution to meeting skills needs
For each type of provision offered (education programmes for young people, provision for learners with high needs, apprenticeships and adult learning programmes):
- curriculum
- developing teaching and training
- achievement
- participation and development
Proposed evaluation areas for ITE providers we inspect:
- leadership
- inclusion
- curriculum
- teaching
- achievement
- professional behaviours, personal development and well-being
Parentkind is one of the UK’s largest federated charities. It has supported parents and schools to build strong and supportive school communities for almost 70 years and has a network of more than 23,500 schools, parent teacher associations (PTAs) and parent councils.

The DfE is providing Ofsted with £6.2m to support development and delivery of the report card.

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