5 Conclusions
102. Over the past year, Ofsted has brought forward
proposals which will significantly change the way it works. After
operating its school inspection regime for more than a decade
and having inspected all schools in England at least twice, Ofsted
is proposing to overhaul its inspection regime under the banner
'a new relationship with schools'. These proposals are still in
their early stages, but we welcome the emphasis on a more streamlined
process, which will reduce the burden of inspection and look forward
to seeing the detail of the new inspection regime.
103. Ofsted has recently taken on large new areas
of responsibility, expanding into the inspection of day care provision
and area-wide assessments. The Government has also announced that
Ofsted will take lead responsibility for the inspection of children's
services. We are concerned that this expansion must be carefully
managed in order to ensure that new staff are effectively integrated
and that Ofsted operates efficiently given the substantial resources
it now consumes.
104. Ofsted has grown to the size of a small Government
department and as such it has a similar responsibility to justify
its achievements in relation to the public money it receives.
HMCI has expressed his view that inspection leads to improvement
and has taken the first steps towards quantifying the extent of
this effect through the publication of a self-assessment review.
We welcome this move and urge the inspectorate to pursue the development
of more rigorous benchmarking measures to show that Ofsted is
making the most of its influence. We look forward to discussing
this with HMCI at our next meeting.
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