OfSTED inspections of ITE 2021/22: a briefing paper to UCET members (October 2021)

Summary

A briefing paper to UCET members regarding the recent inspections of ITE provision by OfSTED.

The full briefing paper is available to download below.

Background

OfSTED has a statutory responsibility to carry out inspections of Initial Teacher Education programmes in England under the terms of Education Act 1994 and the Education and Inspection Act 2006. The inspections cover: all programmes leading to the recommendation for the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS); publicly funded teacher education programmes for the FE and skills sector; and programmes leading to ETYS status for teaching in the early years. The current ITE inspection framework [1] was introduced in September 2020 although, because of the Covid 19 Pandemic, actual inspections did not begin until May 2021. Inspections are carried out on a 6-yearly rolling cycle, with grades of: ‘inadequate’; ‘requires improvement’; ‘good’; and ‘outstanding’ attributed separately to QTS, FE and EYTS provision.

Before the introduction of the new inspection cycle, all ITE provision was graded by OfSTED as being either ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. These judgements are supported by the results of surveys of newly qualified teachers themselves. For example, the results of a Teacher Tapp survey[2] found that 76% of teachers trained in the last two years, and 71% of those trained in the last 5 years, thought that their ITE programmes had prepared them well for their first teaching role. The government’s own survey of newly qualified teachers, before it was curtailed in 2015, produced similar results.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-education-ite-inspection-framework-and-handbook

[2] https://www.teachbest.education/