Ofsted announces plan to strengthen inspections through new team structures
Following feedback from last year’s Big Listen and the recent consultation on inspection reform, Ofsted has announced a new structure for inspection teams in schools and further education, focused on improving consistency.
The changes mean that following the introduction of the renewed education inspection framework in November 2025:
- all schools and further education inspections will be led by current His Majesty’s Inspectors, or OIs with recent HMI experience, drawing on their more in-depth inspection expertise and training
- Ofsted will make the best use of OIs’ current sector knowledge and experience by deploying them as team inspectors, placing greater emphasis on matching their expertise to specific types of provision to complement the inspection expertise brought by His Majesty’s Inspectors
On early years Ofsted said that due to its unique contexts and requirements, the early years inspection model works differently. In early years, inspections are typically conducted by individual inspectors rather than teams.
Jonathan Broadbery, NDNA’s Director of Policy, said: “Everyone wants to see a more consistent approach to inspections from Ofsted so that parents and providers can have confidence in inspection reports. It is vital that early years should not be an afterthought in this approach.
“Currently, early years provision in schools is not always inspected with the same level of attention and early years expertise as standalone early years settings like nurseries, preschools and childminders. With more school-based nurseries planned, parents need to be able to have confidence in the inspections these settings receive and that early years are not just tagged on to a school inspection.
“As Ofsted review the feedback on the planned new inspection reports and toolkits, the importance of early years as a distinct phase of children’s learning and development needs to be reflected to ensure inspectors have the right expertise and experience to recognise best practice and support settings in their plans to improve outcomes for children.”
Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said:
“We want to make sure our inspections are as consistent as possible, from Cornwall to Northumberland. We have already put stronger quality assurance measures in place, and utilising the expertise of our workforce as effectively as we can is another significant step forward.
“All inspection teams will have the right blend of inspection expertise and current sector insight. This will help us better understand the context of the schools and colleges we inspect, to provide a fair and accurate report for parents.”
As part of the feedback on the Big Listen consultation Ofsted noted:
Organisations representing early years settings and professionals told us
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) raised concerns from its members about the difference in approach Ofsted takes when inspecting school-based early years provision (which is part of a wider school inspection) and registered early years provision (which gets a standalone early years inspection). This has led to some NDNA members feeling that provision within a school setting does not receive the same level of attention, time or level of early years expertise in their inspection as other registered settings do.
The London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) told us that it believes that Ofsted has a strong platform to build on, with our focus on early education as well as regulation. Similarly to the NDNA, the LEYF commented that currently ‘early years often feels like an afterthought in Ofsted’s strategy and communication [and that the current inspection model] feels like an attempt to shoe-horn the early years [in]’. It called for ‘a specific early years directorate led by a director of early childhood’ within Ofsted.
Read more about the announced changes to school and further education inspections here – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofsted-to-strengthen-inspections-through-new-team-structures
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