Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages.
About Ofsted
Ofsted directly contracts with more than 1,500 Ofsted Inspectors to carry out inspections of schools and further education and skills provision.
Ofsted is a member of the National Preventative Mechanism, which monitors and reports on places of detention.
Ofsted’s goal is to achieve excellence in education and skills for learners of all ages, and in the care of children and young people.
Ofsted reports directly to Parliament and are independent and impartial.
Ofsted's Responsibilities
– Inspect maintained schools and academies, some independent schools, and many other educational institutions and programmes outside of higher education.
– Inspect childcare, adoption and fostering agencies and initial teacher training.
– Publish reports of their findings so they can be used to improve the overall quality of education and training.
– Work with parents and carers, learners and employers to ensure their views inform inspections and they use and value the inspection reports.
– Work with policy makers and influencers to ensure they understand the work and are able to promote it.
– Work with the inspected to ensure they find the inspection and regulatory work fair and credible and it helps them to improve.
– Regulate a range of early years and children’s social care services, making sure they are suitable for children and potentially vulnerable young people.
– Report to policymakers on the effectiveness of these services.
Ofsted's Priorities
– Put in place a strategic plan to continue to raise standards and improve lives.
– Use the new education inspection arrangements to ensure short inspections of good schools and further education providers are consistent, efficient and effective.
– Use more good and outstanding sector professionals as part of inspection teams.
– Review inspection for early years and social care.
– Develop and implement workforce strategy.
– Focus inspection on services that are less than good or whose performance has slipped.
– Focus on the performance of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable.
– Identify and promote exceptional leadership in each inspection area.
– Identify and report on issues of concern in the inspected sectors.
– Promote the improvement of technical, vocational and further education.