EIF inspections - seeing the big picture.pptx

EIF inspections: seeing the big
picture
EIF inspections: seeing the big picture Slide 1

Purpose of this slidepack
 This slidepack comes from a series of webinars for schools in
2022 and 2023.
 We want you to take information about Ofsted directly from us
rather than relying on third-party and often expensive sources.

Where you can find our information
 The only guidance and materials you need for an inspection is
the guidance and materials that Ofsted produce. We publish a
variety of content to support you.
 https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted
 our inspection handbooks which outline our policies and processes on
school inspections
(https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspection-
framework).
 other guidance documents intended for schools and our own inspectors

Where you can find our information 2
 Other resources to support school leaders and teachers:
 Ofsted’s YouTube channel
(https://www.youtube.com/user/Ofstednews)
 SlideShare (https://www.slideshare.net/Ofstednews)
 Education inspection blog for schools and further education and skills
(https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/)

Outline of session
Weighing up the full range of evidence
The place of published data in inspection
Securing curriculum breadth and
ambition
How inspectors apply ‘best fit’ when
making a requires improvement or good
judgement
Judging overall effectiveness

Weighing up the full range of
evidence

Collect, connect and weigh up evidence
Collect Connect Weigh up Big picture
What inspectors
see, hear and read.
What does it tell us?
How does it stack up?
What more do we need to
know?
How significant is it?
What are the underlying
strengths and weaknesses?

Collecting…
Inspection is, broadly speaking, a process whereby
inspectors collect, connect and weigh up individual pieces
of evidence to form a picture of the quality of a school’s
provision. It is not until you connect all the pieces
that you see the complete picture.
Collect
Pieces of evidence come in many forms on inspection.
They come from what inspectors see, hear, read – what
they are told, what they observe and what they elicit
from the documentation that is scrutinised before and
during the on-site visit to the school.

Connecting…
 As inspectors complete each inspection activity (such as a
meeting with leaders, or visiting a sample of lessons) they stop
and reflect on what they know so far.
 They are asking themselves three crucial questions:
• What is this piece of evidence telling me (in the context of
what I already know)?
• How does it stack up (with what I already know)?
• What more do I need to know (to give this piece of evidence
the correct weighting in the big picture)?
 Once they have completed their evidence gathering, they can
start to consider which set of grade descriptors most
accurately describes the picture that has been formed.

Weighing up evidence
 As inspectors connect the evidence they will consider the significance of it – how does
each piece of evidence fit in to the big picture?
 Inspectors will not give undue weighting to individual pieces of evidence in
isolation. They will want to understand the overall picture that is being built.
 What are the underlying strengths and weaknesses that are emerging?
 What are we learning about the root causes of any differences between what
separate pieces of evidence might show?
 An individual piece of evidence taken out of context might appear concerning. For
example, an inspector might be told something that raises a question about safeguarding.
 Of course, this piece of evidence may prove to be founded and significant – or it may
not. It is only when all the evidence is collected, connected and considered that
inspectors will be able to judge the significance of the initial thing that they were told.

The place of published data on
inspection

Schools are so much more than the sum of
their data parts
 It’s vital for inspectors to go beyond the data and look at the whole
picture of the school’s performance.
 We do this because all schools, like the people who work in them
and the children who learn in them, are different from each other.
They aren’t algorithms – so every school, and every inspection, will
be a different experience.’
 We need to get the balance correct.
 Data is important when considering impact, but it is not enough to
tell us about quality on its own. We need to connect it with all the
other pieces of the jigsaw to find out what the true picture of quality
is in the school.

Published data and the EIF
Inspectors will use:
Ofsted’s official IDSR (inspection data summary
report) as a starting point, but will want to see the
quality of education as experienced by pupils first
hand and understand how well leaders know what
it is like to be a pupil at the school
2022 outcomes cautiously; 2021/22 data will only
be used to inform discussion with the schools about
pupil outcomes. No schools will be marked down on
the basis of the 2021/22 data alone.

Published data and the EIF, cont.
 The school inspection handbook includes several references to
performance data. For example:
 in the risk assessment process Ofsted carries out as part of its processes to
select schools for inspection
 as part of inspectors’ preparation for inspection. It is used as a starting point
in the paragraphs from which these words are taken.
 and in paragraph 368 of the handbook – which references specifically that
‘The IDSR will provide inspectors with areas to investigate when nationally
available data suggests that gaming may be taking place’
 The IDSR exists for a reason, and we do make use of this as part of
our inspection activities as an important starting point and source of
evidence about the impact of a school’s curriculum.

Published data and the grade descriptors
Pupils develop detailed knowledge and skills across
the curriculum and, as a result, achieve well. This
is reflected in the work that pupils produce.
Where available, impact is reflected in results from
national tests and examinations that meet
government expectations, or in the qualifications
obtained. Teacher assessed grades from 2020 and
2021 will not be used to assess impact.

Published data and the grade descriptors,
cont.
 Pupils are ready for the next stage of education, employment or
training. They have the knowledge and skills they need and,
where relevant, they gain qualifications that allow them to go
on to destinations that meet their interests and aspirations
and the intention of their course of study. Pupils with SEND
achieve the best possible outcomes.
 This means that pupils gain the qualifications that allow them to
go on to destinations that meet THEIR aspirations and THEIR
interests.

Published data and the grade descriptors,
cont.
 Each of the three bullets we have selected refers to the end
points of a course of study – the outcomes, the test scores and
exam results.
 But importantly, they make clear that those results should stem
from the knowledge and skills that pupils have developed
through the course of study. They should not be achieved at
the expense of knowledge.
 By saying this, we are suggesting that it is possible to achieve
high exam results without having a deep body of knowledge
about the subject. Let’s take that thinking further.

Why published data might not tell the
whole story
 Why might exceptional attainment and progress at key stages 2 and
4 not be indicative of an exceptional quality of education?
 Progress 8 is a measure of the progress pupils made (subject to
certain qualifications criteria) in secondary school from their starting
points at the end of KS2.
 So a question to think of as educationalists is, why might a school
with exceptional Progress 8 not be delivering an exceptional quality
of education? What might they be doing? What might they not be
doing?
 Equally, this applies to primary too. High key stage 2 scores may, or
may not, be indicative of an exceptional quality of education.

Why published data might not tell the full story, cont.
 Given that we focus on the depth and richness of
knowledge that pupils acquire, a school without
stellar Progress 8 or SATs scores may be delivering
an exceptional standard of education overall.

Published data – in secondary schools
 Have leaders developed a curriculum, in option subjects, that is a journey
from Year 7 to GCSE without considering the pupils who do not proceed
with study into KS4? So that actually what they’ve done is design a 5-year
curriculum train journey to the exams where some pupils just jump off the
train at the end of KS3, landing in the wilderness.
 Or is the curriculum designed such that there is a planned, rich,
destination at the end of key stage 3 where some pupils disembark while
others remain on the journey to a different destination?
 Have leaders developed a curriculum where pupils are taught to 'paint by
numbers' (so to speak) to answer exam questions rather than being
taught to paint, just so that they can be successful in answering
examination questions?

Published data – in secondary schools,
cont.
 Is key stage 3 provision exceptional for those pupils not taking a
subject through to KS4?
 Up to 1/3 of a pupils’ secondary education does not progress directly
towards qualification.
 Consider a school where only 50% of pupils take GCSE geography.
 What geographical knowledge have leaders identified that they want ALL
pupils to know by the time they leave school?
 Has the school developed clear intent that demonstrates pupils not taking
GCSE Geography will develop a rich and coherent understanding of
geography by the end of key stage 3?
 How do leaders assure themselves that this happens in practice? Similarly
for art, history and other ‘option’ subjects.

cont.
 Have leaders ensured that there is an appropriately broad range
of subjects offered at key stages 4 or 5?
 Is there clear rationale for what is offered (and what is not)?
 Do these choices limit or support the range pupils’ ‘future steps’ in
education or employment?
 Are pupils being steered towards (or away from) certain key stage 4 or 5
courses in an effort to boost school performance table standings? Are
these decisions always in the pupils’ best interests?

cont.
 Is curriculum design and teaching predominantly focused on
examination success?
 Does this narrow the curriculum within subjects? For example:
 teaching English GCSE set texts from the start of year 7
 at KS3 teaching only periods of history that are in the exam specifications or
 teaching of formulaic ‘how to answer exam questions’ across KS3 and KS4.

cont.
 Are those pupils who are most vulnerable nationally (e.g.
disadvantaged, including those with SEND) achieving
exceptionally well (at all stages)?
 Important to note here that we are talking about absolutes not
comparatives. Inspectors are not looking for ‘gaps’ between performances
of different groups of pupils, but at their absolute achievement and
progress.

cont.
 Is exceptional progress in some subjects compensating for weak
progress in others?
 Important to note, again, here that it is about absolutes not comparatives.
There will always be some subjects that are delivering a higher quality of
education than others.
 Inspectors will be asking themselves about the achievement and progress
within the weaker subjects. Is it enough for the overall quality of
education to be exceptional?

Published data – in primary schools
 Is the school focusing disproportionately upon those subjects where pupils
sit national curriculum tests (SATs) at the end of KS1 and KS2 at the
expense of their learning in other subjects?
 Are only English and maths being taught in Year 6 until after the SATs?
 Are pupils being taught in a way that allows them to ‘pass’ their SATs
rather than for longer lasting learning – for example teaching ‘arithmetic
tricks’ in maths that will have to be unpicked later as they do not extend
into key stage 3 mathematics?

What it means to secure
curriculum breadth and ambition

What subjects schools should teach

What subjects schools should teach, cont.
 The subjects in lighter blue are requirements for maintained
schools only, but academies are expected to teach a
curriculum that is comparable in breadth and ambition.
 So there is flexibility here, but inspectors will not overlook that
crucial last point.
 Does an academy's curriculum cover a range of subjects?
 Is that range similar in breadth to the subjects in the
national curriculum?
 Does it reflect that leaders are ambitious for pupils to study a
broad range of subjects?

Curriculum ambition
‘Is the school offering a broad and ambitious
curriculum?
‘Sometimes, a school has deliberately made the
decision not to offer one or two subjects in order to
provide more time to cover others. This is worthy of
careful investigation.’
‘Curriculum breadth and ambition can be about what
happens within particular subjects. It’s not just the
sum of the list of subjects offered.’

Key stage 3/key stage 4
There is a wide spectrum of quality where key stage 3
covers two years rather than three.
If the curriculum is broad and rich and Year 9 is a
transition year, including for example:
phasing out
during transition, knowledge is deepened
wider opportunities to maintain curriculum breadth
the sum total of the key stage is broad and rich.
it is likely that the quality of education is good.

Applying the ‘best fit’ judgements

EIF inspections: seeing the big picture 33
‘This handbook should be regarded not as a set of
inflexible rules, but as an account of the procedures
of inspection. Inspectors will use their professional
judgement when they apply this guidance in this
handbook.’
School inspection handbook, Ofsted

Forming a judgement
 Our inspection handbook makes clear that the grades ‘good’
and ‘requires improvement’ for any judgement area are a best
fit.
 We want to be clear about what that means and how inspectors
use their professional judgement in applying a ‘best fit’.
 The school inspection handbook sets this out upfront in the
sixth paragraph.
 The EIF is the set of factors that inspectors use to make
judgements. The handbook is the guidance on how to apply
the EIF. Inspectors use their professional judgement when
they apply the guidance in the handbook.

‘The grade descriptors are not exhaustive. They do not
replace inspectors’ professional judgements.
Inspectors will interpret the way that grades are described
according to pupils’ age, stage and phase of education.
In order to judge whether (a school) is good or requires
improvement, inspectors will use a ‘best fit’ approach,
relying on the inspection team’s professional judgement.’
School inspection handbook, Ofsted

 The text in the previous slide set out that inspectors will make a
best-fit judgement. The first one sets out very clearly that inspection
is not a checklist-based process or audit.
 They tell us that the grade descriptors are merely descriptions of
what we mean by good quality. They are not a checklist.
 In most cases, it will not be an exact fit.
 Overall, what inspectors consider is, does the descriptor of good
generally apply, albeit with some minor exceptions? What are
those exceptions? Do they prevent pupils getting a good-enough
experience?
 Or are the deficits significant enough to consider if the
school requires improvement? Inspectors will weigh up the
deficits against the strengths.

Applying ‘best fit’ is not:
 easy – it must be carefully considered as a team
 simply a matter of counting up the evaluation criteria
bullets that are met or not met
 purely based on the handbook alone – it must factor in our
professional judgement in weighing up the evidence and in
seeing the big picture of provision within the school.

Applying ‘best fit’, cont.
 Applying ‘best fit’ is not a formulaic process. Inspectors will consider their evidence in the
round. To build a picture of the school’s provision, they compare it to the descriptions of good
quality set out in the handbook.
 Inspectors will then confirm which set of grade descriptors best matches the picture of
quality painted by the evidence gathered about the school.
 It’s important to point out that the criteria work differently for the different grades: Good and RI
are best fit judgements – but this doesn’t mean meeting more than 50% of the bullet points. It
means fitting most securely within the grade descriptors as a whole. It’s about what the descriptors
as a whole are saying compared to the overall picture of quality in the school. There may be small
pieces of several grade descriptors that are not securely met, but the overall picture best fits
with the good grade. Conversely, there may be some substantial deficits that are contained
in few words in the grade descriptors.
 For the other grades:
• Inadequate is likely to apply if any one of the bullet points for grade 4 applies.
• In contrast, an outstanding judgement can only be considered if all of the good criteria are met
securely and consistently.

 It’s important to point out that the criteria work differently for the
different grades:
 Good and RI are best fit judgements – but this doesn’t mean
meeting more than 50% of the bullet points.
 It means fitting most securely within the grade descriptors as a
whole.
 It’s about what the descriptors as a whole are saying compared to
the overall picture of quality in the school. There may be small
pieces of several grade descriptors that are not securely met, but
the overall picture best fits with the good grade. Conversely,
there may be some substantial deficits that are contained in
few words in the grade descriptors.

 For the other grades:
 Inadequate is likely to apply if any one of the bullet points
for grade 4 applies.
 In contrast, an outstanding judgement can only be
considered if all of the good criteria are met securely and
consistently.

In summary
Being proportionate
Considering all evidence in the round
Weighing up the evidence and the
impact on pupils

Judging overall effectiveness

Quality of
education
Personal development
Leadership and
management
Behaviour and attitudes
Meeting
needs
of
all
(including
SEND)
Safeguarding
SMSC
Early years
Sixth form
Overall effectiveness

 Overall effectiveness is not just a total of all the grades awarded.
 We make four key judgements – shown in blue and pink in the
previous slide:
 quality of education
 behaviour and attitudes
 personal development
 leadership and management.
 These contribute to our judgement of overall effectiveness. However,
they are not the only factors that must be taken into account.

 In coming to the 4 key judgements, we also draw on evidence
from the inspection of any early years or sixth-form provision
and consider its impact in the context of the school.
 We also make separate judgements about these aspects of the
school. We've highlighted these in green.
 The blue box shows that these are the main ingredients of the
overall effectiveness judgement.

 However, there are three further factors which must be
considered before reaching an overall effectiveness
judgement – highlighted in orange:
 a judgement about the effectiveness of safeguarding, and
consider this when making a judgement about leadership
and management.
 pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development –
woven into our judgement about pupils’ personal
development
 the extent to which educational provision meets different
pupils’ needs, including pupils with SEND.

Overall effectiveness – graded inspection
 As inspectors finish reviewing the evidence for quality of
education, they will use the grade descriptors in the handbook
to determine which grade best matches the picture of
quality that has been painted by the evidence. Remember,
good and requires improvement are best fit judgements.
 Quality of education is the first judgement made as it is crucial
to the education inspection framework – the overall
effectiveness grade cannot be higher than that for quality
of education - there are no exceptions that can be applied to
this. The slide shows how inspectors consider evidence about
pupils with SEND and any early years or sixth form provision
when making that judgement.

Overall effectiveness – graded inspection,
cont.
 The inspection team continues this process for the key judgement
areas of behaviour and attitudes and personal development – taking
into account relevant factors such as early years, sixth form, SEND
and SMSC.
 Inspectors then make early years and sixth form judgements when
appropriate.
 The inspection team then makes the judgement about leadership
and management, taking into account safeguarding and meeting
pupils’ needs including those with SEND.
 Then the team make a judgement about the school’s overall
effectiveness. This is not an automatic aggregation of grades for the
key judgement areas. There are specific grade descriptors for
overall effectiveness in the handbook.

Overall effectiveness – ungraded inspection
 Inspectors go through the same thought process on an
ungraded inspection. Just as on a graded inspection, the quality
of education is considered first and carries substantial weight.
 Inspectors then consider safeguarding and the ‘spotlight areas’
within the other key judgement areas in the school inspection
handbook.
 They consider which of the four possible outcomes the evidence
points towards. These are set out in paragraph 177 of the
school inspection handbook.

Key resources
www.gov.uk/ofsted
www.youtube.com/ofstednews
www.slideshare.net/ofstednews
 Blogs and press releases
 Contact us

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