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Ofsted has lost two thirds of its inspectors amid complaints that job has become like a 'treadmill'

Earlier this month, a  report warned that Ofsted’s “one day” inspections risk failing to catch out substandard schools - PA
Earlier this month, a report warned that Ofsted’s “one day” inspections risk failing to catch out substandard schools - PA

Ofsted has lost two thirds of its inspectors, figures show, amid complaints that the job has become like a “treadmill”.

Since September 2015, 125 out of 175 school inspectors have left, according to data obtained by the Times Education Supplement (TES) magazine.

While another 154 have been recruited by Ofsted during the period, a former inspector warned that the “high turnover” of experienced staff is a worrying trend.

Mark Williams, who left the inspectorate in 2015, said that the widespread use of shorter inspections made the inspectors’ job into “a treadmill” and was contributing to people leaving.

“After the shorter inspection came in, the volume of inspections that Ofsted was looking to do meant HMI were expected to do two inspections a week,” he told TES.

“You would be planning for a visit on one day, doing the inspection and writing the report and then planning for the next inspection. It became a treadmill of inspection activity.”

Amanda Spielman, chief inspector at Ofsted
Amanda Spielman, chief inspector at Ofsted

Earlier this month, a Public Accounts Committee report warned that Ofsted’s “one day” inspections risk failing to catch out substandard schools.

The short inspections have now become “the norm”, but they “inevitably provide less assurance about schools’ effectiveness”, the report said. 

If a school has previously been graded as "good", Ofsted subsequently uses a one-day inspection, on average every four years, rather than the full two-day inspection.

But since two-thirds of schools are graded as good, the majority of inspections are now carried out in just one day. The National Audit Office from May noted that Ofsted struggled to retain inspectors.

It recommended the schools watchdog develops a strategy to stop them leaving in droves, including to take up high paid jobs as executives at multi academy trust (MAT) chains.  

An Ofsted spokesman said: “It is a marker of the high esteem in which Ofsted is held that we lose a relatively high proportion of staff back to senior positions in MAT chains. Again, this helps with the exchange of experience in the system that can only be to the good.

"The education landscape has clearly changed, with wider career opportunities for school leaders and inspectors.

“Given this, we encourage senior teachers to see working as an inspector as a potential mid-career role, rather than only something for the end of their career.”