Confederation of School Trusts<\/a> (CST) today laid out its vision for the inspections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cA graded system is unlikely to be valid or reliable and would add pressure without clear benefits,\u201d it argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It said the inspection outcomes should instead be \u201cwritten reports that identify key patterns in school quality within the group, and the effectiveness of the group\u2019s response to weaknesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CST argued this would help ensure accountability of MATs \u201cwithout unnecessary burden\u201d. It said this approach would avoid \u201cdistorting behaviour through high-stakes grading\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The organisation said the inspections should be carried out by \u201ca slim team of specialist HMI, supported by well-trained practitioners\u201d who hold leadership positions within trusts and other groups that run multiple schools, with \u201cclearly defined processes for managing potential conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report, which was released as CST holds its annual conference in Birmingham, also warned against \u201cinspection for inspection\u2019s sake\u201d, and said government \u201cmust demonstrate clearly how this policy will add value to the system and ultimately to children\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MATs not only groups running multiple schools<\/h3>\n\n\n\n CST also argued the inspections should be framed as \u201cgroup inspection\u201d rather than \u201ctrust inspections\u201d, as \u201ctrusts are not the only type of responsible body operating multiple schools\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It argued that MATs \u201calready face robust public accountability through external audit, oversight from regions group, and every time one of their schools is inspected\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf group inspection applies only to trusts, government should explain what parallel accountability arrangements exist for other groups\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CST described the decision for Ofsted to begin inspecting trusts as \u201ca significant policy shift\u201d and said the education secretary \u201cmust play a central role\u201d to ensure its \u201cgenuinely strengthens the system rather than only adding burden\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, Ofsted provides summary evaluation of trusts (MATSEs), which sees it batch-inspect a number of schools within a trust, but it does not inspect the way their central teams work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ofsted has recently advertised for a policy lead to help shape the new inspections, signalling work to develop them is soon to begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the DfE must formally consult on the policy and legislate before MAT inspections can be implemented, and no specific timeframe has yet been given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DfE and Ofsted said they would be working with the sector as government formulates its approach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Confederation of School Trusts (CST) gives its feedback on plans for academy trust inspections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":314902,"featured_media":231613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1318,2641,25],"post-theme":[2378],"class_list":["post-236536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-mat","tag-multi-academy-trusts-2","tag-ofsted","post-theme-ofsted"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t