Sir Martyn Oliver has said he should be judged on updated Ofsted reforms due to be released in September, admitting he only put out “foundations” of a plan originally because the sector demanded “urgent” reform.
The chief inspector has been widely criticised for the rushed nature of plans for new report cards and a new inspection framework.
It also emerged recently Ofsted won’t respond to its own consultation until September, giving leaders just weeks to digest the proposals before inspections resume in November – despite a previous pledge from the inspectorate that providers would get a full term’s notice.
Speaking at the Festival of Education this morning, Oliver was asked how his aim of rebuilding trust with the sector was going.
He said it had “gone to a certain level”, but added that “until we publish the document, there is nothing anyone else can do. And that is a difficult, difficult state.”
On the report card plans, Oliver said Ofsted “could have taken another one or two more years, but that wasn’t what the system was saying.
“The system was saying Ofsted needed urgent and quick reform. And so I chose to put something out that I knew would be just the beginnings, just the foundations.”
‘People will understand better in September’
He pointed to the watchdog’s testing of the proposals.
“I think we’ve done something like 234 test visits in the period between publishing that document and where we are today, and the amount of work that we’ve done to listen to teachers, to shape and to change. We’re taking that time to just get it absolutely right.
“And I think in September, some of the things that I originally set out to achieve, when I get a chance to explain them, I think people will understand better, and hopefully it will begin to rebuild that trust.”
Ofsted had originally pledged to give education settings a notice period “equivalent to one term between the publication of our post-consultation response and inspection materials and the start of education inspections”.
But with its firm plans now not coming until September, leaders have warned they will have just weeks to prepare for the new regime. Angry education union leaders wrote to education secretary Bridget Phillipson last week calling for new-style inspections to be introduced at the start of the 2026-27 academic year.
Oliver said he was “sorry” for the lack of notice, but said Ofsted had “never ever” paused inspection during development of a new framework before, as it will between September and November.
Would he as a leader be happy with just a few weeks’ notice?
“Well, it depends on what you see, what comes out from what I’m about to produce in September, which…I’m still at the state of finalising. And I can’t really go into until that point, but I think in September, judge me by what comes out and what you read then at that point.”
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