Ofsted Resources for Curriculum and Subject Leaders

I created this as a Twitter thread and some folk have found it useful so I thought I'd preserve it here on my blog.

Ofsted have begun to release subject insight videos based on their research reviews. Say what you will about Ofsted but it might just be worth hearing what they think, as a source of information to consider as you lead your subject forward.

Here's the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLq-zBnUkspOzYzqujazp9KpmnRnvsTob

They also have a few shorter curriculum webinars for some subjects (English, Maths, Languages, Computing, Art & Design, and curriculum overview). Again, Ofsted can guide your thinking but don't necessarily have to dictate it. Here's the playlist for those videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLq-zBnUkspN3F--gY8eQem8LxZoxbn75

As well as those they have these curriculum webinars available. Amongst other things they cover reading, history and languages, as well as safeguarding and more general curriculum planning. Here's the playlist for those videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLq-zBnUkspPdslDqP1pwcYY0DBlGVbgl

And this week they published the first of their subject reports (this one focusing on science). These will be interesting to keep an eye on in the future. It looks like they are being stored here with all the research reviews: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/curriculum-research-reviews

Here's the list of those research reviews (see left).

And for balance an opinion piece on TES: 'Why Ofsted’s subject reviews are such a problem':

https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/secondary/why-ofsted-curriculum-research-reviews-subject

Once you've read an Ofsted subject review, you might want to head over to Marc Hayes' website to check out his overviews of them: marcrhayes.com

Adam Boxer wrote a thought-provoking thread about overviews this week which I think is helpful (see right).

And if you really want them, there are those infamous Ofsted cribsheets, hosted here (I think) by Paul Garvey. My take on these is 'forewarned is forearmed' - it's probably not the best idea to use these as the sole basis of developments.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1S8o1zWWu4dFmkPUu7afK0Dm4A10XIKUU

And remember, your best chance of being Ofsted-ready is getting to know your subject well, and making any improvements to it for the sake of the children in your school. Ofsted might be able to provide us with some guidance, but its only one source of information.

Oftsed Inspection Framework Question Grid for Subject Leaders

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