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06 Oct 2022

Ofsted crib sheets: What are Ofsted looking for from schools?

The Ofsted crib sheets taking Twitter by storm: what are they and where did they come from?

What are 'Ofsted crib sheets?'

Over the last few days, a storm broke out across the Educational Twitter landscape around a set of 'crib sheets' that Ofsted inspectors reportedly use as a form of 'checklist' for school inspections. Each sheet related to a different curriculum area and appears to shows how Ofsted assess each individual area of the curriculum.

For Secondary English, the sheet shared online reads: This document has been created to support Inspectors undertaking a deep dive in English and includes assessment questions such as Is the importance of standard English explained and understood. Including its origins?

How can I get a copy?

Paul Garvey, another advocate for pupil voice, manage to source many of these reported crib sheets and shared them freely on his Twitter page: He by far has the most complete collection. 

What are teachers saying?

Across Twitter, teachers reacted to the existence of these crib sheets. Many teachers stated that the system was unfair, as schools that have members of staff who are also part of Ofsted would have an unfair advantage compared to others.

 

Teachers were also suprised at how ‘prescriptive’ the crib sheets seemed to be, noting that this would be more difficult to prove for smaller schools where one staff member is likely to lead multiple subjects.

Others were not so surprised by the content of the crib sheets, and said that they contain the questions a teacher would expect Ofsted to be asking during an inspection.

Some educationalists urged schools not to use the Ofsted crib sheets, as they worried that they would lead to increased teacher workload.

What are Ofsted saying?

At the time of publication, Ofsted has not officially commented on the crib sheets circulating the internet, however Schools Week reported that The Confederation of School Trusts (CST) and Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) have now written to the inspectorate to demand their publication.

Where is the Personal Development/PSHE Ofsted crib sheet?

So far, the Ofsted crib sheet for Personal Development (PSHE, SMSC & British Values) has only been found in image form and not as a printable document. You can find the image here. However, you probably don't need to: VotesforSchools is a unique resources provider and voting platform that meets all SMSC, British Values and Prevent markers, while making sure that pupil voice is heard.

Our programme has been mentioned in many Ofsted reports, all of which praise how our lessons enable young people to speak up, to prepare for life in modern Britain. We recommend downloading some of our trial lessons to see what kind of topics we cover, and booking a quick demo to see how we could help your school.

 

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