Estyn has launched Ready Already (Barod yn Barod), a campaign addressing some of the misconceptions around inspections in schools and PRUs, aiming to reassure education providers not to overprepare for inspection and to teach as they usually would.

Estyn introduced changes to inspections in school and Pupil Referral Units in 2022, including removing summative gradings such as ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’, ‘Adequate’ or ‘Unsatisfactory’. Our approach has created more opportunities for Learners, leaders, teachers and support staff to contribute constructively to collaborative conversations during the inspection process.

Ready Already, is an informative campaign featuring school leaders and teachers from across Wales who have recent experience of the latest inspection framework and who provide honest feedback about the approach and the expectations of providers leading up to and during inspection.

The campaign also relays facts directly from Estyn inspectors in a bid to offer clarity and dispel many of the current myths around inspection.

Estyn recognises the additional pressures that an inspection can create. All inspectors are former teachers or education leaders themselves, who have undergone various inspections, and they appreciate that the process should be challenging but also constructive, reflecting the true quality of learning at a school or Pupil Referral Unit.

Inspectors share their findings with senior leaders and the nominee throughout the inspection week in addition to providing feedback at the closing inspection meeting.

Kelly Walker, Wellbeing Inclusion Lead at Alexandra Primary School in Wrexham, speaks positively about her experience of inspection.

I didn’t come away feeling like I had had a grilling. I came away thinking I had had a conversation about what I do in school and how we work. They were interested in knowing more about us and our ethos.

You don’t need to have this great big pile of things to present to inspectors. You just need to be able to talk and know your stuff. They’re coming to see what you’re doing well. There might be things they suggest to improve. That’s their job. But as a school that’s what we want as well. We want to know how we can get better.”

Owen Evans, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, says,

Our objective is to emphasise to learning providers across Wales that they’re already ready for inspection.

There is absolutely no need to over-prepare for inspection. We know that providers face challenging workloads and often add to these pressures by feeling that they have to prepare a raft of additional paperwork ahead of an inspection.

This is not the case, Our inspection teams want to see how providers teach day to day. We want to work collaboratively to highlight education and training priorities, which help shape the best possible outcomes for learners.”

A new report by Estyn published today explores how Essential Skills Wales (ESW) qualifications – including literacy, numeracy and digital skills – are delivered in work-based learning apprenticeships. The report highlights the importance of essential skills and suggests there are opportunities to improve assessment.

Although providers effectively enable learners to achieve their ESW qualifications, the inspectorate found the learning and teaching of essential skills in apprenticeships focused on preparation for external assessment. This may impact the ability of learners to retain these skills and the value they place on them for use in work or wider life.

The study also shows how the ESW assessment could better align with the needs of learners. Apprentices were found to strongly prefer learning literacy, numeracy and digital skills through the context of their work and vocational training. This contrasts with a model of ESW assessment that is largely generic and often unrelated to the work context of the apprentice.

Owen Evans, Chief Inspector, says, 

‘Enabling apprentices to gain important skills they may have missed out on previously is a vital but challenging part of the training jigsaw. Although work-based learning providers are working hard to ensure learners gain these vital skills, they and their learners face a number of challenges, particularly around assessment.’

‘Our report found that nearly all learners, tutors and employers who participated in our study valued developing literacy, numeracy and digital skills – but many expressed reservations about the suitability of the ESW qualification. Policy makers should consider our findings as they review the ESW qualification to ensure apprentices get the best opportunity possible to learn and apply these fundamental skills.’

The report notes there is a challenge to develop the skills needed for their ESW assessments for many learners during the relatively short period of an apprenticeship.

Despite these challenges, the study shows how work-based learning providers are using a range of delivery models to overcome these issues. The report shares six different delivery models and their respective strengths and weaknesses.

Steve Bell, author of the report, says, 

‘This study gives voice to the nearly 1,200 apprentices, employers, tutors and assessors who responded to our online survey – along with 200 more who talked with us face-to-face during our visits to providers. The report brings together insights, alongside interesting case studies of effective practice and several recommendations. We invite providers to reflect on their delivery models, and encourage Welsh Government, Qualifications Wales and other partners to work closer together to ensure ESW qualifications more fully align with learners’ needs.’

Building on last year’s approach to ensuring the Annual Report’s findings are easier to read, digest and are available  to all as early as possible, Estyn has today published sector specific summaries across seventeen sectors including schools, colleges, work-based learning, the Jobs Growth Wales+ (employability programme), and initial teacher education among others outlining what’s working well and what needs strengthening.

The summaries, which have been pulled together from the findings of Estyn inspections during 2022-2023, also include a concise set of reflective questions for each sector, aimed at helping providers to consider the best way of making progress against one of the priorities identified for the sector. 

To further support improvement, the sector summaries point towards inspection reports and case studies from providers that were inspected and were found to be doing particularly well. 

Ahead of his full Annual Report, which will be published in January, Owen Evans, Chief Inspector, says, “Estyn has visited over 400 education and training settings over the past year. Our findings are a good indicator of what’s going well and where we need to improve and have been designed to make understanding our common challenges easier. I hope practitioners use these materials as we all strive to improve our practice. The sector summaries will allow providers to gain an insight into the key themes and challenges identified for each education and training area in Wales over the past twelve months of inspection activity. 

“My full annual report will be published in January and will include further detail about the findings of our inspections together with an analysis of a number of wider themes that will provide further insight into our current education and training priorities here in Wales.” 

The purpose of the review is to determine to what extent the current structures and processes in Wales ensure children are appropriately placed on, and removed from, the Child Protection Register (when sufficient evidence indicates it is safe to do so).

Gillian Baranski, Chief Inspector at CIW explained the approach they have taken to date and why this work is so important.

We have chosen to publish these early interim findings in order to share learning and promote best practice at the earliest possible opportunity. These initial findings have been shaped by feedback from peers in education, police, health, and regional safeguarding boards as well as talking directly to children and young people who are or have been on the child protection register. This consultation work is ongoing, and we are particularly keen to hear more from those children and young people.

This collaborative approach highlights the fact safeguarding is everybody’s business. As inspectorates, we wanted to work together to get a holistic picture of current practice across Wales and to identify together what is working well and where there’s room for improvement. The initial findings have shown good practice exists however this needs to be applied consistently both locally and nationally. We need to ensure that the voice of the child is central to decision making.

The inspectorates are encouraging practitioners from across Wales who are involved in safeguarding and child protection to take forward and learn from these early findings, to strengthen work with children and young people in the immediate and longer term.

The full report, which is one of several pieces of work relating to the safeguarding of children, will be published in autumn 2023.
 

The programme aims to diversify the inspection pool, boost the experiences and careers of those involved and so contribute to an increase in diversity in leadership in education at all levels.

Owen Evans, Chief Inspector, says,

In March 2019, just 15 individuals from non-white ethnic backgrounds were registered as headteachers or senior leaders in Wales – less than 1% of the workforce. Yet Wales has many potential inspiring and motivating leaders from all backgrounds throughout education who face barriers to progression in their careers.
Everyone in Wales has a part to play in remedying this situation and I’m proud that Estyn can play a role. This pilot programme is an important part of the work we are doing to increase representation across all levels of leadership and the pool of inspectors that we work with so that the education workforce reflects the diversity of Wales.

Jeremy Miles, Minister for Education and Welsh Language, says,

I am committed to increasing representation in all areas of our education workforce. Our young people need to recognise themselves and their own experiences within their leadership role models, which is why this development programme Estyn is launching today is so important.
We know that organisations that attract and develop individuals from the widest pool of talent consistently perform better.

The National Academy for Educational Leadership Wales says it

is proud to support the implementation of this programme through our innovation funding stream. As an organisation we recognise the importance of increasing the representation of global majority leaders, across all education settings in the inspection process.

Applications for the programme are open until Monday 29 June. Candidates must currently be working in a school in Wales, have at least five years’ teaching experience, and be responsible for developing teaching, learning or well-being.