The impact of changes to regulations on the cycle of inspections
Last year the Welsh Government and Estyn undertook a series of consultations during February and May on proposed changes to Estyn’s inspection cycles. The published findings are available here.
The new regulations have been made by the Welsh Government and will come into force on 1 September 2014.
Find out what the changes mean for you...
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Why are the regulations changing?In 2013 Estyn and the Welsh Government asked schools, pupil referral units, further education, adult community learning, youth support services and work-based learning to give their views on proposed changes to the frequency of inspections and the notice period given to schools and other providers. The consultation found that there was overwhelming support to reduce the predictability of inspections and so the regulations have been amended to reflect public opinion. |
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What do the changes mean in practice?The scheduling of inspections will be more flexible from September 2014. All providers will be inspected at least once between September 2014 and the end of August 2020, but there won’t be a time link to the last inspection. This will mean that schools will not be able to predict when they are due to be inspected. Inspections will be scheduled based on a broadly representative sample of schools each year. There is no skew to the sample in terms of any perceived risk and any school can be inspected at any time. |
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Will the notice period of an inspection change?No. Schools will still receive twenty working days’ notice of an inspection. The common inspection framework remains the same, the team will be the same size and the inspections will last the same length of time. |