School leaders and education experts will gather for an online event on Wednesday 4 November 2020 at 5pm discussing the role of Ofsted during and after the covid-19 pandemic and the future of school accountability.

The webinar will be the first opportunity for school leaders to gather virtually since the government announced new lockdown measures in England on Saturday.

Nick Brook, Deputy General Secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT will speak alongside former Education Secretary, Baroness Morris of Yardley; Dame Alison Peacock (CEO of the Chartered College of Teaching); Frank Norris, (Independent Chair of Blackpool Education Improvement Board) and Stephen Tierney, (Chair of the Headteachers' Roundtable).

Mr Brook comments: “In the grand scheme of things, confirming that routine inspection will remain paused in January may not seem a top priority for government right now. But to schools, it matters. In the face of the most challenging circumstances since 1945, school leaders are doing everything they can to keep the show on the road, responding rapidly to an ever-changing situation in order to keep education going and children safe. A return to high stakes inspection, in the middle of a pandemic, would be quite perverse and most likely unworkable.

“When the government said that routine inspection should resume in January 2021, infections were dropping and restrictions were being eased. Now the country is heading in precisely the opposite direction. Any hope that conditions would be suitable to resume inspection in January have been quashed over the weekend by the news that we are heading into a second lockdown and a spike of infection potentially more deadly than the first. It is only common sense that visits into schools by adults travelling across the country only risks further spread and should be avoided. In the circumstances, it would be quite ludicrous to suggest anything to the contrary.”

Register to attend ‘NAHT - Ofsted and School Accountability’ here:

https://www.crowdcast.io/e/ofsted-and-school/register

Press and Media contacts:

Steven George
NAHT Head of Press and Media
01444 472886
07970 907730

Rose Tremlett 
Senior Press Officer 
07545 354363

Email : press.office@naht.org.uk