We, like many of you, have been very interested in Ofsted’s current consultation on proposed changes to their inspections in England, following the biggest consultation Ofsted has ever undertaken: the 2024 ‘Big Listen’. The proposals relate to inspections of early years (EY), schools, further education (FE) and skills providers and initial teacher education (ITE). Proposed aspects include the introduction of inspection toolkits, and grades for a range of areas, on a 5-point scale from causing concern (red) through to exemplary (black) (see more here).

Staff wellbeing and workload: a focus on ITE

In this blog post, we take a ‘deep dive’ into the staff wellbeing and workload area of the proposed Inspection Toolkits, which appears in the Leadership and Governance section of all sectors. Here, building on our own research (Wood & Quickfall, 2024) we focus on the ITE toolkit, where staff wellbeing and workload is considered in the final section entitled ‘Professional behaviours, personal development and well-being’. Within this section of the toolkit, the wording is as follows:

Causing concern: Staff workload is poorly managed, inappropriate and/or unsustainable.

Attention needed: The direct or indirect impact of leaders’ decisions creates unnecessary burdens on staff.

Secure: Leaders remove unnecessary burdens and make sure that the work of staff is sustainable and proportionate.

Strong: Leaders make sure that the wellbeing of staff is a high priority and that the support staff receive is highly effective, comprehensive and timely (DfE, 2025, p. 20).

The wording in the EY, School and FE toolkits are similar.

We are thrilled to see the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted taking staff wellbeing and workload seriously – for many of us who research this area, these are key issues for the recruitment, retention and mental health crises reported widely for the teaching profession (Education Support, 2024). This is an area where Ofsted could have a powerful, beneficial impact on a longstanding issues. However, we would suggest there is a problem with this premise which is causing concern.

‘Staff wellbeing and workload … are key issues for the recruitment, retention and mental health crises reported widely for the teaching profession.’

A research-informed view

Here we draw upon teacher educator testimonies from our own research about their workload and wellbeing. All responses are from our 2023/24 survey (for further details on the project, Wood & Quickfall, 2024):

‘The persistent impact of the reaccreditation process, Ofsted and internal university uncertainty has meant that I have felt on “high alert” for a very long time.’

Many participants commented on the high stress situation they have been in for several years due to Ofsted and DfE reforms such as accreditation (DfE, 2022) and only 25 per cent (of n=167) said their workload was manageable in 2023/24. Just 5 per cent said the accreditation process had been positive, and 16 per cent reported that Ofsted inspection/preparation had been a positive experience.

‘Our recent Ofsted experience was horrendous. We were inspected by a team of five, none of whom had ITE experience.’

‘When Ofsted came it decimated my workload for three weeks – this takes a long time to recover from. In fact, I was ill after, as were a few in the team.’

Our data would suggest that attention is needed on the impact Ofsted and the DfE themselves have on workload and wellbeing in the sector, so to ask leaders to improve workload and wellbeing for their staff – without acknowledging the impact that Ofsted and DfE initiatives such as accreditation have had – seems unlikely to secure the confidence of the professions concerned. While strong leaders do consider staff wellbeing and reduction of workload to be high priorities, the existential threats to careers, livelihoods and research presented by loss of accreditation or a failed Ofsted inspection mean that asking staff to do less is a risk to everyone. We would welcome proposals from the DfE and Ofsted about how they as leaders in our sector intend to support staff wellbeing and reduction in workloads in a highly effective fashion.

We urge other BERA members to apply their own relevant findings to the proposed toolkits and to share research-informed views via the BERA Blog community. We also encourage everyone to take part in the consultation on the new Ofsted reforms, which you can do here until 11.59pm on 28 April 2025.

References

Department for Education [DfE] (2022). Initial teacher training (ITT): Accreditation. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/initial-teacher-training-itt-accreditation

Department for Education [DfE] (2025). ITE inspection toolkit. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6792803d9091065484572d6a/ITE_inspection_toolkit_draft_for_consultation.pdf

Education Support (2024). Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024. https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index/

Wood, P. & Quickfall, A. (2024). Was 2021–2022 an Annus Horribilis for teacher educators? Reflections on a survey of teacher educators. British Educational Research Journal, 50(5), 2172–2197. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4017