Most education providers said inspections under Ofsted’s renewed framework were respectful and collaborative, but the interim evaluation also found serious continuing pressure on staff. Nearly half of surveyed schools said inspections had negatively affected staff wellbeing to a fair amount or a lot, and half disagreed that inspection workload was manageable.
The findings come from the first stage of an independent evaluation of the renewed education inspection framework. They cover experiences during the framework’s early implementation, not every school or the whole first year. The contrast between generally favourable provider-wide responses and more troubling school-specific results is central to interpreting the report.
Positive overall assessments, with important limits
Across all provider types, 88 per cent of respondents said their inspection was conducted respectfully, 76 per cent said it was collaborative and 78 per cent said it was empathetic. Nearly three-quarters agreed inspectors had sought to understand the provider’s particular context, while 81 per cent said the report card accurately described what it was like to be a pupil, learner or child at their setting. More than six in ten thought the inspection would help them improve.
Those overall results combine schools with early-years settings and further-education and skills providers. They should not be presented as school-only findings. The school results were less positive on several questions. Sixty-nine per cent of schools agreed inspectors worked collaboratively with them to identify priorities, compared with 72 per cent of early-years settings and 86 per cent of further-education and skills providers. Only 65 per cent of schools said inspectors sought to understand and take account of their context; among secondary schools the figure was 47 per cent.
The report describes an early-stage survey, not a census. It received 699 responses across the first four survey waves, from providers inspected from January 2026 whose reports were published before the end of May. Responses averaged around 27 per cent of those invited. Schools accounted for 253 responses; early-years settings provided 384 and further-education and skills providers 57. Five initial teacher education responses were too few for separate statistical analysis. Differences between groups should therefore be read with care, particularly where subgroup bases are small.
Wellbeing and workload remain concerns
Across all provider types, 39 per cent said their own or participating staff’s mental wellbeing had been negatively affected a fair amount or a lot. For schools, the comparable share was 48 per cent. Separate breakdowns in the interim report show that 29 per cent of all school respondents said wellbeing was affected “a lot” and 18 per cent “a fair amount”; the remaining responses range from some or little impact to none. This is a measure of respondents’ reported experience, not a clinical assessment.
Half of schools disagreed that the workload caused by inspection was manageable. Schools, especially smaller schools, described workload as a challenge. While 69 per cent of providers overall said inspection teams had taken steps to minimise stress and anxiety, the figure for schools was 62 per cent. Among schools recognising such steps, 45 per cent said they reduced stress and anxiety a fair amount or a lot, below the 60 per cent overall figure.
The evaluation also records positive views: 55 per cent of all providers agreed the workload was manageable, against 27 per cent who disagreed, and 48 per cent said inspection benefits outweighed negatives compared with 31 per cent who disagreed. Those are provider-wide results; the report did not provide school-only figures for the benefits question. Its interim nature means a fuller account is due after the first full year of the renewed framework.
Reform debate continues
Ofsted’s chief inspector said the findings showed the regulator was on the right track while recognising that workload and wellbeing remained difficult. School leaders’ unions took a more critical view. Their representatives argued that the reported harm and pressure showed reforms had not done enough, with calls for a government review and, from one union, a halt to graded inspections. These are union assessments and policy demands, not conclusions established by the survey itself.
The findings follow earlier changes intended to make inspections more collaborative and attentive to wellbeing. They suggest those aims are being recognised by many respondents, but not consistently experienced across settings. For schools, the unresolved questions are practical: whether inspectors can account for context more reliably, and whether inspection demands can be reduced without weakening independent scrutiny. The interim results do not settle those questions; the next stage of research is expected to cover the framework’s first full year.
