News

Ofsted is 20 years old but what is its legacy after two decades?

Inspection advice/guidance
It is 20 years since Ofsted was formed to scrutinise England's schools. Dorothy Lepkowska looks back at how the inspectorate has changed over the years and some of its more controversial moments.

It is hard these days to imagine an education system without Ofsted. Over the past 20 years, a whole generation of teachers has entered the profession never having known their working life free of the fear and trepidation of an inspection. 

As one senior HMI put it, before Ofsted a teacher could shut the classroom door on the world on their first day and keep it so for the next 40 years. 

Two decades on from its inception, an analysis has been carried out of Ofsted’s performance in the intervening years and its effect on schools, the teaching profession and the education system as a whole.

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