Ofsted is recruiting unpaid inspectors as part of a new pilot scheme to include more serving education leaders in school inspections.
There will be no separate inspection fee for these recruits, the school watchdog confirmed, with Ofsted instead contributing to employers’ costs.
This will mean staff can become an Ofsted inspector (OI) as part of their professional development pathway.
Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver announced this plan for recruiting new inspectors at the Association of School and College Leaders’ (ASCL) annual conference in Liverpool today.
“I’m really excited about this pilot. It means we can bring in current sector insight in a more systemic way. It means more people in the sector inspecting the sector,” he told delegates.
Unpaid Ofsted inspectors
Sir Martyn said the pilot scheme would result in “even more colleagues who understand what it means to lead a school through challenges, to make the difficult calls you all make every day”.
The schools watchdog has said that most OIs “join Ofsted as individuals, and their interaction with other OIs and HMIs [His Majesty’s inspectors] is largely limited to their inspection work”.
“While this has worked well for inspection, it can restrict chances for two-way professional reflection and shared learning,” it added.
The pilot scheme involves OIs joining Ofsted as groups of peers drawn from professional organisations and networks that they are already part of.
This includes multi-academy trusts, local authorities, Church dioceses, local school networks, independent learning providers and general further education colleges.
Training has already begun
OIs recruited through the pilot will continue to be trained to the “same high standards as existing inspectors” and will carry out the same inspection work, the watchdog said.
The first participants in the pilot began inspector training in January and are now taking part in shadow inspections.
They are expected to be ready to participate in live inspections later this term, with further cohorts to begin training later in the year.
Vlog has asked how many individuals are involved in the pilot.
The scheme will continue throughout 2026, and feedback from participants will help to inform how Ofsted recruits OIs in the future, the inspectorate said.
Ofsted is also exploring whether a similar approach can be adopted across early years and social care inspection.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, welcomed the aspiration to better match inspectors with the schools they are inspecting.
However, he warned that it is “far from clear whether existing school leaders will have the time and capacity to be involved in inspections, given the enormous workload expectations they are facing”.
Mr Whiteman added: “It could be that there is uneven take-up of this offer; for example, between local authorities, MATs and other families of schools.”
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