Evaluation of the Impact of Section 5 Inspections - Strand 3

Peter Rudd , Misia Coghlan , Pauline Wade , Tami McCrone

17 July 2009

In 2008 Ofsted commissioned the NFER to undertake an additional phase of research to build on the independent evaluation of the new inspection process for maintained schools in England, carried out in 2006-7. The main aims of the research were to provide a longitudinal perspective on the impact of inspection on school improvement and to explore perspectives related to the impact of s5 inspections upon teachers and support staff. The research methods used were case-study visits to 18 schools (including interviews with senior leadership teams, teachers and teaching assistants) previously visited as part of the original evaluation and a one-paged email survey completed by 126 schools.