The prospect of Oftsed inspectors visiting a school can be a tense time for all teachers and those who work within a school. Making sure everything is up to date and that students are achieving their targets for the year can be a stressful time, but Oftsed inspectors don’t officially check everything.
Can Oftsed check teacher’s planners?
While Oftsed states that it is not a requirement to present their inspectors with teacher planners, it is always best to have your teacher planner up to date. During Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman’s speech at the ASCL annual conference 2018, she emphasised Ofsted’s view that its key interest is in assessing the extent to which lessons are planned effectively rather than on the format and content of lesson plans.
This effectively means that inspectors look for effective and efficient lesson planning rather than the actual content in your teacher planner. Amanda’s statement is further backed in Oftsed’s school inspection handbook…
“Ofsted does not require schools to provide curriculum planning in any specific format”
“Ofsted does not specify how planning (including curriculum and lesson planning) should be set out, the length of time it should take or the amount of detail it should contain”
What should a teacher planner contain?
If you’re worried about what a teacher planner should contain ahead of Ofsted’s visit, you can see our full guide or if you want some quick tips, read on.
- Time period planners
- Action planning section
- Area for Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
- Class information
- School mission statement and vision
Olaf Surtees has been with Penstripe for ten years; what he doesn’t know about teacher planners, student planners, and lesson planners isn’t worth knowing! He’s in charge of creating our blog content, helping teachers and administrators with helpful hints and tips, as well as our socials — see the links below to find out more.
