Forced academisation placed additional pressure on inspection for schools –and former chief inspector argued against this –independent report for Ofsted concludes

Forced academisation has placed an additional pressure on inspection for schools, an official review of Ofsted’s processes has concluded, with a former chief inspector having “argued strongly against” the practice.

The conclusion, buried within an independent review of Ofsted carried out by its former chief inspector Dame Christine Gilbert, was published a day after the new government reduced the emphasis on forced academy conversions, as it unveiled its own proposals for the inspection regime.

Dame Christine’s findings linked Ofsted pressures to the previous government’s drive to convert schools to academies in two sections of her report.

It stated: “This review heard from many sources that the growing fear of inspection was intensified by the previous government’s decision to issue an academy order for a maintained school that is judged ‘inadequate’ (or sometimes ‘requires improvement’ twice in a row) or to remove the school from its trust if it is already in one.

“It is worth noting that the then-HMCI [His/Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector] Amanda Spielman, argued strongly against this decision but she failed to dissuade the government.”