Unqualified teachers still inspecting schools despite insistence on quality

There are at least five lead inspectors carrying out inspections on behalf of Ofsted who do not hold qualified teacher status (QTS), it was reported.

Last month, Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw insisted that the inspectorate tries to ensure that inspectors come from good or outstanding schools, and are of a high quality. But yesterday it was revealed that Tribal, a firm which carries out inspections for Ofsted, currently uses five lead inspectors, who are allowed to rate schools, who do not have QTS.

The firm recently emailed all its inspectors asking to be informed of their qualifications. The leaked email, seen by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) said: “No doubt you are aware of the recent media scrutiny into the background of inspectors. In the past this has not been an issue and so we have not asked inspectors to provide us with information about their background.

“Clearly this situation is changing and we need to have accurate records as to whether our inspectors have qualified teacher status.” Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told the TES: “I don’t know how anyone who isn’t qualified could provide a meaningful assessment of the quality of teaching.”