Authors

Colin Richards
All articles by Colin Richards
Is Ofsted facing its glasnost moment?
The inspectorate may be about to learn the same lesson as Gorbachev: admit you’re flawed and the whole edifice crumbles
15 June 2018
Has Ofsted got its own recruitment crisis?
Ofsted’s 2019 framework is eagerly awaited – but will it have the personnel to deliver it, asks Colin Richards
10 May 2018
‘Old white men have dominated Ofsted’s history: we shouldn’t be surprised by the gender pay gap’
With a new report highlighting the gender pay gap within Ofsted, one former inspector reflects on the discrimination that has blighted school inspection since the very beginning
6 March 2018
‘Ofsted must be careful not to lose all its credibility in early years’
The response to Ofsted’s early years report last week suggests that the inspectorate has made a major miscalculation
4 December 2017
‘Without any sense of irony, the chief inspector criticises schools for “a weak theoretical understanding of the curriculum”’
One former inspector asks: How much value does the already narrowing curriculum have if it’s only local-authority schools that are required to follow it?
17 October 2017
The primary curriculum: ‘Where has Ofsted been all this time?’
A former senior Ofsted inspector is delighted that the inspectorate has woken up to its own impact on the curriculum in the primary phase – but worries that it’s too little, too late
11 October 2017