Ofsted will put multi-academy trusts (MATs) under more scrutiny when it inspects schools, Amanda Spielman has revealed.

The chief inspector today told a conference that she wants to ensure that “the role of the MAT is properly considered” when inspectors report on schools.

It comes amid continued government resistance to the inspectorate’s desire to undertake full inspections of multi-academy trusts.

The inspectorate currently inspects individual schools and academies, but does not have the power to directly inspect academy trusts.

Instead, it has carried out simultaneous inspections of a number of schools within a particular academy trust, and published letters that draw conclusions about its effectiveness.

Speaking at an Education Policy Institute event today, Ms Spielman added: “It is still too often the case that our inspections of these schools, when they are part of a focused inspection, make limited reference to the MAT role, something that clearly fails to recognise the significance of that relationship and the responsibilities the trust has for leadership and management.”

She told the event that Ofsted is “revising our existing methodology and approach to the inspection of MATs so as to make sure we don’t limit the powers we do have but we are getting as much insight as we can in the most efficient way”.

The chief inspector said that Ofsted was this term visiting “a small number of MATs” to trial aspects of its new approach.

She said she also wanted to improve the quality of information that inspectors have about how an academy trust is set up and operates before they start an inspection.

Speaking at the same event, education minister Lord Agnew said: “We are still at looking bodies best placed to assess MATs, and how this will differ from Ofsted’s school inspections.”