An Ofsted inspector has been sacked for speaking out about his concerns that a “treadmill” inspection regime has driven other senior inspectors out of the job.

Mark Williams had worked as an HMI and was still employed as an inspector by Ofsted when he talked to Tes about the high turnover at the watchdog.

Mr Williams said that the creation of the shorter inspections had made the HMI’s job “a treadmill” of inspection activity and was contributing to people leaving.

As a result of these comments, Ofsted has now dismissed him as a serving inspector, saying that he had voiced a lack of confidence in the current framework.

Mr Williams said he was surprised by Ofsted’s decision as he was repeating concerns that the inspectorate has raised itself about staff turnover.

“I have always spoken without fear or favour and was raising concerns that I have raised with Ofsted in person,” he said. “There is a national debate about Ofsted and I was sharing my perspective as an inspector and former HMI.”  

Mr Williams, whose main job is as education director for the Co-op Academies Trust, spoke out last month when Tes revealed that Ofsted had lost the equivalent of more than two-thirds of its current school HMI workforce in just three years.

Concerns about inspectors leaving Ofsted

Commenting on his sacking, he said:  “I am somewhat surprised by the decision to terminate my Ofsted inspector contract, as the conversation with Tes focused on what I know was an oft-stated concern of Ofsted about the number of HMI leaving, particularly because of the pressures of the then short inspection regime.”

At the time, Mr Williams said: “You would be planning for a visit on one day, doing the inspection and writing the report and then planning for the next inspection. It became a treadmill of inspection activity.”

Mr Williams had also said that the shorter inspections gave inspectors less chance to use their expertise. He warned that it was difficult writing shorter inspection reports in a shorter space of time that were not “generic and anodyne”.

However, he also said changes to the shorter inspection regime had given inspectors more certainty that their inspections had improved things.

An Ofsted spokeswoman said: “Like all major organisations, Ofsted has expectations for how people working for us should behave. Our terms of engagement with Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) clearly set out our policies and expectations on matters such as conduct, use of the OI title, and conflicts of interest.

“The comments made by Mr Williams about Ofsted’s inspection approach were a clear breach of those terms. Therefore, our agreement with him has ceased.”

Earlier this year, the National Audit Office recommended that Ofsted needed to develop a strategy to stop shedding staff.

A NAO report into Ofsted in May warned that the inspectorate had found it challenging to retain its HMI and that by March it had 15 per cent fewer people than it had budgeted for.

The report also said that in 2016-17 workload was cited by nine of the 12 HMI with two years’ or less service who completed exit interviews or questionnaires. 

Speaking today, Mr Williams added: “As the former senior HMI responsible for scheduling in the North West, I was aware of the pressure caused by seeking to meet inspection volumes and concerns over colleague wellbeing and was involved in discussions with senior leaders about these.”

Mr Williams said he was still a supporter of Ofsted and recognised that the current Ofsted leadership had made attempts to relieve pressure on inspectors with changes to the current inspection framework and to provide HMI with a broader range of work.

He said this had helped to improve retention of HMI in the North West recently.

Ofsted is currently developing plans for a new framework, which will focus more on a school’s curriculum and less on its results, and is expected to give inspectors more time in schools.

This is due to come into effect in September next year.