OfSTED Online Self Assessment
We are moving into the time of year when a few things start to happen; the days will become shorter, there will be the talk of Christmas (too early), and education and training providers will start the self-assessment and quality improvement cycle in preparation for submission to OfSTED in January. Many organisations will do this the old-fashioned way with spreadsheets, Word documents and a flurry of emails. Some organisations won’t do it at all.
OfSTED Online Self Assessment with Stedfast
We like to think that Stedfast makes the self-assessment report process simpler and more robust. It must be done well, as organisations will be judged on their ability to self-assess.
The rigour of self-assessment, including through the use of the views of learners, employers and other stakeholders, its accuracy and how well it secures sustained improvement across the provider’s work, including in any subcontracted provision
How to create an OfSTED self-assessment plan
It is fairly straightforward using Stedfast. The first thing to do is to have an outcome set that uses the sections and judgments from the Further education and skills inspection handbook as objectives and outcomes.
Creating assessment plans is a simple yet fundamental task for anyone new to Stedfast.
Once the assessment plan has been created then, assessment cycles will be available, and measures can be created for which staff will need to add their findings. A point to note is that we think it is worth taking some time over the grade descriptions that you set and wants staff to use. Be clear about what each grade is – over grading yourself during the self-assessment will be seen as an area for improvement if the OfSTED inspectors do not agree with your findings.
Self Assessment Report Findings
Once each measure has been allocated to staff, they can start adding their findings. Staff will be able to add narrative, progress scales and a grade. Plan owners can moderate findings and override the comments and grades.
Each finding can then have associated actions which will be added to that plan cycles action plan.
When to do your self-assessment?
No time like the present! Self Assessment Reports need to be right. They need to be collaborative and reviewed. We have seen too often that people leave their plans until the last minute, and this results in a less-than-robust report or quality improvement plan.