Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by Civitas entitled <i>Playing the Game: The enduring influence of the preferred Ofsted teaching style</i>, and in particular the claim that teachers change their lessons plans during Ofsted inspections.

The Department for Education has read the report and is aware of the issues and concerns raised.

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has repeatedly made clear that Ofsted does not have a preferred teaching style. It is up to the classroom teacher to determine how they should teach. Ofsted’s judgements on teaching are predicated on whether children are learning, progressing and achieving good outcomes.

We recognise the importance of Ofsted delivering a consistently good service across a broad remit. Sir Michael has taken a keen interest in the quality and consistency of inspections and has announced that Ofsted's inspections of schools will be brought in-house from September 2015 to enable direct control over the selection and training of additional inspectors, and more control over quality assurance.