This chapter explains the quality assurance systems in place in early childhood and school education, higher education, and adult education and training.
This article provides an overview of the systems operating in England at central and institutional level.
Central level
Central government sets the overall framework for quality assurance, including the inspection framework. It also compiles data on and evaluates school performance on the basis of student performance measures (known as school accountability measures) to raise standards and hold schools to account.
Parliamentary committees provide an important means of scrutinising government policy and proposed legislation at central level. House of Commons Select Committees shadow government departments and scrutinise their work as follows:
- the Education Committee examines the policy, spending and administration of the Department for Education (DfE) and related non-departmental public bodies, including Ofsted (see below)
- the Public Accounts Committee examines public spending.
General Committees and Temporary Joint Committees are also formed to consider proposed and draft legislation.
The National Audit Office (NAO), which is independent of government, scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament. It reports to Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which government departments and agencies use public money, with a view to helping improve public services.
HM Treasury, the UK’s economics and finance ministry, has overall responsibility for ensuring that public funds are spent on activities that provide the greatest benefits to society, and that they are spent in the most efficient way.
The Department for Education (DfE) publishes statistics on school and pupil numbers and quality assurance in further and higher education, ensuring that institutions promote access and success, and determining the regulatory framework in further education.
Inspection and regulation
Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, which is led by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI), plays a role in system-level quality assurance through:
- the inspection and regulation of day care and children’s social care
- the inspection of children’s services, maintained schools and academies, further education (FE) colleges, initial teacher training, youth work, work-based learning and adult education.
It provides an evaluation of the sectors of the education system which it inspects in its annual report.
The legislative basis for the current system for the inspection of publicly funded schools is the Education Act 2005, as amended by the Education Act 2011. The legislation requires Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector to keep the Secretary of State informed about the quality of education provided by schools.
The Office for Students (OfS), established under the provisions of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, is the independent regulator of the higher education (HE) sector.
The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) is responsible for setting and monitoring the standards of UK higher education
International perspectives
Information from international surveys of student attainment provides comparative performance measures for school education. England participates in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). For further information, see the Department for Education’s ‘International comparisons of education’ page.
Institutional level
The education system in England is characterised by a high degree of institutional autonomy, counterbalanced by a high degree of accountability. Institutional self-evaluation is both an important part of the quality improvement process and a key input to external evaluation. External inspection plays an important role, as does the publication of performance data and other information on individual institutions and on wider aspects of the education system. Publicly funded pre-schools, schools, further education (FE) colleges and universities are accountable for their own performance to their governing bodies, which include representatives of key stakeholders, for example, in the case of schools, parents, staff and representatives of the local community.
Early childhood education and care (ECEC)
The phase of education and care spanning the period from birth to age five is known as the early years foundation stage (EYFS). The EYFS is delivered in a range of public, private and voluntary settings and is regulated and inspected under Ofsted’s Education Inspection Framework (2019). However, registration arrangements differ and inspection criteria are applied differently, depending on whether the provision is considered to form part of the school system or not.
Nursery and reception classes in maintained primary schools and primary academies are inspected according to the same inspection arrangements as those used for schools (see below).
Early Years Register providers, which include nurseries, nursery schools, pre-schools, kindergartens, schools offering provision to children under the age of three, and schools running a separate pre-school, must register their provision. They are inspected according to the Childcare Act 2006 and the arrangements laid out in the Early Years Inspection Handbook (2019) and the Education Inspection Framework (2019).
Inspectors of Early Years Register providers make judgements about the following five main areas during an inspection:
- overall effectiveness
- the quality of education
- behaviour and attitudes
- personal development
- leadership and management.
Schools
In education in publicly funded schools, both self-evaluation and external inspection play a role in promoting high standards of education and professional practice.
Self-evaluation is an essential element of school improvement, providing the basis for planning, development and improvement in schools. Ultimate responsibility for institutional self-evaluation rests with the school governing board and the headteacher of each school, who evaluate all aspects of the work of the school and set objectives for improvement.
External inspection of maintained schools and academies is carried out by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills). Section 41 of the Education Act 2011 requires Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) (who leads Ofsted) to keep the Secretary of State informed about the quality of education provided by schools, and in particular:
- the achievement of pupils
- the quality of teaching
- the quality of school leadership and management
- the behaviour and safety of pupils.
Inspection arrangements are outlined in the Education Inspection Framework (2019) and the School Inspection Handbook (2019). These detail how inspectors gather evidence both before and during a school inspection to assess how well it is performing.
Self-evaluation, school inspection and school improvement all rely heavily on the analysis of data. However, the Education Inspection Framework in place from September 2019 introduced an increased focus on the ‘substance of education’. The intention is to rebalance inspection by looking more closely at what is taught and how, with data on test and exam outcomes looked at in that context, rather than in isolation.
The review of teachers’ performance is conducted annually, within the school, in accordance with The Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012. It is described in the article on ‘Continuing Professional Development’ in the chapter on ‘Teachers and Education Staff’.
Higher education
The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of the higher education (HE) sector. It is supported by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), which works on its behalf to assess the quality and standards of HE providers.
Securing student success (2018), the new regulatory framework for HE in England, came fully into force on 1 August 2019. Through it, the OfS intends to focus on four primary regulatory objectives (page 14):
‘All students, from all backgrounds, and with the ability and desire to undertake higher education:
- Are supported to access, succeed in, and progress from, higher education.
- Receive a high quality academic experience, and their interests are protected while they study or in the event of provider, campus or course closure.
- Are able to progress into employment or further study, and their qualifications hold their value over time.
- Receive value for money.’
Other arrangements relevant to quality assurance in higher education include:
- the Quality Code for Higher Education (QAA, 2018), which sets out expectations and core practices for UK HE providers
- external examining – external examiners ensure an independent assessment of academic standards at the HE institution making the award
- the publication of information, such as the UK performance indicators published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
- external assessment of the quality of research through the Research Excellence Framework for UK HE institutions
- the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), which assesses excellence in teaching at universities.
Further education and work-based training
Since 2016, the Department for Education (DfE) has been responsible for further education policy and the overarching regulatory framework. However, as independent organisations, the primary responsibility for improving the quality of provision in further education (FE) colleges and adult education and training lies respectively with the board of governors and the providers themselves.
External inspection of further and adult education is the responsibility of Ofsted. The Further Education and Skills Inspection Handbook (2019) provides guidance on how providers are inspected under the Education Inspection Framework (2019).
Article last reviewed December 2020.