2017 Ofsted Inspection Handbook still expects schools to survey their staff regularly

As it did with the previous inspection handbook, Ofsted makes clear that it values the information from regular staff surveys and will always report on the schools efforts in this area:

(Para 151 of the October 2017 edition of the School inspection handbook).

My website, SchoolStaffSurveys.com, is one of several ways you can run a comprehensive staff engagement survey for your teachers. It isn't free (try Google Forms or SurveyMonkey for a free version), but it requires almost no configuration or setup on your part, and is really simple for your teachers to complete. And you get some nice graphs to show your governors.


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About the author: Bruce Greig is an entrepreneur and has been a school governor since 2011. He served as Chair of Governors through two Ofsted inspections and four headteachers. He set up SchoolStaffSurveys.com after discovering how enlightening an anonymous staff survey can be and decided to make it easy for every school to run them.

School Staff Surveys is live - a simple cost-effective way to run staff engagement surveys in UK schools

School Staff Surveys is live - a simple cost-effective way to run staff engagement surveys in UK schools.

SchoolStaffSurveys.com uses the world-renowned questions from the UK Civil Service People Survey in an easy-to-use website which you, as a headteacher or other school leader, can use to survey your staff.

Try it for free today: www.schoolstaffsurveys.com





About the author: Bruce Greig is an entrepreneur and has been a school governor since 2011. He served as Chair of Governors through two Ofsted inspections and four headteachers. He set up SchoolStaffSurveys.com after discovering how enlightening an anonymous staff survey can be and decided to make it easy for every school to run them.

UK Civil Service People Survey vs Ofsted Staff Questionnaire

Ofsted inspectors issue a 12-point questionnaire for staff to complete online during an inspection. Should school leaders use these questions between inspections to understand how their staff feel?

Maybe.

The Ofsted inspection questions for staff do a good job of telling the inspector what staff think at that point in time, with enough detail to satisfy the requirements of an inspection crammed chock full with evidence and paperwork.

But they aren’t really detailed enough to help school leaders understand what’s really working well, and what needs to change. If you are willing to invest a little more time and effort, you can get a lot more out of a more detailed questions.

These are the Ofsted questions are (all answered with Strongly Agree, Agree, Neither, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree):

1. I am proud to be a member of staff at this school
2. My contribution to the school is valued
3. I know what we are trying to achieve as a school
4. I am involved in what the school is trying to achieve
5. I contribute to the school’s process of self-evaluation
6. The school makes appropriate provision for my professional development
7. The school is well led
8. Governors do an effective job in this school
9. The school runs smoothly on a daily basis
10. Children are safe in this school
11. Any unacceptable behaviour by pupils is consistently well managed
12. The school successfully meets the differing needs of individual pupils

A more thorough alternative is the UK Civil Service People Survey. This has been used for years in across all branches of the Civil Service. It is relied on by leaders at all levels in the Civil Service to understand how their staff feel about their jobs. You can use it in your school to get the same sort of professional, in-depth understanding that Civil Service leaders have.

It has many more nuanced questions than the Ofsted one. It covers everything in the Ofsted questionnaire, but in much more detail.

For example, if staff respond neutrally to the statement “The school is well led” in the Ofsted Survey, what does that tell you? Nothing you can really act on.

But the Civil Service People Survey asks whether leaders are good at motivating their staff, giving clear feedback, managing poor performance in others, and so on:

So you can see where, exactly, your leadership needs improving, and where you are doing well (in the eyes of your staff, at least).

You can copy-paste the questions into a free survey tool like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms, or try my ready-made version (free trial, then £50 per survey) here at SchoolStaffSurveys.com





About the author: Bruce Greig is an entrepreneur and has been a school governor since 2011. He served as Chair of Governors through two Ofsted inspections and four headteachers. He set up SchoolStaffSurveys.com after discovering how enlightening an anonymous staff survey can be and decided to make it easy for every school to run them.

Some examples of Good and Outstanding schools using staff surveys

Here are a couple of recent Ofsted reports on Good and Outstanding schools, where the inspectors have commented on the school's use of surveys to get feedback from their staff (and parents and pupils):

St Bede's Catholic Comprehensive School uses staff questionnaires to find out what their staff think:

Full report here: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/2657291/urn/114327.pdf

At Wallington County Grammar School, an Outstanding school, the Ofsted inspectors commented about how leaders listen to views of staff (and parents and pupils), and welcome feedback. One easy and effective way to solicit feedback from staff is by using a regular, anonymous online survey.

Full report here: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/2655837/urn/136798.pdf

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About the author: Bruce Greig is an entrepreneur and has been a school governor since 2011. He served as Chair of Governors through two Ofsted inspections and four headteachers. He set up SchoolStaffSurveys.com after discovering how enlightening an anonymous staff survey can be and decided to make it easy for every school to run them.

Do you need staff surveys for Ofsted?

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Do you need staff surveys for Ofsted?

You don't need them, but it would certainly be a good idea, because Ofsted mentions staff surveys several times in the current Ofsted School Inspection Handbook and even go so far as to say:

"Inspectors will always report on the school's activity to survey staff" (para 144, page 38)

Staff surveys will also be useful to help you understand how well your staff understand your vision for your school, something Ofsted wants to know about:

Staff engagement surveys can form part of your self-evaluation, helping to ensure it is rigorous and accurate, which Ofsted expects:

Ofsted expects that leaders at outstanding schools use the views of staff to inform a deep, accurate understanding of their school:

"Leaders and governors have a deep, accurate understanding of the school's effectiveness informed by the views of pupils, parents and staff."

Formal, regular surveys of staff help build trust and motivation, which is crucial for your school to be Outstanding:

How to run a staff survey in a school

So, if you've decided that formal surveys of your staff would be a good idea, what next? Basically a few options:

Free
Use Google Forms or Survey Monkey to run a survey yourself. You'll need to choose some questions, but you won't go far wrong using the questions from the UK Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey (aka "The Civil Service People Survey"). Very robust and publicly available. And free

Budget
My own website, SchoolStaffSurveys uses the UK Civil Service questions mentioned above, but it's all set up for you ready to go. You get a free trial, then £50 per survey.

Pricey
The National Foundation for Education Research will run a staff survey for you. But they only use 16 questions, and it costs £250. It isn't obvious what you get from this which you wouldn't get just doing it yourself.

Very pricey
Engage a specialist firm to do it for you. Google "Employee Engagement Survey" and you'll find plenty. But almost none of them publish pricing online, so you can be confident it'll be more than £250!



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About the author: Bruce Greig is an entrepreneur and has been a school governor since 2011. He served as Chair of Governors through two Ofsted inspections and four headteachers. He set up SchoolStaffSurveys.com after discovering how enlightening an anonymous staff survey can be and decided to make it easy for every school to run them.