In a letter to Christine Gilbert, chief inspector of Ofsted, dated 23 September, education secretary Michael Gove asked her to ditch the SEF for the maintained sector. He described it as the first step in a series of changes to school inspection aimed at removing 'central prescription' and trusting teachers 'to get on with their jobs'.
Mr Gove wrote, 'We need to ensure that we refocus inspection on the principal purpose of schools improving teaching and learning, and dramatically reduce the time and energy spent on other existing bureaucratic duties. To that end, I look forward to working more closely with you to identify how we can move our inspection framework towards ensuring that inspectors can focus on four principal areas - the quality of teaching, the effectiveness of leadership, pupils' behaviour and safety, and pupils' achievement.'
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