Changes to School Inspections
What you need to know about the September 2026 updates to education inspections
Today we’ve published our annual updates to the education inspection materials under the renewed education inspection framework (EIF). They cover early years settings, state-funded schools, non-association independent schools, further education (FE) and skills providers and initial teacher education (ITE) providers.
These updates apply to inspections from September 2026. Until then, our inspectors will continue to use the existing materials.
In future, we aim to update the education inspection materials (the toolkits, operating guides and inspection information documents) on an annual basis. We’ll publish the changes in advance, ready for them to come into effect in September each year.
Over the last few years, Ofsted has embarked on a journey of significant change, leading to the launch of the renewed EIF in November 2025. We remain committed to strengthening relationships and building trust with the professionals we inspect and regulate, as well as with children and learners, and their parents and carers. Listening to feedback is central to this commitment.
In this post, we explain some important themes you will see in the changes. Please read the summary of changes on GOV.UK for the full list of updates.