Ofsted inspections of initial teacher training providers are set to be postponed for this academic year, Schools Week understands.

The ITT inspection cycle is due to start in January, but the inspectorate and the Department for Education are poised to announce this will be pushed back until January 2026, Schools Week understands.

Earlier this month, Schools Week revealed that Ofsted was in talks with the government over pushing back the start of the ITT inspection cycle.

NASBTT and the Universities Council for the Education Of Teachers have been lobbying for ITT inspections to be delayed until the 2025-2026 academic year, amid a slew of incoming Ofsted inspection framework changes following reforms introduced in September.

Providers are still waiting for promised guidance on how inspectors would assess these changes.

And one of those reforms, a requirement that mentors of trainee teachers must complete up to 20 hours of initial training, was also scrapped this month.

Several big changes kicked in from September, following the government’s 2021 market review when ITT providers went through a bruising reaccreditation process.

These included an intensive training and practice (ITAP) requirement that undergraduate trainees must set aside at least 20 days for and moving from six-year to a three-year inspection cycle, as part of a new approach to “external quality assurance”.

Ofsted has said it will update its ITT inspection framework and handbook to reflect the changes. In July, it told providers these would be published this autumn.

Providers previously told Schools Week they felt left in the dark about what they would be assessed against if ITT inspections restarted in January.

In its Big Listen consultation response, Ofsted promised to make a number of changes to the way it inspects teacher training.

It has pledged to axe the overall effectiveness grade for its teacher development inspections and to roll out report cards looking at a “broader range” of criteria.

Ofsted has also committed to introducing “rubrics to highlight the areas that make the most difference to the quality of teacher development”, among other slated changes. 

It is due to consult on reforms to its education inspection framework in January.