UK Information - Training and Assessment

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Training and Assessment

INSET Days and Development Plans
INSET days give Headteachers an opportunity for all their teaching staff to be together at one time, mainly for training and development. Schools sometimes use one or more of the INSET days in support of any national priority. The organisation and timing of most INSET days is for individual LEAs, Governing Bodies and Headteachers to decide. INSET days are often added to the beginning or the end of teachers' school holidays as this often results in less disruption than holding them during a school term.

OFSTED and Schools Inspection
Inspection is intended to help schools to improve by building on their strengths and tackling their weaknesses, and to strengthen accountability by giving parents and the community an independent report on the performance of every school. Schools are inspected at least every six years.

The Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) manages the school inspection system. Most inspections are conducted by outside contractors and are led by a Registered Inspector. The inspection teams work to a national standard set by OFSTED and each team has a lay inspector who has not been involved in providing or managing school education (apart from voluntary involvement).