Guidance

Initial teacher education (ITE) inspection: toolkit, operating guide and framework

Guidance for inspectors and providers on inspecting ITE provision in England under the renewed education inspection framework.

• From: Ofsted
• Published: 9 September 2025
• Last updated: 12 June 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 12 June 2026

     We added new versions of the inspection toolkit, inspection framework, operating guide for inspectors, and inspection information document that will come into force in September 2026. The summary of changes document lists what has changed.

  2. 13 February 2026

     See 'Summary of changes'.

  3. 10 September 2025

     We have corrected a typo in the operating guide section titled 'What to do if aspects of ‘compliance, including safeguarding’ are ‘not met’ or minor improvements are required'. In the final sentence of this section, we changed the phrase 'urgent attention' to 'urgent improvement'.

  4. 9 September 2025

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Initial teacher education (ITE) inspection toolkit

PDF, 429 KB, 34 pages

Initial teacher education (ITE) inspection framework

HTML

Initial teacher education (ITE) inspection operating guide for inspectors

HTML

Inspection information for initial teacher education (ITE)

HTML

Summary of changes

HTML

Details

Find guidance for initial teacher education inspections in England:

• ITE inspection toolkit – what inspectors and ITE providers use to discuss the quality of provision on inspection
• ITE inspection framework – the principles of ITE inspection
• ITE inspection operating guide – a step-by-step guide for inspectors on how to inspect ITE provision
• information about ITE inspections – for staff and leaders, parents and carers and the wider public

Earlier versions of the initial teacher education (ITE) inspection toolkit, operating guide and framework are available in The National Archives.

This guidance replaced the initial teacher education (ITE) inspection framework and handbook from January 2026.