With the end of 2017 fast approaching, we asked the UK's top civil servants to look back at the year, outline their goals for 2018 – and tell us what they cannot do Christmas without
What are you most proud of achieving in 2017?
This has been my first year at Ofsted, and I’m very pleased to be coming out of it with an excellent team, a strong strategy centred on making us a real force for improvement everywhere we work, a small number of key hires that are helping us translate that strategy into practice, a new inspection framework for children’s social care, the successful insourcing of our early years inspection work, well developed plans for the future of education inspection, a considerable number of key projects accomplished or well in hand, better working relationships with our sectors and of course keeping the day job of our substantial inspection programme and regulatory work on track. It is rewarding to see the progress that can be made when you empower good people.
What was your most difficult decision in 2017?
I can’t single out any one decision: the big ones seem almost to have made themselves in the light of thorough analysis and preparatory work, and with the benefit of honest and open discussion among my senior team.
But I have definitely learned how important it is that a chief inspector forms a view on the basis of the evidence their department collects, and then makes sure that view is heard when and where it should be, even when the message is a tough one. And I have also had to adjust to a role that has a higher profile by far than any previous job, where almost anything I say in public is picked over minutely, and can do harm as well as good if not carefully thought through.
What are your organisation’s top priorities in the year ahead?
We have an enormous amount to do, and with a reducing budget, so we need the discipline to make sure we fulfil our responsibilities and stick to our strategy. One of the things that will be most challenging is working out how our models need to evolve to match the big changes taking place in the sectors we work in: the apprenticeship levy, post-16 area reviews, continuing academisation, and the trend towards chain operators of nurseries and children’s homes are all reshaping our landscape.
For you, no Christmas holiday is complete without...
Bread sauce – everything else is a sideshow for me. Family and friends. And lots of singing. And I’ll be looking forward to January too: this is an immensely interesting and satisfying job, and I enjoy (almost) every day.