TEACHERS in Bury have been told that their schools could be inspected with little or no prior notice.

This vision was outlined by Mr David Bell, chief inspector of schools in England, when he paid a visit to Bury Town Hall on Tuesday.

He told an audience of more than 100, including headteachers, governors and education authority staff, about proposed changes to the assessment system, before facing questions from teachers.

In his address, Mr Bell outlined a personal vision that will see schools receive less notice of inspections.

He described the changes as the most radical since Ofsted was established in 1992.

The present notice period of six to ten weeks will be reduced to between two and five working days, with no notice at all in some instances.

While inspections will be for shorter periods and involve fewer Ofsted staff, they will be on a more regular three-year timescale.

Mr Bell told teachers: "We will see schools as they really are, but there may be a few occasions in which we see schools without any notice at all and I propose to reserve this right for my inspectors."

Schools will also produce "self-evaluation" reports on their own strengths and weaknesses, and will be asked to discuss these with inspectors. He added: "In order to run themselves, institutions must know themselves. It is the fundamental task of inspectors to assist schools to self-knowledge and occasionally, perhaps, to face the implications of that knowledge."

The new "light touch" arrangements are intended to address concerns that past inspections have been unnecessarily rigorous.

Following the event, Mr Bell told the Bury Times that schools in Bury should have no difficulty in adapting to the new arrangements.

He said: "If you look at Bury, schools are doing extremely well. Where schools are doing well, I believe they will welcome lighter touch inspection, because it means less stress for teachers."

Chesham Primary headteacher Peter Hudson, who is also secretary of the Bury Primary Headteachers Association, said that he believed the principles of the new system were sound. He said: "It is right to suggest that the current system is too heavy handed and is not giving us any new information, so there is a need for a change."

However, Mr Hudson said there were worries that shorter inspection periods might reflect badly when schools were experiencing short-term difficulties .

He said: "Our concern is that if Ofsted are going to present a report with this sort of influence, then it has to be an accurate one."

Headteacher of Philips High School in Whitefield, Mr Chris Trees, who is also chairman of the Bury Secondary Headteachers Association, said that he broadly welcomed the new proposals. However, Mr Trees said he was disappointed that Mr Bell had avoided a question on fairer funding for Bury's schools. He said: "I was very disappointed and so were many others."