Parents in England will receive the new-look Ofsted report cards from November as part of wide-ranging changes to the way schools are inspected, but the plans have come under fire with calls to delay them.
The reforms were initiated following a difficult period for Ofsted, after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry last year.
Ms Perry took her own life after her Reading primary school was downgraded from “outstanding” to “inadequate”, prompting criticism of the inspection system.
The new reports will use a colour-coded, five-point grading scale, giving families more detail on areas such as attendance, behaviour and inclusion.
Ofsted says the system will provide “greater nuance” than its previous one-word judgments. The grades will range from “urgent improvement” and “needs attention” up to “expected standard”, “strong standard”, and the top mark of “exceptional”.
But the new inspection framework has been criticised by some. A coalition made up of school leaders, former inspectors, trade unions and Ms Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, is calling for the government to delay the changes.
Speaking on Sky News this morning, Prof Waters said: “There are, very much, high-stakes consequences for a poor judgement. Head teachers will still fear that they might lose their job and they have no redress.
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“The Parliamentary enquiry into Ofsted’s work with schools recommended that the government investigate and look into other school accountability systems in high-performing countries that do not cause the kind of absolutely intolerable pressure, literally intolerable pressure, on school leaders and teachers.
“Ofsted and the government have chosen to ignore that advice and plough ahead with what are really just cosmetic changes to the existing system which has been proven to pose a threat to life.
“They have not taken the warnings of the coroner at my sister’s inquest properly, they have not listened to Parliament and they have not listened to the majority of the teaching profession and they have certainly not listened to my family and I.
“Whether there’s a need for rankings? I don’t believe there is a need for rankings. Of course there is a need for parents to have a reliable sense of what their local school is like. I have never argued, no sensible person has ever argued, against accountability and inspection can play a role in that.
“But it has to be a system that does not put the wellbeing and potentially lives of hard-working teachers and school leaders at risk. That is not in the interests of children and their parents.”
Additional monitoring inspections will be carried out in schools and colleges that fall below the expected standard, with Ofsted insisting this will ensure action is taken quickly to raise performance.
In early years settings, inspections will take place every four years instead of every six, with a sharper focus on the quality of education and care.
Inspectors will also assess how well schools support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and those known to social care, with inclusion given its own grade.
Contextual factors will also contribute to the judgements that are made, including the number of children who are eligible for free school meals, and any other socio-economic factors which influence the outcomes for children.
To ease pressure on staff, an extra inspector will be added to school inspection teams.
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His Majesty’s chief inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said the changes were designed to “reset relationships” with teachers while maintaining public confidence.
“Children deserve the best possible education; their parents deserve the best possible information, and education professionals deserve to have their work fairly assessed,” he said.
“Our new report cards will give parents a clearer understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement at the places where their children learn.
“We will work with professionals in schools, early years and further education to help them showcase the best of what they do and help them identify where they can improve.”
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New system ‘makes things much worse’, says critic
But the new inspection framework has been criticised by some.
A coalition made up of school leaders, former inspectors, trade unions and Ms Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, is calling for the government to delay the changes.
In an open letter, they said: “Today’s announcement is deeply disappointing and extremely worrying, as it is clear Ofsted have failed to learn the lessons from the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
“The proven life-threatening risks associated with a grades-based schools accountability system, based on public shaming and the fear of high stakes consequences, have not changed.”
They are calling for the roll-out to be halted because of “continuing concerns about the reliability, accuracy, and consistency of inspection results” and “the dangerous, negative impact of a punitive, grades-based inspection system on the welfare of the workforce”.
The one-word judgements have been scrapped – well sort of.
They have been replaced by two words instead, although “exceptional” is still one of the judgements in the new framework.
The “Big Listen” was the consultation process which was undertaken by Ofsted to provide an opportunity for parents and teachers, alongside other stakeholders, to have input into the process.
And there are 21 mentions of the word parent in the new “toolkit” for schools, showing Ofsted is relying heavily on parental input.
But parental input and voices were never an issue under the old system, so why have they been considered so greatly under the new framework?
And will these changes result in the stable and steady teacher workforce that parents need for their children?
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Sir Martyn Oliver has failed. He was asked to bring in a system that reduced pressure.
“Removing the single word judgement was meant to be a powerful revolution, but this makes things much worse. More of the same. More pressure. More ranking and competition. More labels.”
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However, a YouGov survey commissioned by Ofsted found nearly seven in 10 parents preferred the new format to the current reports, while nine in 10 said they were easier to understand.
Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind, the UK’s largest parent charity, said: “For the first time, parental engagement is given clear priority: no school will be able to achieve top marks unless it demonstrates that it has got this right. This is a significant step forward.”
