Back in September there was excitement about the introduction of school report cards and a long awaited overhaul of the Ofsted inspection framework. Fast forward to February and this excitement has been replaced with scepticism.
The changes are being introduced due to criticism of the undue stress that Ofsted inspections put on school staff and also to ensure a fairer inspection framework that raises standards whilst giving a clearer picture to parents. Here we have a look at whether the changes are likely to achieve any of these objectives.
Will there be a big change to how Ofsted inspections are carried out?
The unhealthy stress that Ofsted inspections place on schools is one of the main drivers for reform. It is not clear yet whether the roll out of the new model will include a culture change that culminates in a more friendly and supportive approach.
But certainly there is going to be a big change to what the Ofsted reports look like. The school report cards give the inspectors the ability to make judgement on far wider criteria, 9 areas in total including safeguarding (common sense has prevailed and safeguarding will no longer be graded, rather passed as “met” or “not met”)
The 4 grade system has also been replaced with a 5 grade system, which are colour coded from red (causing concern) to dark green (exemplary). Noticeably the softer wording suggests that Ofsted inspections may be taking a more supportive and collaborative approach, with the “inadequate” and “requires improvement” being replaced with “causing concern” and “requires attention”
Sir Martyn Oliver has said that the additional grade is for “exemplary”, although this appears to be a direct replacement for “outstanding”. It looks more likely that Ofsted are bringing back the old “satisfactory” from before 2012 and renamed it “secure” to make up the additional grade.
At any rate, there won’t be a single word judgment so it will give schools the chance to shine in areas where they are strong. This should benefit schools with more disadvantaged intake and take some stress off staff during inspections.
Importantly, under the new Ofsted Inspection Framework, will look to inspect schools in context of the local demographics and student characteristics. We wait to see how effective they are at doing this; we have heard before that inspections will become fairer for schools with disadvantaged intake but still schools with high test scores are far more likely to achieve the “outstanding” grade.
Will the new Ofsted Inspection Framework Raise Standards?
Sir Martyn has criticised the one word grade as a “blunt instrument” that does not accurately capture the strengths and weaknesses of a school.
And he is absolutely right! Ofsted inspection judgements have for years been intrinsically linked to test scores. This has failed to give credit to some of the great work that schools do with vulnerable learners and can also allow the weaknesses of schools with strong examination results to fly under the radar.
Whilst 3 of the 4 categories form the 2019 EIF have been retained (Leadership, Behaviour, Personal Development), of note the Quality of Education has been dropped in the proposals for the new Ofsted inspection framework. Or rather it will be expanded into more categories (curriculum, developing teaching, achievement).
Added to the new focus on school context, it looks like all this means a positive move towards Ofsted understanding that a good quality education means more than just test scores.
Implemented right this will most definitely raise standards holistically.
But will the new approach result in a weaker response to failing schools? Without a 1 word judgement there were questions as to whether Ofsted would have the teeth to hold failing schools to account.
The accountability focus will be heavily weighted on leadership. A red rating in any area will put the school in “requires significant improvement” category and if a school gets a red rating in leadership and one other area it will go into special measures.
So Ofsted retains its edge for holding schools accountable without the high stakes of the current 1 word framework.
Will the new Ofsted Inspection Framework reduce pressure on staff?
Criticism of the proposals has suggested that the new model will retain the same high stakes of the single word judgment.
It remains to be seen whether the inspectors will be less hostile and confrontational, although the content of the new Ofsted inspection framework is indicative of a far more supportive and collaborative approach
Ofsted have recognised that there are limitations to what schools can achieve with the cohort they have inherited. Oliver has even conceded that there may be external issues affecting behaviour and attendance that are not “in the school’s gift” to resolve
This could eradicate much of the unfairness of Ofsted inspections that we have seen previously.
Within the teaching profession there were hopes that a new Ofsted framework might not include a grading system, the NAHT in particular taking the view that the sub-judgements are simply an expansion of the current high stakes system.
Moving away from a grading system was always highly unlikely. Without grades there would be no accountability, and that is what Ofsted is about.
Within the proposals the inspection framework will give all schools the opportunity to shine at what they do best whilst still vesting in Ofsted the teeth to intervene if there are serious problems with leadership or safeguarding. Couple this will a more supportive rather than belligerent approach and we could have a completely different Ofsted.
Will the new Ofsted inspection report cards give a clearer picture to parents?
Last year Parentkind surveyed over 1000 parents of primary and secondary aged pupils as part of the Big Listen consultation and found that only 53% of them read the full Ofsted report. Almost 40% admitted to just reading the overall grade.
We hope that without an overall grade, parents will delve into the report more thoroughly which will give less academic schools an opportunity to showcase their strengths.
There are concerns that with 8 areas of the school to be judged with 5 different grades the whole model could become overly complicated for parents.
Given the right guidance though, the school report cards will give parents the information they need to make a decision about which school is best for their child.
The Parentkind found that parents are concerned about child welfare and how happy their child will be at the school. The report cards will give them a good insight into this, especially within the personal development and wellbeing category (expanded form just personal development) and also within the sub-sections that they feel relevant to the specific needs of the child.
Summary
There are a lot of positives within the proposals for the new Ofsted inspection framework.
Certainly there is potential for fairer inspections with more balanced information about what goes on in our schools.
More importantly for schools though, this new model needs to come with a new approach from the Ofsted inspectors. The wording in the proposals suggests a supportive and collaborative approach but this counts for nothing if Ofsted continues to carry out inspections in a confrontational way.
The main concern is whether there has been enough time to put together such a wholesale change in the Ofsted inspection framework. Seemingly Ofsted will be inspecting under the new framework form September 2025, which would be less than a year for the whole process. In comparison, the EIF took 2½ years.
Even if the Ofsted have researched and developed the proposals thoroughly in that time, with no time to pilot the new framework we wonder whether Ofsted inspectors will know what they are doing! Some people are of the view that they don’t know what they are doing under the old framework.
But certainly a step in the right direction.
