What should the role of Ofsted be?
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Loading... - Eugenie Jolie
- 06 Feb 2021
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Andrew Morrish
Chief of multi-academy trust in West Midlands and ex Ofsted inspector
The first thing Ofsted should do is scrap judgments. It’s just not beneficial grading schools. I know from being an inspector myself how difficult it is to make a judgment call in such a short amount of time. But I do think there is a role for a national organisation that does compliance checks.
If Ofsted has a role it’s about safeguarding, child protection, ensuring minimum accountability standards. When I take my car in for an MOT all I need to know is whether it passes or fails. I don’t need to be given advice on my driving.
Another analogy is with a restaurant. Ofsted is like the hygiene inspectors at a restaurant. You need other experts to say whether it deserves a Michelin star or not. For schools, other headteachers should go in to do that role.
Anthea Jarmen
Parent whose child’s school in Suffolk was judged inadequate
My youngest child was in year 6 at Rougham C of E primary school, Bury St Edmunds, when it was downgraded last year from good to inadequate. We didn’t recognise the school from the report. From having two children go through the school I felt it was completely unfair. None of the parents at the school had any concerns at all. Peer reviews would be a good way to assess schools.
Also, Ofsted shouldn’t be able to just come in and turn a school on its head. They should have been in four or five times and pointed it in the direction it should go – say you need to address this or that. If a school needs to be put in special measures isn’t it a bit late? Shouldn’t it be picked up sooner?
Anonymous
Primary headteacher who lost her job, southern England
Ofsted arrived at my school when we had recently suffered some terribly traumatic events involving several staff and students. We were still reeling from it all – there were police inquiries – and traumatic events like these are bound to have an impact on children’s learning. The inspectors gave us a bad report and I ended up losing my job.
It was a scarring experience. It felt as if they did not take our circumstances into account. I complained but got nowhere. The complaints process should be easier and quicker. Ofsted do make mistakes, and it can have a profound impact on a school and the mental health of staff.
John Tomsett
Head of Huntington school, York, recently judged outstanding
You need a regulator. But gradings aren’t particularly helpful. What upsets me is seeing adverts for leaders that say: “Help us make our journey to outstanding.” Actually just help us to be better. Being outstanding should be a by-product of creating a great school.
The problem is what senior leadership teams and the headteacher end up doing to people, and not Ofsted itself. We need to grow headteachers who are a bit braver. Our recent Ofsted inspection acknowledged we didn’t chase GCSE points, and that that was a good thing. We did what was best for the students.
What’s going to improve my school is really good teaching. How I get people to teach really well is not by making them paranoid and full of fear. If we don’t get rid of the fear around inspections we are going to run out of people to run our schools.
Ed Finch
Deputy head and YouTube performer of The Very Best of #OfstedMusic
I have many friends and colleagues across the country who have been inspected under the new framework and who by and large are positive about it. Even colleagues who have had a result that wasn’t good say Ofsted helped, whereas under the old regime it was always “we’ve been done over”.
There are still problems with inspection. What’s the point of an outstanding grading? There is no hard line between a school doing a good job and one that is outstanding and it is still true you are more likely to be an outstanding school if you are in a leafy suburb. Five years between inspections is way too long. It’s long enough for things to go badly wrong. Also, there’s still a feeling of dread about inspection in the pit of people’s stomachs.
I would like there not to be an Ofsted. You are better off with collaborating groups of schools that inspect each other. As a concept, Ofsted is fatally flawed, but in terms of delivery it’s improved massively.
