Ofsted’s proposals still need significant work

This blog was first published in Schools Week on Monday 15 September.

Ofsted’s long-awaited inspection framework and report cards proposals have been particularly welcomed by parents, but with eight weeks before they are introduced, significant creases must be ironed out.

Has Ofsted achieved its ambition?

The central impetus for overhauling the inspection framework and for launching Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation was to reduce the strain of inspection on senior leaders’ wellbeing and mental health.  

There have undoubtedly been steps in this direction. For example, the new framework has been designed to be more supportive and collaborative. The increased size of inspection teams aims to give more space for improved communication with school leaders throughout the process.

However, another key step intended to reduce the pressure was the removal of headline Ofsted judgments last year.

Ofsted’s consultation response highlights that the old system was “unhelpful to parents and unfair to providers” due to a diverse range of education provision being summed up by simple judgments.  

And in this respect, there is a risk that assessments across the six inspection areas (seven including safeguarding) will end up proving equally “unhelpful” and “unfair”.

For one thing, it is still not clear that robust conclusions can be made across schools in a tight two-day inspection window.  

While Ofsted is committed to strengthening the consistency of its inspections and has increased the size of inspection teams, consistently grading six complex areas on a five-point scale within such a short timeframe may be very difficult.  

In addition, while the toolkit descriptors provide welcome transparency to schools about how they will be assessed, they may still be open to interpretation in places.  

Ofsted says parents want the inspectorate to provide more information, but misleading or overly simplified information risks being more ‘unhelpful’ than no information at all. Judgments against the new standards will need to be monitored carefully.  

It is also important to recognise that the stakes for many school leaders go beyond what Ofsted can control.  

In the context of declining pupil numbers and the resulting impact on the viability of schools, Ofsted inspection outcomes will feel more critical than ever for many school leaders striving to ensure they can attract sufficient pupils to guarantee financial viability.  

To what extent will context really be reflected?

Previous inspection frameworks have led to inspection outcomes which are associated with school characteristics. For example, schools with more disadvantaged pupils tend to receive worse inspection outcomes.  

For this reason, Ofsted has rightly highlighted that it intends to take a greater account of context during inspections. However, the new guidance documents are light in detail about how they will tackle this in practice.  

While we welcome the introduction of the new ‘inclusion’ inspection area to help ensure all children receive the best possible education and support, a school’s context is a major factor.  

In an ideal world, Ofsted would not only consider whether a school provides high-quality support for its disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils but would also explore whether a school is taking an ‘inclusive’ approach to attracting pupils from these groups in the first place.

There is also the possibility that some parents choose to avoid schools they deem to have a more challenging intake if assessments of ‘attendance and behaviour’ or ‘inclusion’ are not sufficiently nuanced to reflect the circumstances in which schools are operating.

Does the new framework strike the right balance?

Introducing a new inspection framework was always going to be a tricky task. There is an inevitable need to strike a delicate balance between the burden, disruption and pressures created by inspection and the information which parents might expect from it.  

This tension sits alongside the need to provide a framework which ensures pupils are learning in a safe, high-quality teaching and learning environment which enables them to achieve their potential.  

While the new framework appears to have prioritised parents in this balance, getting the finer details right will be key to ensuring a more manageable and supportive system for schools.