Today, the Education Committee has published the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) response to the committee’s report on Ofsted.
Commenting on the DfE’s response, NFER Chief Executive, Carole Willis said:
“Independent inspection has an important role to play in holding schools accountable and assessing their strengths and weaknesses. It is a positive sign to see that the DfE is listening to the sector’s views on this and we hope this continues.
“We would encourage the DfE to explore how judgements could also take more account of context – considering schools with similar intakes alongside each other rather than against all schools nationally.
“Further consideration should be given to the impact of inspections on staff wellbeing as well as greater transparency in the Ofsted process. More research is needed to determine the appropriate coverage and length of inspections and this could provide confidence in the inspection process and findings.”