The sleepless nights are different for school leaders at the moment.
In normal times, it is the anticipation of Ofsted or the waiting for exam results. Now the triggers are risk assessments, safety worries or guidance documents.
So, as the government restarts its accountability engine, we need to consider what’s best in this unpredictable period and how we can ensure everyone recognises the new reality schools are operating in.
To this end, the best way forward is consensus and collaboration. This is how it could - and should - look:
1. Less is more
Students should complete five GCSEs with Progress and Attainment 8 suspended for one year
By September, most Year 10s will have missed at least a term of formal teaching. However good online provision is, we know there will be big gaps.
The alchemy of teaching is in daily interactions and probing questions. Zoom is no classroom.
Exam boards could cut papers and content to make up for lost time. But if schools have all started in different places (which they must have done), this will be highly unfair.
Alternatively, Ofqual could decide to give exam papers signposts (“If you studied this topic, go to page 8…”) but the complexity involved would surely be debilitating for some.
The government could decide to continue as normal.
But if schools want to do the best by their students, they will be forced into a cycle of summer schools, half-term schools, Christmas schools, longer days, longer hours, more intervention.
This might work or more likely will be counterproductive as schools throw all their firepower into this endeavour while struggling to support all young people who have missed out.
Far better for students to complete fewer core qualifications that retain value in higher education and the workplace.
It was not so long ago that schools worked to five GCSEs anyway.
In my context, I would choose English language and literature, maths, a science and a creative subject. Where students feel they can take on more, we can make that happen too.
For this to work, post-16 institutions would need to accept five qualifications as standard and the government would need to drop the requirements of Progress and Attainment 8 and the English Baccalaureate.
2. No grading judgements
Ofsted should not make graded judgements next year
This is particularly important for schools serving under-resourced communities (of which there will be more after lockdown).
Even before the new Ofsted framework, the evidence against grading was mounting. You get “outstanding” and you coast; you get “inadequate” and it’s hard to recover.
Schools working in tough communities already find it harder to recruit staff and leaders, and with the rich-poor achievement gap likely to have significantly increased during lockdown, a negative Ofsted outcome could pile disadvantage on disadvantage.
Instead experienced inspectors should work with headteachers over the year to provide the boost that schools need.
3. Academic attainment and wellbeing
Lockdown has confirmed the purpose of school: to support student wellbeing and scholarship in equal measure
Ofsted should focus on curriculum reviews to share best practice in academic and emotional catch-up.
Catching children up will be a hugely complex task and will inevitably lead to a revisiting of curriculum sequencing.
It will be hard for Ofsted to make judgements on the long-term curriculum intent and implementation as the new framework suggests.
Instead, it should start work on researching, sharing and codifying the best global practice in “recovery curriculums”.
They can then use this when working with schools next year to highlight best practice and support the sector as a whole.
The relationship between schools, the government and Ofsted can be strained at times - and we are seeing that heightened during this pandemic.
However, if all the actors in the system resolve to work together to get schools back on their feet, children are sure to benefit.
Oli de Botton is head of School 21 in East London
