Scrapping one-word school inspection judgements would not remove headteachers’ “underlying discomfort” if the consequences of inspections remain the same, Ofsted’s chief inspector has said.
Amanda Spielman said the “whole school accountability system” is built around single-word ratings, with the government deciding when to intervene at schools based on Ofsted judgments.
She was speaking after the sister of Ruth Perry, a headteacher whose family say that she took her own life after an Ofsted inspection, had said that changes to the inspection system announced by Ofsted today do not go far enough.
Ofsted has announced changes to its complaints process and how it inspects safeguarding, and is giving schools more information about the timing of their inspections.
But Professor Julia Waters, the sister of Ms Perry, said today that she was disappointed that the announcement does not include any plans to remove single-word judgements.
Pressure on the inspectorate to reform has been mounting following the death of Ms Perry in January.
An Ofsted report found Caversham Primary School in Reading, Berkshire - where Ms Perry was head - to be “good” in every category apart from leadership and management, where it was judged to be “inadequate”.
Since Ms Perry’s death, there have been calls for one-word assessments - defended by education secretary Gillian Keegan as clear and easy for parents to understand - to be abolished.
Ofsted under fire over one-word inspection ratings
Ofsted’s changes, announced on Monday, stop short of banning the single-word ratings.
Ms Spielman insisted that Ofsted is listening to the concerns raised in the wake of Ms Perry’s death and has been “thinking carefully about how we can revise aspects of our work without losing our clear focus on the needs of children and their parents”.
Professor Waters said the changes are “a start” but do not “adequately address the many problems that the system creates”.
She added: “I am disappointed that no mention is made about removing harmful and misleading single-word judgements.
“I can understand the need to provide clarity and simplicity for parents about an inspection, but too much is hidden or lost behind a headline judgement of just one or two words.”
However, she described a plan to remove a requirement that the inspectorate’s findings stay confidential before results are published as a “very welcome, much-needed change”, and also welcomed additional funding for mental health support.
The NAHT school leaders’ union said the system will “remain fundamentally flawed” while single-word ratings are used, and the Association of School and College Leaders described it as a “trapdoor that is both demoralising and counterproductive”.
This morning Ms Spielman said the consequences associated with single-word inspection ratings are “part of the wider school accountability system”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “It’s not for me to decide that there will or won’t be judgements in this system.
“We could write a sentence but if the significance is the same and the consequences are the same, then it wouldn’t really solve that underlying discomfort [of headteachers].
“The choice is the wider accountability system, which sets consequences for different overall outcomes.
“That is what drives the world’s focus on those overall grades for us.”
The Department for Education issues academy orders for schools rated as “inadequate” and can now choose to intervene and academise a school if it receives two inspection ratings of less than “good”.
In a DfE blog published today on the Ofsted changes, one section asks: “Why isn’t Ofsted changing the one-word rating system?”
The department adds: “We believe that one-word ratings are the clearest way to give parents confidence in choosing the right school for their child.”
