Schools inspected last year were more than twice as likely to be rated as “outstanding” compared with the year before, according to official figures published today.
Of those schools that received a graded inspection from Ofsted in the 2023-24 academic year, 17 per cent secured an “outstanding” judgement.
This represented a rise of 10 percentage points compared with the previous year, when just 7 per cent of schools got “outstanding”.
The proportion of schools currently rated either “good” or “outstanding” is now at 90 per cent.
Today’s data follows an overall rise in inspection outcomes after the pandemic, with 86 per cent of schools receiving the top two grades in 2019.
Increase in ‘outstanding’ Ofsted ratings
There were 4,023 graded inspections in 2023-24, according to Ofsted’s annual data on inspections and outcomes for state-funded schools. This is more than the 3,722 graded inspections carried out in 2022-23.
Schools rated “outstanding” were previously exempt from routine Ofsted inspections until a rule change in 2020. More than four out of five schools rated “outstanding” were downgraded in subsequent full inspections in 2021-22.
In January this year Sir Martyn Oliver took over as Ofsted chief inspector and the inspectorate launched its “Big Listen” consultation on the future of the inspection system.
And in September the government scrapped single-word overall inspection judgements for schools with immediate effect, to be replaced with report cards from next year.
According to the latest statistics, fewer schools received “good” and “requires improvement’” grades in the past academic year.
Two-thirds of schools (66 per cent) were rated “good” in 2023-24, a slight drop from 70 per cent in 2022-23.
While two in 10 schools were handed a “requires improvement” judgement in 2022-23, this dropped to 15 per cent in 2023-24.
And just 1 per cent of schools got the lowest Ofsted grade of “inadequate” last year (compared with 3 per cent in 2022-23).
Are inspectors ‘less robust’?
Adrian Gray, an education consultant and former Ofsted inspector, suggested that one of the factors behind the improvement in Ofsted judgements could be that inspectors have become “less robust”.
”A proper published evaluation is needed to tell us whether schools have suddenly become better, whether they have ‘cracked the code’ of the 2019 [inspection] framework, or whether inspectors have become less robust,” Mr Gray told Tes.
“A new framework such as that of 2019 does provide guidelines for school improvement, but this change seems rather sudden.”
Reforms to the inspection system were instigated following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life after an Ofsted inspection downgraded her school from “outstanding” to “inadequate” due to safeguarding concerns.
Her death in January 2023 was followed by significant scrutiny of the watchdog, with an inquest ultimately ruling that an inspection had contributed to her suicide.
Mr Gray, writing on LinkedIn, said he felt “some sadness” for headteachers who had an inspection in the “the 2019-21 era”.
“Had you been inspected this year, your career trajectory might have looked quite different,” he added.
Ofsted has been contacted for comment.
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