The government’s failure to commit to scrapping single-word Ofsted judgements is “deeply disappointing”, a school leaders’ union has said after the Department for Education responded to MPs’ calls for reform.
The DfE has defended Ofsted’s overall school judgements in response to a recommendation by the Commons Education Select Committee for single-word grades to be replaced as a “priority”.
The department said that although it “will continue to look at alternative systems”, it believes there are significant benefits from having an Ofsted overall effectiveness grade for schools.
The DfE said single-word judgements allow it to observe overall changes in the national position and “recognise the hard work and professionalism of school leaders, teachers and staff.”
Judgements ’stigmatise schools’
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The government’s response to the call for an alternative to single-phrase judgements is deeply disappointing.”
He said that the judgements “stigmatise schools and colleges” and “do a disservice to children, parents and communities”.
Mr Di’Iasio added that “the system is fundamentally flawed and must change”.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the DfE response “misses the opportunity to take significant steps towards meaningful change”.
He said: “The DfE’s refusal to accept that single-word judgements should be scrapped will be met with dismay across the teaching profession.”
The DfE’s response comes shortly after Ofsted’s response to MPs last month, which warned that meeting the committee’s calls for “deeper and richer” inspections would cost millions more per year.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Single-word judgments do not ‘provide significant benefit’ - they are deeply harmful and must be scrapped entirely.”
He added: “Last year’s tragic events showed that, and we cannot rule out something awful happening again in future if the inspectorate does not change.”
Trust inspection
MPs also called for the DfE to approve Ofsted creating a framework to inspect multi-academy trusts (MATs).
In response, the DfE said it “continues to actively consider how we might strengthen this link between accountability and autonomy for MATs and other school groupings”. It said this “might” include Ofsted.
Last year, the DfE said that trusts were “too young” to be inspected by Ofsted, and former schools minister Nick Gibb told MPs that he would not recommend trust inspections.
Ofsted has previously carried out summary evaluations of MATs, but these were put on pause last year.
The inspectorate has confirmed to Tes that it will not be making a decision on restarting this work until after its Big Listen consultation, which is ending in June.
Academy orders for coasting schools
The Commons Education Select Committee also recommended that the DfE should assess whether the decision to impose academy orders on schools that have received consecutive “requires improvement” ratings is proportionate.
The DfE can academise schools that are regarded as coasting.
In its response, the DfE said it will keep this policy “under review” and will have regard to stakeholders’ views, which was welcomed by Commons Education Select Committee chair Robin Walker.
“While it isn’t a firm commitment, the department’s commitment to keep the policy of academising schools after two negative Ofsted inspections under review and to listen to different views is also welcome,” Mr Walker said.
DfE rejects call for less frequent inspections
The government has rejected the committee’s recommendation of temporarily having less frequent school inspections of higher-graded schools.
MPs argued that the government should reduce the frequency of inspections in order to free up Ofsted inspectors, who could then carry out more thorough inspections with more staff in those with lower grades.
“The government does not agree that it would be right to reduce the frequency of Ofsted school inspections at this time,” the DfE wrote in its response, “and especially in cases when schools have been judged to require improvement or to be inadequate”.
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