The education secretary has backed Ofsted’s “one-word assessments” amid calls from teachers for the system to be abolished.
Gillian Keegan said that single-word ratings are “clear” and “easy for parents to navigate”.
Pressure on the schools watchdog in England continues to mount as unions demand an immediate freeze of inspections to allow for full mental health assessments to be carried out on teachers.
It comes after the death of Ruth Perry, headteacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, Berkshire.
Her family has said that she took her own life in January while awaiting an Ofsted report that downgraded her school from “outstanding” to “inadequate”.
Touring broadcast studios this morning, Ms Keegan described Ms Perry’s death as “tragic” and said that chief inspector Amanda Spielman is looking at whether the way the regulator works with schools can be improved.
But she insisted that “undermining Ofsted” is “not the right approach”, describing the role it plays in upholding standards and safeguarding as “crucial”.
“I know His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is looking at this following the tragic case of Ruth Perry, which is tragic and our thoughts do go out to her family and friends and her school community,” she said.
Asked if she supports Ofsted’s single-word assessments, which rank schools from “outstanding” to “inadequate”, Ms Keegan said: “Yeah - they’re clear; they’re simple to understand.”
She added: “There’s quite a broad framework that’s assessed as part of Ofsted and they’ve actually looked to broaden that framework even more.
“Of course, if there are areas that need to develop further then that is where the right conversation to have is.”
It comes a week after a motion calling for Ofsted to be abolished was approved at the NASUWT teaching union’s annual conference in Glasgow.
Critics argue that single-word ratings fail to reflect the complexity of a school and the quality of its teaching.
The NAHT school leaders’ union has warned it could take legal action against the watchdog after inspections were not suspended following Ms Perry’s death.
The motion carried by NASUWT acknowledged the “perceived demands of Ofsted are the major contributor to the excessive workload and bureaucracy that blight the lives of teachers”.
An Ofsted spokesman declined to comment on NASUWT’s proposals but said: “Inspections are first and foremost for children and their parents - looking in depth at the quality of education, behaviour and how well, and safely, schools are run.
“Our inspectors are all former or current school leaders who fully understand the pressures of the role. We always want inspections to be constructive and collaborative, and in the vast majority of cases school leaders agree that they are.”
