Headteacher input on inspection processes has been “completely lost” in the last 10 years, a school leader has warned.
Andrew O’ Neill, who has launched a group representing maintained schools, also suggested that recent education policy changes have been dominated by academy trust CEOs.
Asked what the role of heads is in shaping a more supportive relationship between schools and Ofsted in a Westminster Education Forum, headteacher Mr O’Neill said the system needed to pay more attention to how headteachers feel about inspection processes.
“A huge amount of the domination of policy changes come from academy CEOs, many of whom only visit schools now or are rarely in schools,” Mr O’Neill, who is head of All Saints Catholic College in London and founder of the Maintained Schools Collective.
Heads’ input ‘lost in the system’
He pointed out that it is headteachers who take Ofsted phone calls, run inspections and have their names on reports.
“I think we need to get back to a point where we’re valuing the input and we’re listening to what headteachers feel about these processes,” he added.
“Because I think that has been completely lost within the system, particularly in the last 10 years. And I think it’s a big part of the problem of what we’ve seen with Ofsted, certainly in the last seven or eight years.”
The overall headline Ofsted grades gave schools were stopped with immediate effect in September.
Headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her school, Caversham Primary School in Reading, from the watchdog’s highest rating to its lowest over safeguarding concerns.
A coroner then ruled there was a risk of future deaths “unless action is taken” to address concerns over Ofsted.
Concerns that Ofsted’s plans too ‘complicated’ and ‘rushed’
Single-word judgements will be replaced with a report card, with a formal consultation on these to be held in the new year. A new inspection framework will also be launched, with inspections set to start in September next year.
Headteachers’ leaders have raised concerns that Ofsted’s plans, based on leaked proposals, appear to be too complicated and warned that the Department for Education and the inspectorate are “engaged in a headlong rush” to create a new system against a tight timetable.
Speaking later during the forum, Department for Education workforce director Sue Lovelock said she was aware there has been “some concern” around the pace of change for Ofsted.
“I know colleagues are thinking really carefully about how to address that and to make sure that there’s appropriate time and opportunity for consultation on the changes,” she added.
Tes revealed earlier this month that there have been concerns in the sector at Ofsted’s draft proposals to assess teaching as a separate category.
Ofsted declined to comment.
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