Ofsted’s complaints overhaul is a “missed opportunity” because it does not give schools a chance to go to an independent body to challenge inspection grades, headteachers’ leaders have warned.
The watchdog has just closed a consultation on improving its approach to handling school inspection complaints, but several major education organisations have said in their responses that the plans do not go far enough.
One of the changes Ofsted is proposing is the removal of an internal review, which is currently required before schools can contact the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted (ICASO) to ask for a review of how their complaint was handled.
But Ofsted has been told that schools needs to be able to go to an independent body with the power to challenge inspection grades or to reopen inspections.
In its response, the NAHT school leaders’ union warned that the lack of a “genuinely independent complaints adjudicator” means school leaders are not being given a proper form of redress after complaints.
Its submission said: “The position remains that when a substantive complaint is made about an inspection judgement, the only route available for redress is one where the inspectorate marks its own work.
“This represents a missed opportunity to correct that position by creating a genuinely independent complaints adjudicator for Ofsted, that is able to make binding findings on inspection processes and judgements. The lack of redress in a high-stakes inspection system, where judgements can have career-ending outcomes, remains an affront to school leaders.”
The Confederation of School Trusts (CST) said in its response that any independent review stage introduced needs the power to reopen inspections if there are concerns raised over its accuracy.
The Independent Complaints Adjudications Service for Ofsted (ICASO) cannot change or challenge the outcome of an inspection report as a result of a complaint being referred to it, but it can make recommendations to Ofsted about the handling of the complaint.
Ofsted has been consulting on four main changes to its complaints procedure after recognising that it was “not satisfying” schools, as chief inspector Amanda Spielman told headteachers earlier this year.
These are to enhance on-site professional dialogue during inspections, to enable schools to contact Ofsted the day after the end of an inspection visit to discuss unresolved concerns, to provide alternative options before finalising reports, and to allow providers to directly escalate complaints to the ICASO when necessary.
Both the NAHT and CST welcomed the first two proposals, although the NAHT says that opportunities to raise concerns or queries should not be limited to the three “checkpoints” identified in the consultation.
The new checkpoints Ofsted is proposing for when formal dialogue between teachers and inspectors should take place are during the pre-inspection notification call or when an inspector arrives on site, at end-of-day meetings and at the final feedback session.
In its response, the NASUWT said the first proposal - to “enhance on-site professional dialogue during inspections to help address any issues before the end of the inspection visit” - needs to be developed before it can be considered sufficient.
The teaching union warns that “some providers may not feel confident raising concerns or issues”, and as inspectors only liaise with a small number of people, “some concerns raised by others may not always be picked up”.
However, all three organisations supported schools having the opportunity to call Ofsted the day after an inspection ends to address any concerns.
“If leaders’ legitimate concerns are listened to and acted upon, this extra opportunity for them to contact Ofsted could help to reduce the pressure on leaders during the inspection itself as well as in the immediate aftermath,” the CST said.
Ofsted announced planned changes to its complaints process earlier this year alongside a raft of other inspection changes in response to widespread calls for change following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry earlier this year.
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “The consultation on Changes to Ofsted’s post-inspection arrangements and complaints handling: proposals 2023 closed on Friday 15 September. We are currently collating and reading all responses and we will respond to the consultation in due course.”
