Ofsted could withhold issuing a judgement for three months on schools that are set to fail an inspection on safeguarding alone, following concerns raised over the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
The watchdog is seeking views on this proposal as part of its Big Listen consultation, which is being launched on Friday by chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver.
Safeguarding could also be decoupled from the leadership and management judgement as part of the changes the inspectorate is considering.
Launching the consultation at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) conference in Liverpool this morning, Sir Martyn will pledge to “tackle disadvantage as a society” through the inspectorate.
“We don’t want disadvantage or vulnerability to be a barrier. Because if you get it right for the most disadvantaged, you will get it right for everyone,” he is set to say.
The Big Listen consultation will run for 12 weeks, seeking the views of parents and those working in education and social care.
It comes after a coroner ruled that an Ofsted inspection likely contributed to Ms Perry’s death. She took her own life after an inspection report downgraded her school, Caversham Primary in Reading, from the watchdog’s highest rating to its lowest over safeguarding concerns.
Currently, schools that are otherwise good but judged ineffective on safeguarding receive an “inadequate” judgement, but Ofsted returns within three months to give schools the chance to resolve this.
Ofsted Big Listen
The school watchdog will now consider withholding an inspection judgement for three months if the school is good in all areas other than safeguarding, and reinspect the school before publishing the final grade.
As Ofsted announced earlier this year, it is also considering separating the safeguarding aspect from its leadership and management judgement.
As part of the Big Listen, the watchdog will be asking if safeguarding should be inspected more regularly than through the normal cycle of school inspection.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan called the Big Listen an “important opportunity to strengthen the central role Ofsted play in our education and social care system”.
Other elements in the Big Listen include:
- A strand specifically aimed at children, including those in care.
- A request to rank areas of Ofsted’s work and the impact on how important they consider it to be - from very important to not at all important. This will include whether Ofsted should make clear if learners are safe and happy in school and make it clear what schools do to support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
- A call for views on the areas covered by individual judgements that Ofsted makes about a school, including its quality of education judgement - introduced in the last framework - that includes how well the school plans and teaches the curriculum.
- A request to rank the importance of Ofsted giving a clear judgement on the quality of personal development for children, the leadership and management of a school, and the school’s work to foster positive behaviour and attitudes.
- A call for views on how important it is that Ofsted reports on the performance of wider groups, such as multi-academy trusts, an education diocese or a chain of independent schools. There have been calls for Ofsted to be given the power to carry out MAT-level inspections and Labour has said it would introduce this if elected. Sir Martyn has said previously that he thinks that MATs and other bodies responsible for groups of schools, such as local education authorities, should be inspected at group level by the watchdog.
- A section on inspection practice. This will include questions gauging views on how important it is that inspections are carried out consistently from school to school and between phases.
- A call for views on how important it is for Ofsted to hold schools to account for the quality of education they provide and for keeping children safe.
The Big Listen does not include a question about how important people think single word inspection judgements are, but Tes understands that Ofsted expects people may want to highlight this in the comment section.
It will, though, ask people to gauge the importance of two examples of unintended consequences of Ofsted inspection: whether the inspection process led to schools off-rolling, excluding or suspending pupils; and if inspection led to schools keeping pupils in the classroom who might put pupils at risk.
It will also ask for views on Ofsted teacher development inspections, which include inspections of initial teacher education providers as well as providers of the early career framework and national professional qualifications.
The survey asks for comments about what inspections of these programmes should aim to achieve and whether Ofsted’s current inspection practices in this area should change.
Ofsted has ‘been part of the problem’
Concerns were raised last year that Ofsted reports were undermining the initial teacher training market review after the University of Greenwich teacher training programme received a “good” Ofsted rating this year, having failed the accreditation process in 2022.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, welcomed the Big Listen, but added that Ofsted must be aware that it has “been part of the problem” around inspection.
“It is important that Ofsted shows sufficient self-awareness that the inspectorate has itself been part of the problem because its negative judgements stigmatise schools and make it harder to recruit and retain the staff they need to secure improvement for all their pupils, and particularly those facing the greatest challenges,” he said.
Ms Perry’s sister has warned that Ofsted needs to make a “big change” or its consultation exercise will be a “big waste of time”.
Professor Julia Waters said school inspections were continuing under “high-stakes fault finding and reductionist single-word judgments”.
Meanwhile, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said Ofsted was a long way from “fixing its reputation”.
”Only root and branch reform will end the tyranny of the inspection regime and the climate of fear it creates. Anything short of that will amount to rebrand rather than reform,” he said.
And Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders union, called for an end to “blunt single-word grades”, adding they can “cause so much damage to schools and their staff”. But he welcomed the consultation.
Steve Rollett, the deputy chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, also welcomed the Big Listen, adding: “We have long argued the accountability system, of which Ofsted is a key part, must become more intelligent, proportionate and compassionate. We are hopeful the Big Listen will help to shape the direction of meaningful reform that works for children, parents and the profession.”
Tes understands that the results of the Big Listen are not expected to be published until late 2024.
Ofsted to change its reports website
In his speech to the ASCL conference, Sir Martyn said that Ofsted was working on its website to show the full range of component grades at a glance and not just a school’s overall effectiveness grade.
He said that this “neither promises nor precludes further changes to our gradings”.
He added: “You are clear that all the sub-judgements that Ofsted makes about your schools matter and all should be seen. And it should be about much more than just the overall grade.
”By showing the full range of judgements, we hope that parents will be better able to compare providers.”
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