The Department for Education should immediately end its “cliff-edge” practice of forcing interventions on schools that receive two ‘requires improvement’ inspection outcomes in a row, according to a new report from the Institute for Government (IfG).
The report, entitled How could Ofsted and the Department for Education reform school inspections in England? and authored by IfG senior fellow Sam Freedman, says this would reduce stress on leaders in settings already on one RI inspection - and lessen hostility with Ofsted.
“Schools in this position should be given additional support and challenge by the DfE but there should not be an expectation of a change in school leadership,” he writes in the report.
Freedman, who is also a Tes columnist, said the DfE should offer more specifics on the criteria for when interventions are required, such as removing the requirement if an issue identified, say around safeguarding, can be fixed quickly when the rest of the school has been found to be ‘good’.
He argues this would be improved, too, if the DfE asked Ofsted to include more contextual information about schools - such as SEND support and exclusions data - in its inspection reports, so that any interventions could be targeted more effectively.
Meanwhile, the report also calls on new Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver to start his role by issuing “a comprehensive response to the concerns highlighted in the Ruth Perry inquest” and finding out where more training resources for inspectors and support for school leaders can be offered.
Finally, he says the DfE should fund independent studies into the reliability of inspections to build trust among leaders while also identifying areas of improvement for inspectors.
A need to ‘avoid radical change’ to inspection
However, despite the above calls for change, Freedman said the government - and by extension, any future government after the expected 2024 election - should be wary of wholesale changes to the system.
“The government needs to avoid radical change purely for the sake of ameliorating the frustrations of some school leaders (which could, perhaps, be better managed by giving them adequate funding and support to do their jobs),” he writes in the report.
“It should only be done if the government is confident it will not risk improvements in standards reflected in international comparative league tables.”
Freedman also noted that any substantial changes to school inspection could open up the need to change other public sector services where inspection approaches are currently “very similar”, and so this would have to be taken into account, too.
In response to the IfG report’s suggestions, a DfE spokesperson said: “Ruth Perry’s death was a tragedy that not only shocked the local community but also the wider sector and beyond. It is clear that lessons need to be learned and we are considering further changes with Ofsted to make sure we have an inspection system that supports schools and teachers.
“We believe that Ofsted is best placed to make judgments on a school’s overall quality and we remain committed to providing a clear and simple accountability system.”
