Ofsted is looking to de-personalise the language it uses about areas of “weakness” in inspection reports, as part of a raft of changes announced today in response to the sector’s demands for change following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.

It is also consulting on major changes to its complaints handling process, giving schools a rough guide on when they might be next inspected, and committing to reinspect schools more quickly when safeguarding is the only area of failing identified during an inspection.

Today’s announcement comes after education secretary Gillian Keegan revealed last week that “immediate” changes to Ofsted inspections would be made following her meeting with Ms Perry’s family and friends.

Ofsted has faced months of pressure as the schools sector reacted to the news of the death of Ms Perry including calls for inspections to be paused and for reform. The late headteacher’s family said she took her own life after receiving an Ofsted inspection report. The subsequent report, published after her death, downgraded her school from “outstanding” to “inadequate”.

Reacting to the announcement today, headteachers’ leader Geoff Barton said that it should not have taken this tragedy to prompt changes. He described the Ofsted plans as representing “a modest improvement”.

• Complaints: Ofsted looking to overhaul system
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• Linked: Keegan promises immediate changes to Ofsted after meeting Ruth Perry’s family

In April, Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, made a statement broadly setting out some changes being considered. Today Ofsted has provided more details on its plans.

Here are the key changes Ofsted is proposing:

1. Inspecting safeguarding

Inspectors will now return more quickly to schools graded “inadequate” overall only owing to ineffective safeguarding, but where all other judgements were “good” or better.

The watchdog has said it will return within three months of an inspection report being published and parents will be informed of this intention in the report.

Ofsted said that if the school has been able to resolve the safeguarding concerns, it is likely to see its overall grade improve.

In these circumstances, the education secretary would then be able to decide whether to revoke any academy order applying to the school, or withdraw any warning notice issued to an existing academy.

Safeguarding is a limiting judgement in Ofsted inspections, meaning that if it is found to be ineffective schools are likely to receive an “inadequate” grade for leadership and management and for their overall rating.

From September, Ofsted has said it “will offer schools greater clarity about the threshold for effective versus ineffective safeguarding through our inspection handbook, as well as regular blogs and webinars”.

And the inspectorate has said it will describe ineffective safeguarding more clearly in inspection reports, to help reassure parents and others that these judgements are not made lightly.

Ofsted said that only 1.3 per cent of all state schools are currently judged “ineffective” for safeguarding, and in the past 18 months, only 12 state schools have been judged “good” or better in every area apart from safeguarding.

2. Complaints system being overhauled

Ofsted is proposing to make it easier for schools that are unhappy with their inspection to launch a formal complaint.

It has undertaken a consultation on plans that would see its current three step process be replaced. At the moment, schools have to make an informal complaint before submitting a formal one, and also have to request an internal review before taking their complaint to an independent adjudicator.

Under the changes being proposed, the internal review process would be dropped and schools would be able to launch formal complaints from the start.

Schools that have immediate concerns about inspection would also be given a new opportunity to raise concerns with a separate Ofsted HMI the day after an inspection if they were unhappy with how it had gone.

3. Rough guide to inspection timing

Ofsted has previously indicated that it was considering how it could provide more information for schools about when they are next likely to be inspected.

Today it will publish a blog outlining roughly when a school can expect to be next inspected.

This will take into account both the last time schools were inspected and which of the four inspection grades it previously received (“outstanding”, “good”, “requires improvement” or “inadequate”.)

Ofsted said that schools will still get one day’s notice of an inspection but the blog will give more clarity about timings with indications of the year from which they are likely to be inspected.

It added that this “will be particularly helpful for previously ‘outstanding’ rated schools that have been exempt from inspection for many years”.

The watchdog said it would also continue to engage with all “outstanding” schools that were last inspected before September 2015 through face-to-face seminars with inspectors. 

4. De-personalising criticism in reports

From September, Ofsted has said that when discussing “areas of weakness”, inspection reports will refer to the school by default, rather than individuals.

The contextual information at the end of reports will also be amended to list all those with responsibility for the school.

5. Sharing report findings

Ofsted has said inspectors will be clear that it is up to a headteacher to decide which colleagues, or others, they share their inspection outcome with - being aware that judgements are provisional until the report is finalised.

The watchdog said that provisional outcomes can sometimes change, and shouldn’t be published or shared with parents until finalised. This will now be set out in the covering letter that accompanies draft inspection reports.

The Ofsted announcement also includes details of extra support for headteachers.

The Department for Education already funds the charity Education Support, to provide wellbeing help for school leaders, and that programme will now be doubled in size to support an additional 500 heads by March 2024.  

Spielman: ‘We have listened’

Ms Spielman said: “When we inspect schools our priority must always be children’s education and wellbeing - but at the same time we want to make sure inspection is as positive an experience for school staff as it can be.

“Since the sad death of Ruth Perry, there has been considerable debate around Ofsted’s work and I want to reassure people that we are listening to their concerns, and thinking carefully about how we can revise aspects of our work without losing our clear focus on the needs of children and their parents.

“We have listened to many voices in this debate. I’m particularly grateful to union leaders, other sector representatives and the secretary of state for the constructive discussions we’ve had over the last couple of months, which have helped us with this package of measures.”

Ms Keegan said: “Ofsted is central to this government’s success in raising school standards, and it is right it continues to evolve.

“We must ensure our school leaders have the support they need, which is why today we are significantly expanding our wellbeing support. This expansion will help make sure headteachers have access to support whenever they need it.

“Taken together, today’s announcements are a really important step. I have committed to continuing our work on improving the way we inspect our schools with Ofsted and the family of Ruth Perry following her tragic death.”

Plan only a ‘modest improvement’ warn heads

School leaders’ unions have described the proposals as modest and warned they do not go far enough. 

Mr Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “These changes have been made following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, which has shone a light on an inspection system that is excessively harsh.

“It should not have needed such a tragedy to bring about reform. We have been warning for years of the serious damage the inspection system causes to the mental health and wellbeing of leaders and teachers. Change is long overdue.

“The changes to inspection processes and the revised complaints procedure set out by Ofsted represent a modest improvement. They have been agreed following talks over the last few weeks with ASCL and other organisations. However, they are only a step in the right direction, and the inspection system is badly in need of much more significant reform. In particular, the use of single-word descriptions to judge a school or college must be scrapped.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “While these individual measures are sensible and somewhat helpful, they go nowhere near far enough in addressing the profession’s concerns. But for the ongoing campaigning by NAHT, our threat of legal action, and the bravery of Ruth Perry’s sister, Julia Waters, in speaking out, even these changes would not have happened. 

“It has taken far too long for the government and Ofsted to announce this relatively modest set of measures and school leaders remain immensely frustrated at the lack of urgency and ambition being shown. NAHT continues to call for more fundamental reform of the inspection process.”