Ofsted chief inspector has never been an easy job, and the postholder often comes to be seen as controversial.

But, following the inquest into the death of headteacher Ruth Perry and a coroner’s call for action, Sir Martyn Oliver is taking the helm at Ofsted at a particularly turbulent time for England’s schools inspectorate.

The former multi-academy trust (MAT) leader, whose appointment was confirmed in an MPs’ vote in September, will face political changes, a challenging education landscape and demands for reform.

• Read more: Sir Martyn Oliver’s first interview as Ofsted chief inspector

Ms Perry’s death and the coroner’s subsequent inquest verdict and regulation 28 report warning of the risk of future deaths have sparked calls for inspections to be halted until the concerns have been addressed.

In his first interview since taking up the role, Oliver has confirmed that the routine inspections will not take place in the first few weeks of the new year to allow for training of inspectors to take place.

He also made it clear that an instant emergency response to the coroner’s concerns would be his first priority.

But there are also wider questions and concerns.

With a general election looming, there may well be a new Labour government - one that has promised major Ofsted reform, including replacing one-word judgements with “school scorecards” and introducing MAT inspections.

A perceived lack of inspector expertise, concerns about the consistency of judgements and unhappiness with Ofsted’s complaints system are other points of contention being debated by school leaders and MPs.

With so many different concerns being voiced and widespread calls for change, what should Oliver’s priorities be?

Tes spoke to key figures in the education sector to find out.

Will Ofsted single-word judgements survive?

Oliver is walking into a fierce debate about the future of inspection grades, amid mounting calls for them to be ditched.

Former schools minister Lord Knight says the first thing the new chief inspector should do is accept “the need for significant change to regain the trust of the profession”.

“A good start would be to signal the end of the single-phrase judgement,” adds Knight, who has just led the Beyond Ofsted inquiry into inspection reform, sponsored by the NEU teaching union.

The union’s general secretary, Daniel Kebede, makes a similar point. He says the first step to reducing the burden of inspection is to “remove the four stark grades, which are simply insufficient to convey the achievements of a school and the unique context it may face”.

“Headteachers are not football managers, but many feel they have even less job security,” Kebede adds.

Representatives of school leaders feel much the same.

Tom Middlehurst, inspection specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, warns that one-word judgements are “a sword of Damocles” hanging over the heads of leaders and staff.

“At the moment, many leaders feel that it is a lottery. While there are graded judgements, inspection will always be high stakes and high stress,” he says.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, says there needs to be an acceptance that the current grading system - and the consequences of it - “drive so much of the stress associated with inspection”.

‘While there are graded judgements, inspection will always be high stakes and high stress’

However, Oliver’s predecessor, Amanda Spielman, insists that ditching single-word judgements would make it more difficult for Ofsted to provide an overview of the country’s education system.

She says that around 20 or 30 government policies hinge on the school ratings that Ofsted provides - not least the issuing of academy orders where schools are deemed to be in need of intervention.

But the future direction of grades is likely to be out of Oliver’s hands if Labour wins the election and follows through on its plan to drop them.

And it is interesting to note that when Oliver appeared before MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee, he was reluctant to state his position on the matter.

The issue needed looking at, he said, because of questions about how schools move between grades. He added only that he had some “formative” thoughts that he wished to discuss with Ofsted’s experts.

It seems likely that he will either be tasked with introducing a new system without grades or face a backlash from schools if the current system remains in place.

A change in approach to inspections?

Unlike Spielman, Oliver is unlikely to introduce a new inspection framework. In his application for the job, he said he believed the sector did not need a new one imposed on it at this time.

However, it seems likely that he will want to put his own stamp on the system.

The Education Inspection Framework (EIF) introduced by Spielman in September 2019 was praised for its focus on curriculum by some school leaders who spoke to Tes.

Mohsen Ojja, chief executive of the Anthem Schools Trust, comprised of 16 schools, describes the EIF as a “welcome development” for “improving the quality of the debate around what constitutes a great school”.

And Dan Morrow, chief executive of the 18-school Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust, says it has been successful in bringing the curriculum to the forefront as “a really important aspect of how we look at provision within the school”.

• Sir Martyn Oliver: Who is Ofsted’s next chief inspector?
• Inspections: “Good and improving” schools missing top grade
• Long read: Is there a way to fix the school inspection system?

However, there are also concerns.

Ojja adds that one unintended consequence of the EIF is that inspection outcomes seem to rely heavily on what inspectors infer from the evidence they see.

He says this “leads to uncertainty and inconsistencies, and appears arbitrary”.

Oliver’s application said it was important to ensure that the judgements Ofsted makes are “not only valid and, crucially, fair but also reliable, objective and empathetic”.

He also told MPs that it was difficult to understand how schools with some of the worst outcomes got good inspection results.

He added that school results were important but should not be the only factor in determining inspection grades.

‘It feels like Ofsted are judge and jury of themselves’

Could this indicate that Ofsted under Oliver may rely more on the reliability of data and less on decisions that inspectors make about a school’s curriculum?

On the question of reliability, Carole Willis, chief executive of the National Foundation for Educational Research, tells Tes that Oliver “should commission research to determine the appropriate coverage and length of inspections required to provide confidence in the inspection process and findings”.

At a recent Commons Education Select Committee hearing, concerns were raised about the tension caused by Ofsted running short inspections and then having to make subjective judgements about the quality of curriculum and education on the back of this.

Transforming Ofsted’s complaints process

Ofsted announced last month that it is implementing all four of its planned changes to its complaints system.

However, there remains the concern that schools cannot get an independent body to overturn or reopen an inspection.

“There’s a need for much greater clarity and, potentially, the ability to externally challenge if you think that the complaints are not being properly handled,” says Knight, who chairs the E-ACT trust board.

“At the moment, it feels like Ofsted are judge and jury of themselves.”

Lee Mason-Ellis, chief executive of The Pioneer Academy, which oversees 17 schools, says “schools must have confidence in the complaints process, and reform of this is long overdue”.

“I would like to see an independent board of review so that inspection teams are not marking their own homework,” he adds.

The prospect of MAT inspections

It is not currently in Ofsted’s power to inspect MATs, but Labour has said it would change this. Appearing before MPs, Oliver said he thought it was inevitable that Ofsted would look at inspections of groups of schools such as MATs.

Currently, the watchdog can visit a trust and conduct a “summary evaluation”, but this does not include a graded judgement. No more summary evaluations will be carried out until next year, though, Tes revealed.

Inspection specialist Middlehurst tells Tes that “inspecting MATs is a longer-term project for Ofsted and it will take time to develop a system that commands confidence”.

The watchdog “must work with the MAT sector to ensure that any future framework does not create additional workload for schools and academies”, Middlehurst adds.

Attendance and the legacy of Covid

Another area for Oliver to focus on is the lasting impact of Covid-19, says Tim Oates, director of assessment research at Cambridge Assessment.

“All research points to an unprecedented, deep and distributed set of problems, which will be with us for at least a decade,” he warns.

Oates, who chaired the 2010 national curriculum review panel that led to a significant curriculum overhaul in 2014, highlights attendance as a key challenge that Oliver will have to face.

Despite a government attendance drive, “attendance remains really troublesome”, he adds.

“Those born or in infancy during lockdowns are presenting with significant development needs; those transitioning from primary to secondary can have serious issues around behaviour and ‘school connectedness’.”

Oliver has indicated that he wants Ofsted to focus on this, saying the watchdog “desperately needed” to carry out a deep dive into issues around attendance.

The new chief inspector has inherited the same framework and the same challenges that his predecessor faced, along with a sector that is impatient for reform.

He has already indicated that he wants to change the way Ofsted is perceived; achieving this in the current climate may be his biggest challenge of all.