The government should carry out a review of the performance data it publishes in school league tables to ensure they are promoting an inclusive system, according to multi-academy trust leaders.
In a report published today, the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) also calls on the government to consult on replacing Ofsted inspection grades with report cards.
It says league table performance measures should be reviewed to ensure they are not driving unintended consequences or creating perverse incentives for schools.
The recommendations are included in a report that argues for a fundamental change to the way the Department for Education holds schools to account.
CST calls on the government to develop a strategy that brings together how Ofsted operates, how school performance is measured and how the system is regulated.
It also warns that there is a conflict of interest in the DfE’s current decision making on schools, as the DfE Regions Group is acting as both a regulator and the department’s delivery arm.
Writing for Tes today, CST chief executive Leora Cruddas said: “I think there is a fundamental question about whether the high-stakes nature of accountability is desirable or necessary. Accountability can be more intelligent, proportionate and compassionate.”
She said that the state should retain the power to intervene in the most serious cases of poor quality education or serious failures in safety and safeguarding.
“In these cases, the strong likelihood is a change in the governance of the school,” she added.
But Ms Cruddas said the state can also pursue “a regulatory strategy that promotes high-quality education through some softer levers that support the improvement of a school or a trust”.
Reset relationship
The CST’s report on the school accountability and regulatory system in England calls on the government to move away from what it describes as a “reductionist” approach to holding schools to account.
It says it should reset its relationship with public services and move to a new approach “underpinned by professional trust”.
And it says there is now a “once-in-a-generation” chance to make the school system more coherent.
CST also wants the government to review school performance measures to ensure they do not have unintended consequences or perverse incentives.
The report adds: “Care is needed to make sure that metrics work to support and recognise inclusivity and that schools remain empowered to be able to make decisions that are in the best interests of all pupils.”
Accountability and regulatory strategy
It also says the government should commit to developing an accountability and regulatory strategy that determines the role of Ofsted and to establish “an intelligent and compassionate system of accountability”.
In line with plans announced by Labour, it calls on the government to consult on “report-card style reports” from school inspections to replace graded judgements and it says “the government should consider carefully the purpose of, and underpinning evidence for, Ofsted inspecting multi-academy trusts”.
CST has also repeated its call for the creation of an independent schools regulator with the same legal basis as Ofqual, with a chief regulator accountable to Parliament.
It says that the current DfE Regions Group - set up in 2022, which is responsible for overseeing decisions on academy conversions and rebrokering of schools between trusts - “was never properly defined as a regulator”, and that “it became both regulator and delivery arm of the DfE, which creates inherent conflicts of interest”.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
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