Exclusive: Scary Ofsted ‘needs a different culture’

New children’s tsar says she was scared by Ofsted as a headteacher and that there needs to be ‘a different way of thinking’ about the inspectorate

16th March 2021, 12:01am

Dave Speck

New children’s commissioner Rachel de Souza has admitted she was “really frightened” by Ofsted when she was a headteacher and says the inspectorate needs “a different culture”.

Ms de Souza, who is today starting a campaign to “rebuild childhood” following the coronavirus pandemic and has announced “the largest consultation with children ever undertaken in England”, says now is “a chance to think about everything”.

When asked by Tes whether Ofsted should “go back to where it was” following the pandemic, she said: “Ofsted can give a sense of comfort that schools are doing a really good job, and what we need to do is to make sure that that Ofsted framework and the way Ofsted work means that they really can get to the bottom of what’s really good about schools and what needs to be improved”.

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Ms de Souza is no stranger to criticising the inspectorate. Last year, while chief executive of one of the country’s most prominent academy chains - Inspiration Trust - she agreed with other multi-academy trust leaders that the new Ofsted inspection framework - with its focus on the quality of the curriculum over exam results - would have a negative impact on pupils from disadvantaged areas.

And in 2018, she voiced concerns about a potential increase in workload that the new framework could cause.

But as a headteacher, she was “frightened” by the inspectorate, she told Tes.

She said: “I was a headteacher myself and there were times where I’ve been really frightened about Ofsted and thinking way too much about them.

“Wouldn’t it be really lovely if it was just a routine thing that really was just like ‘come and see business as usual’? If we could get to that point, we’d all be happy.”

When asked whether that would mean the inspectorate “being more supportive and collaborative”, she replied: “I don’t think supportive and really rigorous oppose each other; I think we’ve just got to get a different way of thinking about it and have a different culture, really.”

Ofsted has been contacted for a comment.