The number of schools being marked down on behaviour by Ofsted has plunged by more than half since Covid – despite teachers saying classroom disruption is increasing.
Some have suggested it shows Ofsted inspectors have “lost their nerve” to award grades that are less than ‘good’. But others say schools are getting better at handling behaviour – and the data reflects that.
In the 2019-20 academic year, 19.9 per cent of schools were rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’ for behaviour and attitudes. This more than halved to just 7.7 per cent last year.
But, according to the government’s latest national behaviour survey, published last year, three-quarters of teachers said misbehaviour had stopped or interrupted teaching in at least some lessons that week – a 12 percentage point rise on the previous year.
Headteacher Sam Strickland, an expert on behaviour, said it “often features as a key push factor for why people leave teaching”.
“But there appears to be something of a disconnect between Ofsted judgments for behaviour and what is being reported across the sector by people working within schools.”
In May 2023, the government’s behaviour survey found teachers reported that seven minutes were lost to misbehaviour every half-hour lesson.
Inspectors more reluctant to mark down?
Ofsted has been heavily criticised and is overseeing wide-ranging reforms after the death of Caversham primary school head Ruth Perry. A coroner found an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted inspection contributed to her suicide.
Former HMI Adrian Gray said: “Inspectors are sensitive to accusations of being mean and, I hear from some, suspect that Ofsted will not back them up if something goes sour,” he told Schools Week.
He questioned whether this has led to Ofsted “losing its nerve” to mark down schools. The concerns also seem to be echoed by Matt Newman, national officer of FDA, a union that represents many HMIs.
Newman said a “significant minority of schools and trusts who know how to exert pressure are making inspections more adversarial” – something Ofsted chief Sir Martyn Oliver has also raised before.
Newman added: “The level of complaints puts further pressure on hardworking inspectors who are striving to provide parents with the most accurate information about their children’s schools.”
But others have refuted this. Jeffery Quaye, national director of education and standards at Aspirations Academies Trust and a former Ofsted inspector, said grades were “based on the evidence that the inspectors gather and evaluate using the education inspection framework”.
He added: “We have received a number of inspections [at Aspirations], and the inspectors were fair and not particularly under any pressure to be more lenient.”
‘Standards in schools are rising’
Quaye said the change was actually down to rising standards in schools. “My experience is that the majority of schools have positive behaviour, which allows teaching and learning to progress without disruption,” he told Schools Week.
“I think the improved picture should be welcomed by the sector.”
Tom Bennett, the government’s behaviour tsar, said that schools in England “have been steadily improving across the whole cohort for the last decade”.
He pointed to the government’s behaviour hubs and guidance that “didn’t only make it clear that schools were expected to maintain order but also provided sensible and practical ways to do this”.
Sector leaders also suggested that a revision of teacher training programmes has placed “a greater emphasis on behaviour”.
Quaye said the NPQ for leading behaviour and culture in particular has “developed the expertise of leaders in schools to promote a culture of positive behaviour”.
‘Both parts of the sector cohered’
Bennett also pointed to Ofsted’s approach to evaluating behaviour now “aligning” with the government’s guidance. “This created a fairly unprecedented climate where both of these parts of the education sector cohered, probably for the first time ever,” he added.
A source who deals closely with inspectors also said: “Ofsted’s shift towards a more empathetic culture is reflected in the increased number of ungraded inspections.
“These inspections give schools more time to resolve issues and concerns before a full graded inspection.”
The rise also mirrors a wider shift in more favourable reports in recent years. Ofsted said the drop in lower grades started after Covid, with most schools previously less than ‘good’ improving at their next inspection after the 2019 framework was introduced.
The fact that inspections were being “refocused on a new evidence-based conception of high-quality education has encouraged schools to develop and prioritise their curriculum” and “this may have had an impact”.
Nine in ten schools are now ‘good’, compared to 86 per cent in 2019. However, in Ofsted’s Big Listen survey, most parents said this was not an accurate reflection of the sector.
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