Headteachers demand Google delete school reviews

A deputy head has rallied scores of leaders to fight back against Google school reviews after claiming parents face a “search engine lottery” when trying to check school performance.  

The tech giant announced in 2019 that it would no longer let people leave reviews on schools, which were deemed “critical services”. Any review could therefore impact their reputation and ability to educate pupils.

But Justin Cowley, a deputy head at Mendell Primary School in Bromborough, Wirral, has sent a letter to Google demanding old reviews be deleted. 

He claimed some parents would see a “historical and distorted view based on old reviews”, while some schools were still being reviewed despite the 2019 ruling.

Cowley’s letter has received about 60 signatures from senior leaders across the country, representing about 50 schools.

“While this is an old decision, it seems to have been implemented sporadically and in some cases not at all,” the letter claims.

“This has meant there is a search engine lottery about what parents may find about your school. I have written this open letter to Google calling them to delete old reviews, and hope that as many school leaders will join me in adding their signature.”

Parents ‘usually only look at the top three ratings’

Mendell has no Google review ratings, which might discourage parents from sending their children to his school, he said.

“I used to work as a marketer. Our conversion rate is high when parents visit our school when they look on social media. The problem is parents will usually only look at the top three school ratings online. It means my school won’t be shortlisted and further reduces the funding we get from pupils.”

In particular, Cowley said some Google reviews were more than six years old and did not show changes in Ofsted ratings.

“Parents are googling schools and only seeing a snapshot of a school from years ago,” he said. “If was a business trying to sell products based on six-year-old reviews I’d be furious. You wouldn’t allow this in any other industry.”

Cowley said the vacuum of trust in Ofsted reports meant some parents might “trust Google before Ofsted, which informs their shortlisting”.

“All we want is to see a level playing field. We are asking for either the ability to switch back on reviews so new schools can market themselves to parents, or to turn them off all altogether.” 

‘Unfair to have unregulated reviews’

Other heads have wider concerns. Mark Unwin, the chief executive of Create Partnership Trust, which runs four primary schools in Birmingham, signed the petition to “reflect the lived experiences of headteachers who have been affected”. 

“I think it is unfair to have unregulated reviews – an almost libertarian approach – in a very regulated industry like education,” he said.

“I’ve listened to teachers who, based on two to three negative reviews, have questioned whether they had done a good job.

“There is no part of the British state more trusted than primary school teachers, and I don’t think it is fair there is no recourse for them to reply to such reviews.”

Unwin said the Google review should be comparable to TripAdvisor, which allows restaurants and hotels to reply to customer feedback.

He claimed while schools were able to take down information that could be considered defamatory or libellous, poor reviews about schools were kept online – even if a school had drastically improved.

Rob Lewis, an assistant head at Shenstone Lodge School in the West Midlands, added: “I know that most parents default to Ofsted reports to gain an insight into schools, but not having the ability to censor the comments with Google poses a huge safeguarding risk.”

Lewis said parental questionnaires are already part of Ofsted inspections, and questioned why Google reviews were needed.

“What’s to stop me reviewing similar schools offering similar provision to mine and discrediting their reputation?”

Google has been approached for comment.