Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver has accused the “most vocal critics” of proposed inspection reforms of seeking a “low-accountability system”, as he insisted report cards “are not and never were going to bring about the end of grading”.
In his keynote address at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) conference in Liverpool on Friday, Oliver urged sector leaders to take part in Ofsted’s ongoing consultation into proposed reforms.
The most vocal critics of the proposed reforms seem to be under the misapprehension that a new low-accountability system is possible
The inspectorate proposes to replace single-phrase judgments with new “fairer” report cards with five grades across at least nine judgment areas. It will also end ungraded inspections and increase monitoring of under-performing schools.
The proposals have been heavily criticised by ASCL, which said the new report cards would be “worse than single-word judgments” which were scrapped last year.
General secretary Pepe D’Iasio said the new system would be “bewildering” for teachers, leaders, and parents, and accused the inspectorate of “devis[ing] an accountability system which will subject a beleaguered profession to yet more misery”.
NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said the framework “risks replicating the worst aspects of the current system and will do little to reduce the enormous pressure school leaders are under”.
Criticism ‘seemingly based on misunderstanding’ – Oliver
Addressing leaders on Friday, Oliver said the proposals have been met with some “really encouraging” feedback, along with “a small number of rather surprising responses” which he claimed were “seemingly built on a misunderstanding of what report cards are”.
“The most vocal critics of the proposed reforms seem to be under the misapprehension that a new low-accountability system is possible,” he said.
“It isn’t. Ofsted will always put children and their parents first”.
He said the report cards “are not and never were going to be about less accountability”.
Oliver said the proposed framework will help “move from low quality information and high-stakes inspection to a much richer, more nuanced set of information and sensible, supportive and proportionate accountability”.
He welcomed the DfE’s consultation on accountability which it recently launched, and urged leaders to complete both it and Ofsted’s consultation.
The new report cards will see schools and colleges assessed across nine different judgment areas using a five-scale grading system, from “causing concern” to “exemplary”.
Critics have said the proposal simply rehashes the previous framework, giving teachers more assessment areas rather than reducing pressure.
They also fear the new grading system will be less reliable, and make Ofsted’s “inability to accurately capture the complexity of a school far more apparent”.
Ofsted working to make toolkits clearer
Ofsted has begun trialling its proposed inspection framework, which it plans to pilot with 240 “visits”.
Oliver told the conference inspectors and leaders have reported “that they found the new approach to be more flexible and more collaborative.”
But he acknowledged concerns over a lack of clarity in the toolkits and said Ofsted is working to rectify this.
He said feedback shows “we have more work to do on defining the differences between grades, particularly between secure and strong, so that work has begun too,” he said.
‘Some form of grading is necessary’
“I know there are some who want a system without grades,” Oliver told the ASCL conference.
“But Ofsted is not there to just divide schools into those who are meeting a minimum set of standards and those who aren’t.”
He said he wanted “to be clear” that report cards “are not and never were going to bring about the end of grading”.
He said a “met/not met system” would not serve schools, arguing that “even the weakest [have] strengths worth noting, and even the strongest [have] things they needed work on.”
“Our proposed system recognises this complexity. It recognises that you can be doing great work and still have things to improve. And it recognises that you can need to improve but still have things worth celebrating,” he said.
Laughter as Oliver says ‘don’t do anything for Ofsted’
Oliver told the ASCL conference nothing in the standards proposed by Ofsted “should be a surprise or require extra work” from school leaders.
Laughter erupted round the conference hall in Liverpool, as he told the hundreds of leaders gathered: “I don’t want you to be doing anything ‘for Ofsted'”.
“I hope that you will find nothing in there that you are not already doing, or at least aspire to be doing,” he added. “Or to put it another way, I hope there’s nothing in there that you would just stop doing if we didn’t exist.”
Ofsted’s reforms come after a coroner ruled an inspection contributed to the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry.
The coroner found that “parts of the Ofsted inspection were conducted in a manner which lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity” and “it was at times rude and intimidating”.
Oliver used his speech on Friday to say Ofsted “want[s] inspection to be a collaborative dialogue on an equal footing”.
“We want you and our inspectors to be able to openly discuss where you are and where you’re heading,” he said.
People ‘struggling to understand’ removal of single grades
Asked further about the reaction to the proposals, Oliver told journalists people were “struggling to understand the removal of the overall effectiveness grade” and the fact “you can now be strong at something and need to pay attention at another thing”.
“You can be two things at once, strengths and weaknesses… and it’s going to take time to deal with that level of change.”
Oliver said he believed Ofsted’s approach to monitoring and the DfE providing support to more schools could “massively” reduce pressure.
“I’m saddened that people haven’t yet managed to understand and engage with that part of it.”
He added he was getting “really incredibly positive feedback as well as genuine good challenge. So it isn’t all negative.”
‘A better way of using inspection time’
Asked about concerns inspectors would struggle to assess against least nine areas, he said the “methodology is very different now”.
He said now instead of doing deep dives into certain subjects, inspectors could look across the curriculum while also asking about teacher development, achievement, behaviour, attendance. “You don’t inspect each one of the areas in silo.”
“So I don’t hold with the fact that I need more people. I think it’s a better way of using the time that I’ve got, and I hope that the spending review will allow me to do even more on that.”
Reassurances over SEND
Ofsted’s inspection toolkit has two sections for the new proposed “achievement” inspection area.
The first, “achievement in national tests and examinations, where applicable”, states a secure grade would require exam attainment to be “broadly in line with national averages”.
This has prompted fears it could act as a “barrier” to inclusion, discouraging schools from taking pupils with SEND.
However, the second section, “achievement across the curriculum”, states that a school could get a secure rating if “pupils with SEND achieve well from their starting points and, where relevant, against their individual targets”.
Pressed on leaders’ fears about SEND, Oliver said the different ratings across nine areas meant “you can say to a school you are doing exceptional work, but your results aren’t yet good enough”.
But he said data “is only ever the start of a conversation. It is not the end.
“So you could walk into a school where they’ve taken lots of in-year transfers, they’ve suddenly got a massive influx of children with an EHCP, there could be all sorts of reasons why their academic results are below average, and yet they could be exemplary for achievement.
“And that’s why you need a human inspector who has that transactional conversation, and not a data driven only area.”
Schools already using toolkit for ‘self-improvement’
Oliver also said the inspection toolkit was designed to “so clearly articulate the standards at every single level that they’re of use to schools and nurseries and colleges all of the time, not just the once every four years or five years or six years that we inspect them”.
He said he had had “quite a lot of people send me text messages saying, already, we know it’s not the final piece of work yet, but already, we’re using this as a self improvement tool…and we’re finding it really helpful to self evaluate our schools”.
He said that was “what I want them to do”, adding it would mean there would be “absolutely no need for charlatans, snake oil salesmen” who offer Ofsted preparation advice to schools.
Ofsted’s consultation is available here.
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