Ofsted’s recent consultation response quietly mentioned they were developing a “similar schools” approach. This proposal seemed to fly somewhat under the radar, yet it could fundamentally change the way we think about school effectiveness.
The approach is Ofsted’s attempt to answer a long-standing question about fairness: in short, shouldn’t we be holding schools to account only for the factors within their control?
Not all pupils face the same challenges, and schools serve very different communities. Some work with a disproportionate number of pupils with additional needs, or who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, or have much weaker prior knowledge or speak English as an additional language.
In these contexts, traditional measures of achievement can be misleading. Ofsted must work to identify those schools doing exceptional work given their context so others can learn from them.
Defining school context is undoubtedly difficult, not least because many aspects of a school’s context cannot be captured by readily-available data.
Nevertheless, indicators such as pupils’ prior attainment, prevalence of special educational needs, proportion of pupils with EAL, and the socioeconomic profile of cohorts clearly impact upon published outcomes.
More than that, they shape leaders’ decisions around curriculum design, staffing structures and resource allocation.
By taking these factors fully into account, inspections can focus on how effectively a school responds to its unique challenges rather than simply comparing simplistic headline exam results.
A ‘similar schools’ lens could provide richer insight
Governments have tried to adjust performance measures for context before. Between 2006 and 2010, New Labour used a contextual value-added (CVA) model, which aimed to create a single score for comparing all schools on a single numerical scale.
Unfortunately, CVA had clear limitations. Critics argued it could lower expectations for some pupils, masked systemic inequalities and let politicians off the hook for addressing these.
CVA models focused only on the context of the year group who had most recently taken exams, ignoring the wider school community and strategic decisions leaders make considering the whole school context. Its algorithmic approach was opaque, difficult to explain to professionals, and almost impossible for the public to understand.
This reduced trust in the CVA measure. It was too easy to brush away negative scores under the cloak of ignorance.
A “similar schools” approach addresses many of these weaknesses:
It does not hide from the reality that context acts as a significant barrier to achieving highly for some pupils.
It considers the whole school population, reflecting the whole school environment in which leaders make strategic decisions.
And it is easy to understand: it makes intuitive sense that schools can be compared with others operating in similar circumstances, helping parents, educators and policymakers quickly see which schools are performing particularly well and which have room to improve.
Some questions still need answering.
- Which factors should be included, and how should they be weighted?
- How will Ofsted use this approach in its inspection toolkits?
- Should the “expected” column for achievement be adjusted to explicitly state that “achievement is broadly in line with schools serving similar contexts”?
Without clear answers, the approach’s benefits could be diluted. Worse, inconsistent application across inspections could undermine confidence in the process and reduce its usefulness for highlighting best practice.
If these challenges can be resolved, the potential is considerable. A “similar schools” lens could provide richer insight into performance, spotlighting schools helping pupils achieve exceptionally well given their circumstances while flagging those not fully capitalising upon their advantages.
“Similar schools” is not about lowering expectations or excusing poor outcomes. It is about fairness, transparency and genuinely informed accountability.
By recognising excellence in context, policymakers can move beyond simplistic league tables and schools can make strategic decisions that maximise opportunities for every pupil, regardless of background.
The question now is whether Ofsted and the sector will take the opportunity seriously.
Done right, “similar schools” could finally give school leaders, inspectors and parents a tool that truly reflects the reality of teaching and learning across diverse communities.
And the only way to do it right is to ensure this part of Ofsted’s work is on everyone’s radar.
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