Ofsted to keep one-word grades
OFSTED is to continue with single-phrase judgements for schools, despite calls for them to be scrapped.
The Department for Education (DfE) has said it will “continue to listen to views and look at alternative systems”, but it believes there are “significant benefits” to headline grades awarded in England by the schools watchdog.
In its response to an inquiry into Ofsted by the Commons Education Select Committee, the DfE said the overall judgement provides a “succinct” summary for parents and helps identify which schools need support. It said its priority is to look for ways to improve the inspection system rather than “developing an alternative to it”.
The Government’s response has been described by education union leaders as “deeply disappointing” and a missed opportunity for “meaningful change”.
The inspectorate has come under greater scrutiny in the past year after the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary
School, in Berkshire, from its highest rating, “outstanding”, to its lowest rating, “inadequate”, over safeguarding concerns.
In December, a coroner concluded the Ofsted inspection on November 15-16, 2022, “contributed” to Mrs Perry’s death.
A report by the Education Select Committee in January called on the DfE and Ofsted to develop an alternative to the single-word judgements “as a priority” to better capture the “complex nature of a school’s performance”. It said as a “first step” the websites of Ofsted and the DfE should show a school’s rating in different areas, not just the overall judgement.
The DfE listed the benefits of one-word judgements in its response to MPs. It said: “So, while the Government will continue to listen to views and look at alternative systems, including the various approaches taken internationally, the Government’s view is that there are significant benefits from having an Ofsted overall effectiveness grade. In our view the priority is to look for ways to improve the current system rather than developing an alternative to it. This includes considering with Ofsted the presentation of its findings and grades, and opportunities to highlight some of the detail sitting under the summary grade.”
The DfE added that it agreed with the cross-party group that part of this is about “increasing visibility” of the graded sub-judgements that Ofsted makes – such as “quality of education” and “behaviour and attitudes”. However, others feel single-word judgements don’t provide “significant benefit”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “Single-word judgements do not ‘provide significant benefit’ – they are deeply harmful and must be scrapped entirely.
“Last year’s tragic events showed that, and we cannot rule out something awful happening again in future if the inspectorate does not change. Should such a horrific situation occur, it will be ministers who need to answer for the decisions that have been taken.”