Cumbria teaching union raise Concerns over new Ofsted grading scale

The sister of headteacher Ruth Perry has said she is worried that new Ofsted proposals for inspecting schools are a "rehash" of the "dangerous" system they are supposed to replace.

Schools in England could be graded across a variety of different areas - including attendance and inclusion - using a colour-coded five-point scale.

Schools would receive ratings - from the red coloured "causing concern" to orange coloured "attention needed", through the green shades of "secure", "strong" and "exemplary" - for each area of practice under proposals for Ofsted's new report card system.

It comes after Ofsted launched a major consultation, seeking the views of parents, carers, professionals and learners, on a new approach to inspecting and reporting on education providers, from the autumn.   

The consultation sets out a series of proposals that they claim aim to serve the interests of the parents and children Ofsted works for, while strengthening the trust and cooperation of professionals working in the services it inspects and regulates.  

In the past 12 months Ofsted has already made some significant changes to support education providers’ wellbeing, but further reforms were promised in the response to last year’s Big Listen. The proposals apply to inspections of early years settings, state-funded schools, non-association independent schools, FE and skills providers, and initial teacher education (ITE) providers.

Previously, Ofsted awarded one of four single-phrase inspection judgments: outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.

The reforms follow criticism of the inspection system following the death of headteacher Mrs Perry who took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from the highest to the lowest overall effectiveness rating over safeguarding concerns.

Her sister Professor Julia Waters said that while the new model has some improvements, it "retains many of the dangerous features of the previous system, while introducing a series of changes with potential new risks to the wellbeing of teachers and headteachers".

Prof Waters said: "My sister Ruth Perry died as the result of a rude and intimidating Ofsted inspection, and its disproportionate consequences on her and her school.

"It is two years since Ruth's death, and a year since Sir Martyn Oliver took charge of Ofsted.

"Ofsted says it has listened, but it still does not appear to have adequately learned.

"I am worried that this proposal is a rehash of the discredited and dangerous system it is meant to replace."

Prof Waters said the proposal appears to have fed the single-word judgments "through an online thesaurus", adding that "other elements of the report card design are ill-thought-through and potentially dangerous".

Under the proposals from the inspectorate, at least eight areas of a school's provision could be evaluated and graded - accompanied by short summaries of inspectors' findings - in a report card for parents.

The proposed evaluation areas would be leadership and governance, curriculum, developing teaching, achievement, behaviour and attitudes, attendance, personal development and wellbeing, and inclusion.

Schools which have early years provision or a sixth form would also be graded separately on these areas.

Safeguarding would not be graded with the five-point scale and instead it would be assessed as either met or not met under the plans.

Cumbria's NEU

Cumbria's teaching union NEU have shared concerns, but have also suggested a different system that they think would be fair on schools, while also helping them get better.

Andy Brewerton is from the union, he said: "What you now have is 10 one word judgements. 10 things shoved into 5 different boxes.

"It's still going to be a pressured system and it's not really clear.

"I think we need more peer to peer support sessions. Local schools can support each other, know about the schools and the areas, and go in and offer help and advice.

"It's that, advice.

"Right now, it's in we go, we inspect you, your rubbish and we're going to academise you.

"What we're looking for is someone coming in and giving advice. They come in and say 'right this is where it's going wrong, have we thought about this, could you do this, could we help by doing that'."

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector for Ofsted, Sir Martyn Oliver, said of the proposals: "Our mission is to raise standards and improve the lives of children, particularly the most disadvantaged. Today’s proposals for a new Ofsted report card and a new way of inspecting are designed to do just that.

"The report card will replace the simplistic overall judgement with a suite of grades, giving parents much more detail and better identifying the strengths and areas for improvement for a school, early years or further education provider.

"Our new top ‘exemplary’ grade will help raise standards, identifying world-class practice that should be shared with the rest of the country. And by quickly returning to monitor schools that have areas for improvement, we will ensure timely action is taken to raise standards.

"We also hope that this more balanced, fairer approach will reduce the pressure on professionals working in education, as well as giving them a much clearer understanding of what we will be considering on inspection."