Ofsted seen as ‘not fit for purpose’ and schools should self-evaluate instead, inquiry says
Ofsted is seen as “not fit for purpose” and schools should “self-evaluate their progress” instead, an inquiry has said.
The Beyond Ofsted inquiry into the education inspectorate for England said it found Ofsted has a “detrimental impact” that is perceived by some as “toxic” – and called for “transformational change”.
The inquiry chairman, Lord Jim Knight, said Ofsted has “lost the trust of the teaching profession, and increasingly of parents”.
The inquiry was launched in April amid calls for the inspectorate to revamp its school ratings system – which uses one-word judgements – after the death of headteacher Ruth Perry in January.
Ms Perry’s family said she took her own life after an Ofsted report downgraded her Caversham Primary School in Reading from its highest rating to its lowest over safeguarding concerns.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Teacher’s death blamed on Ofsted
Instead of the rating system, the inquiry says schools could “self-evaluate their progress” and work long-term with an external “school improvement partner”.
The partner would validate and support the school to deliver an action plan and parents would be provided with useful information instead of a single-word judgement.
Lord Knight said: “This would produce an action plan for governance and the school community to understand what is working well and what can be done better.”
The inquiry recommends an “immediate pause to routine inspections” to allow time for trust to be regained by the teaching profession, but inspections would continue to feed back to the Department of Education on the impact of its policies.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ofsted inspections ‘high stakes’
Read more:
Ofsted grading process ‘nonsense’, former inspector claims
Sister of headteacher Ruth Perry says Ofsted chief ‘totally insensitive’
A Department for Education spokesperson told the BBC it wants “inspections to be a constructive experience for school staff”.
“Our inspectors are all former or current school leaders and well understand the nature and pressures of the work,” the spokesperson said.
“Ofsted has a crucial role in providing a regular, independent evaluation of every school, providing reassurance to parents that pupils are receiving the high-quality education they deserve and are being kept safe.”
The Institute for Public Policy Research said “overly simplistic” school inspection judgements, such as inadequate or needs improvement, often trigger abrupt changes to management.
The thinktank said this fuelled a “football manager culture” in schools of firing headteachers.
The CARF regulation, which brings crypto under global tax reporting standards akin to traditional finance, marks a crucial turning point.
The nascent real-world tokenized assets track prices but do not provide investors the same legal rights as holding the underlying instruments.
Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.
MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.
Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.
Read more:
Yet another fiscal ‘black hole’? Here’s why this one matters
Success or failure: One year of Keir in nine charts
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma
In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.
“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.
“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.
“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”
Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.
The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.
It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Why was the chancellor crying at PMQs?
Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.
Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.
“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Reeves is ‘totally’ up for the job
Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.
“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.
“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike