Commenting on the Government’s response to the Education Select Committee report on Ofsted’s work within schools, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The DfE’s response to the Education Select Committee on Ofsted misses the opportunity to take significant steps towards meaningful change.
‘The DfE’s refusal to accept that single word judgements should be scrapped will be met with dismay across the teaching profession. No school or college’s contribution to their community can be summed up in one word only. The NEU agrees with Professor Walters, Ruth Perry’s sister, who wants to build awareness of how misleading and counterproductive single word conclusions are. The Committee heard more concerns about single worded judgements than on any other issue, and recommended that the DFE should look to develop an alternative that better captures the complex nature of a school’s achievements. There is no good reason why this isn’t happening.
‘A school inspection system should not cause teachers and other school staff sleepless nights, anxiety, and an urge to leave this profession. The DFE response to the Education Select Committee underestimates the impact of Ofsted on school leaders and their welfare and their health. It’s no good investing in counselling for leaders if we’re to continue with a culture and approach which itself directly generates too much pressure through unrealistic demands and narrow measures.
‘It is disappointing that the DfE is still wedded to forced academisation for schools with two negative judgements; this is a crude formula for a decision that has far-reaching consequences for schools, given that Ofsted doesn’t fairly account for individual context.
‘We will look carefully at the potentially helpful changes to the relationship between inspections and safeguarding issues. The handling of complaints by Ofsted still needs more significant change to restore any confidence that Ofsted is not marking its own homework.
‘Ofsted has lost the trust of the profession and needs to be replaced with an altogether fairer system of school support that is supportive and effective. Change can’t wait because of the clear links to teacher and leader turnover, which is so detrimental to outcomes for children and young people, especially in areas of high poverty”.