Commenting on Ofsted’s plan to pilot an independent complaints review service, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Ofsted are fiddling while Rome burns. In the face of widespread loss of confidence in Ofsted’s leadership and the new framework, these reforms to the complaints process are nowhere near the level of change needed.
“We are also concerned that the new Independent Complaint Review (ICR) service does not go far enough. It is still up to Ofsted to make a decision about whether to re-inspect and re-grade a school if the ICR makes a recommendation about grading outcomes. The inspectorate has been shown to be completely incapable of positive change and cannot be left again to mark its own homework. Legislation may need to be looked at again.
“At this stage, there’s only one pathway toward a safe, fair and effective inspection system: a pause to current inspections and a proper review of the inspection framework, taking into account the range of short- and long-term recommendations made in our report to improve the working conditions of teachers and leaders across our schools.