Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, is rolling out a new report card style inspection regime in schools. This amendment will apply from 10 November. The new system implements a five-point grading scale. This scale provides robust evaluation of the schools across important domains such as curriculum and pedagogy, early years, attainment, inclusion and leadership and governance. This shift is especially significant as it builds upon us moving away from the archaic one/two word grading system. That system’s ratings ranged from “outstanding” to “inadequate.”
Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s chief inspector, emphasized that this new grading system aims to provide parents with more detailed information regarding their children’s schools. The focus areas will include social and emotional learning, mental health, attendance, and behaviour.
Yet the implementation of this new system arrives at a time of increasing alarm over its intended and unintended effects, particularly on teachers and school leaders. Or, as critics claim, that it still doesn’t threaten their mental health and wellbeing. Ruth Perry’s sister, Prof. Julia Waters, expressed her outrage. She cautioned that the proposals “still leave our educators vulnerable.” Perry heart-breakingly ended her life after an Ofsted inspection at Caversham Primary School in Reading earlier this year.
They also proposed the new report card system at the beginning of this year. This was a result of an energizing 12-week consultative process. Chief Sir Martyn Oliver has described the new five grades as totally unprecedented. His assessment is that there’s “no comparison” to the former grading system. He stated, “Children deserve the best possible education, their parents deserve the best possible information, and education professionals deserve to have their work fairly assessed by experts.”
Not all feedback has been positive. Other leaders of teaching unions have expressed outrage over the reckless rollout of the grading scheme. Paul Whiteman noted that the plans “should not go ahead in their current state,” while Pepe Di’lasio remarked that the timeline is “far too rushed and gives schools little time to prepare.” He warned that the new system has the potential to add enormous pressure on school and postsecondary institution administrators. Their staff will need to address thousands of decisions in multiple disciplines.
These fears were met by union leaders when they recently signed a letter addressed to the education secretary. They are continuing to call for a suspension of the implementation of the new inspection framework until it can be further revised.
While this criticism was tossed around, many stakeholders applauded the positive changes that came from the consultation process. David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), confirmed that it is “clear that some positive changes have been made” based on feedback from staff in further education colleges.
Ofsted’s accountability measures foster a divisive plight in our education ecosystem. This tension almost always comes at the expense of the wellness and health of all those unleashed.
Daniel Kebede criticized the changes, stating they represent “more of the same. More pressure. More ranking and competition. More labels.” The new proposed system sounds a lot like old accountability systems that have already been criticized for fostering unhealthy, high-stakes cultures.
