Labour to scrap Ofsted

[noblegiraffe]

Labour have announced that they want to scrap Ofsted inspections, get rid of school gradings and replace it with a system of ‘health checks’ done by local authorities, with inspectors only being sent in if problems are found.

www.bbc.com/news/education-49785130

Given that calls for years to scrap the extremely damaging ‘outstanding’ grade have been persistently ignored because parents like it, what will parents think about all grades going?

Do we trust standards will be maintained under a much lighter system of inspections?

As a parent who has a school aged child, I have found Ofsted to be completely unfit for purpose. The grades are assigned completely arbitrarily. A new system will be welcome.

Do we trust standards will be maintained under a much lighter system of inspections?

We are a 'good' school because two inspectors came for 1.5 days, several years ago. For a decade we've had appalling behaviour, huge safety issues and a very dodgy approach to exam/coursework rules. Our ELT are good at filling in the assessment forms and good at making up 'evidence'.

A system with much more regular but low stakes checks and support available, would be very welcome.

Good idea

What local authorities?

I can see both sides. As a parent we viewed all the Ofsted reports when looking for schools alongside visiting them to get the full picture. Not sure if a health check would be anywhere near as in depth.

From a teachers point it likely means far less pressure and dread of a visit os better for their welfare.

With academies, do local authorities have the departments to do this any more?

Well teachers will certainly love it, pretty much unanimously.

Going by our local Council's record on social care, planning, waste collection, and SEN provision coupled with the number of complaints up held by the Local Government Ombudsman I am sure our schools will be absolutely fine ....

Agree. We are outstanding but not been ofsteaded for a decade. Headmaster keeps writing letters about attendance threatening us with losing the outstanding rating!

If schools can pull the wool over Ofsted’s eyes, how would a health check pick them up?

And yes, do local authorities have any education staff any more?

I guess it would be good for house prices near outstanding schools.

Possibly something that needs to be investigated but our council is utterly useless and widely rumoured to be corrupt in many areas. So at present I wouldn't trust our council to investigate anything.

Not sure if a health check would be anywhere near as in depth

How long ago was this? Asking as I'm not sure if you've seen a new OFSTED report from the one day visits. There is no depth to them at all. Just a one page letter with some vague comments in my recent experiences.

However I'm also not convinced with Labour's plan. It'll just be OFSTED with a new name when it comes down to it.

I'd like to complain to ofsted about our school but I don't know how. I think it should be easier for parents to access ofsted and raise concerns.

Good idea - I am assuming they will fund LAs properly to be able to do this as well which us sorely needed. Hav8ngseen what teachers have to do paperwork wise because if Ofsted the hope would be this us reduced so they can focus on the job of teaching children. I am not a teacher and I think it will be good.

Schools can, and do, very easily pull the wool over Ofsted's eyes.

I work in a school that was rated Good two years ago just before a new Head took over. The changes since then have been horrendous and I'm embarrassed to tell anyone I work there now. The behaviour is horrendous and I wouldn't advise anyone to send their child there. I KNOW parents have reported various incidents to Ofsted and absolutely nothing has happened.

Scrapping Ofsted, good idea.
L.A health checks? If they could be guaranteed to be impartial and free from other LA agendas. Working with local education authorities I have definitely raised an eyebrow at inappropriate 'chumminess' and dismissive attitudes of colleagues and clients whose 'faces don't fit'. Clique-ish.

Well my LA would probably love no longer being a "failing" LA, despite being Conservative run. But I don't think abolishing OFSTED will improve anything for the children of the area, and could seriously threaten the most vulnerable. Who will check that things are safe?

(When OFSTED first started to inspect Boarding schools a large number of them were found to not be meeting the basic legal standards.)

As much as I dislike OFSTED I'm not sure this is the right direction to go down. Local Authorities are notoriously underfunded and a bit crap. This could leave children unsafe in school if the health checks are lacking. I'd also anticipate the LA would over rely on data to judge the school (cheaper than sending a human) and this would put increasing pressure on schools.

Labour are away with the fairies. Of all the problems this country has, changing Ofsted wouldn’t make the top 100, maybe not even the top 1000.
Fiddling while Rome burns, Mr Corbyn, you total melt.

Are there many parents who paid no attention to Ofsted gradings when selecting schools?

If school gradings were scrapped, what’s likely is that the memory of their last grading before the scrapping would persist. The Inadequate school would never be able to prove they were better than that, the Outstanding school would be assumed to be ‘better’, even though we know from Outstanding schools slipping to Inadequate because they hadn’t been inspected in a decade, standards are not always maintained.

There are many teachers now (probably most!) who never knew life pre-ofsted when HMI inspectors worked with schools they knew well, and didn't just waltz in, make an instant judgement and slap a grade on.

Read some Gervase Phinn if you want an idea of how it was back then. He is hilarious but also makes a great case for a softer, more collaborative system.

I'd also anticipate the LA would over rely on data to judge the school

Which reminds me, Labour also want to scrap KS2 SATs, which would fuck the data for both primaries and secondaries.

Ofsted isn't perfect but it is part of the mechanisms for protection of the most vulnerable. I can see why the Labour party wouldn't like that, they don't seem particularly focussed on vulnerable groups at the moment.

But, in schools, much valuable time, resources and head space is spent on Ofsted prep and compliance, and transforming the inspection system to something more constructive would almost certainly lead to more stimulating learning environments.

Ofsted isn't perfect but it is part of the mechanisms for protection of the most vulnerable.

How? The LEA mechanisms which have been substantially dismantled over the last decade did that.