Single word Ofsted grades scrapped immediately?

[noblegiraffe]

The front page of the Metro tomorrow says that single word Ofsted grades will be scrapped immediately (reforming how Ofsted report to parents was in the Labour Manifesto so this is expected at some point).

However, two large teacher twitter accounts tweeted about the immediate abolition earlier today but both deleted their tweets, and the education press aren't running the story.

So why is the Metro running with it, and where is this rumour coming from?

As a teacher in a school which is due Ofsted, I bloody hope this is true. This would be massive for teacher workload and mental health.

https://x.com/hendopolis/status/1830302007694864625?s=61&t=U9XrcF693-JpMxeIueYG7g

They will continue to be and I don't think anyone has said they shouldn't?

There is no suggestion of schools' performance not being measured either in the interim arrangements for 2024/25 or the report card system proposed.

The headline grades may not be perfect, but they are helpful to parents. Having read a number of Ofsted reports in recent years, what is frustrating is that they are so variable in terms of length and format - some are so short it is ridiculous. This is because of, I assume, changes within Ofsted. It makes it very difficult to compare schools.
I would still like an overall grade and I think that is what most parents would choose.
All this chopping and changing with inspection isn't good.

This is because of, I assume, changes within Ofsted

No, it’s because a coroner’s report said action was needed to be taken to prevent future deaths.

Short reports are for short inspections. The longer ones are for full inspections. I don't think that's unclear?

Without an overall grading, it is impossible to compare schools. A one-word grading is necessary in my view. Note no-one complains when the one-word is a word they like! (ducking down now)

I agree with this decision. I will be interested to see how inspections are now reported.

A shorter period between the school knowing and it being made public may also be a sensible approach.

Neither Wales nor Scotland use single word judgements, inspection judgements are complex and take into account a wide variety of information, it's not accurate to boil that down to a single word. I'm a parent (and I don't work in education) and I welcome this.

Yes there should be no notice.

This is not true. My school made a very deliberate decision to keep quiet and not show any reaction to the public when we got outstanding recently, because we don't agree with the system either way.

If parents are using a one word judgement to compare schools they are inadvertently adding to the problem.

A headline judgement tells you so little and doesn't help at all with knowing which parts of education that matter most to you.

Is the school good for SEN pupils? What's
The general ethos? Does it have a strong arts offer?

A scorecard will help parents to compare on particular elements and not be blinded by a shiny 'outstanding' badge.

If you are choosing a school based on one word then are you really engaging with the process at all?

why just schools? Are childminders etc. immune to the stresses of a single word judgement?

I don't agree. The one -word grading was far too reductive. Parents are quite capable of understanding a more nuanced judgement along the lines of, "this school has excellent facilities for SEN children but doesn't push its more able pupils as much as it might" or "this school excels in pastoral care but is weak in maths". All kids are different, and having more detailed appraisal of schools will help parents pick the best one for their children.

How exactly is it helpful? When I was looking we had 5 schools rated good, and 2 outstanding . The outstanding were a catholic school(if you're not catholic not a chance of getting in) and an SEN school.

How do you compare 5 Good?

About time.

My dsis was deputy head at a primary when it was rated at 'requires improvement.' The reason - there was no disabled alarm or support handles in any of the loos.

The school didn't have any disabled children. It was a rural Victorian primary with no hot water because the immersion heater had been broken for two years, and no spare budget.

Thankfully the parents loved the school, it had a great reputation in the local villages and so Ofsted was pretty irrelevant.

They will still be measured. Read the reports. There has never been any suggestion that they should be inspected & measured in some way.

I am delighted to read this. Because of my job I've visited 100s of schools, and the fear and terror I have seen experienced by many school staff over the years due to ofsted is depressing. The whole ofsted system is not fit for purpose and I hope this is the first step towards a complete overhaul. There have been schools coasting for years on their 'outstanding' status that were not inspected. One local to us was recently inspected after 14 years and immediately downgraded. How is that helpful to parents when trying to choose a school? The 'good' primary school that my kids attended was infinitely better 🤷🏻‍♀️

@zaxxon exactly this!!!!

I found them completely misleading.

If the school is given a low grade because the SEN provision is poor, but I don't have a SEN child, how does that help me?

I've been through the whole school choosing process four times now. The last state senior school place we were offered, Ofsted rated as good. I went along to the parent's evening, saw the organisation of the taster day and read the exam grades in detail.

Ofsted rated it as Good yet the taster day for 400 10yos was a complete shambles. At the end, there was lost 10yos in the car parks, out on the roads, wandering around unable to find their mum's, no idea where they were meant to be.

Their exam results said they got 61% through maths GCSE but on closer examination, they got 75% of girls through but only 41% of boys. I have a boy.

We went elsewhere. Later that year, ofsted regraded the school as inadequate, saying that it was unsafe, bullying was rife, younger pupils were at serious risk from older pupils (nice!), the staff had no idea who was on site at any time and the leadership team had not addressed issues previously raised. Six months after that, the trust was wound up.

Good thing I used my eyes instead of listening to Ofsted.

This is where parents go so unbelievably wrong. It’s a snobbery thing. ‘My child goes to an outstanding school.’ Instead of looking at the school against the needs of their particular child. OFSTED is mostly opinion of around 4 people based on tiny measures, especially between Good and Outstanding. It doesn’t really mean anything. It’s two days. Go and visit the school. Look at the need of your child. Don’t just go on snobbery value.

Well, aren't we all impressed??
They're stopping one word judgements for schools. That's it, is it?
They're still in place for every other sector that Ofsted regulates so badly.

Most childcarers hate the one word judgements regardless of their own grade.
They are terrified of Ofsted and what they can do. Ofsted has far too much power and almost no oversight.

Yet again, Ofsted is doing the bare minimum, hoping to placate the schools and the education professionals who believe Ofsted must be replaced with a fairer regulatory system that truly improves standards without wreaking hell on those who have to deal with them.

They are still not fit for purpose.

Yet again, Ofsted is doing the bare minimum

This wasn't Ofsted's decision, it was the new Labour government's decision. The entire way that Ofsted report schools inspections will be changing next year and again that is a government decision, not an Ofsted one.

"Only 29 per cent of professionals and 38 per cent of parents supported single-word judgements for overall effectiveness, according to findings from Ofsted’s Big Listen consultation, due to be published tomorrow."

So parents don't want single word judgements either.

"So parents don't want single word judgements either."

As a parent, I totally agree with this change. It is far too reductive to give a one word rating. Ofsted reports aren't particularly onerous to read, they're normally under 10 pages. When you're researching a school for your children it's not exactly a hardship to read a few different Ofsted reports. Hopefully this will mean that more reports actually get read and fewer parents just see a "Good" or "Outstanding" rating and view that as a box ticked.

Professor Julia Waters, Ruth Perry's sister, also criticised the way the Ofsted inspection had been conducted, saying it had been 'rude and intimidating'. The way inspections are carried out and how teachers and school leaders are treated throughout the process also needs to be addressed.