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

I think that whilst a one word judgment is too simplistic there still needs to be checks and some sort of inspection process. My view is that many schools play the system and Ofsted are not always as investigative as they should be - maybe there is a lack of inconstancy there too. I believe that in the majority of teachers are hardworking and want the best for the children in their care and that many school leader likewise take this view, however, I also think there is a significant minority of teachers who are really quite poor and not that hardworking or caring and basically do not have the skills as well as some who are unprofessional - the same for those in leadership positions within schools. This is probably the same as many industries - which is why there has to be rigorous inspections. Sadly from what I gather the advent of MATs has meant that there is even greater slight of hand and even less scrutiny of these organisations who are now too large and as large(or almost as large) in some cases as the LEAs the schools have left.

Sadly it doesn’t look like it’s filtering down to other settings any time soon. I’m a childminder, I’m good at what I do and the children are cherished here. However, at inspection time I literally crumble. I’m like a different person because of the stress, the stress lasts for months and months when I know an inspection is looming. I forget things, I stumble over words and currently I am close to giving up entirely. The problem with one word judgments is that everything can be a ‘good’ but if one area ‘requires improvement’ that’s is what forms the headline judgment.

I’ve always been a good but I fear next time I won’t be. Early years clearly don’t go through the stress that schools do according to government.

I love my job, I love helping the children grow and bloom and love my part in creating strong, independent and curious learners. It’s all getting a bit too much though, the stress is eating away at me.

Rubbish. Parents can read a page or two of information about a school and make up their own minds based on that.

What was your source for these quotes please @Purloin - I want to tell my Headteacher friends and at the moment I can only reference Mumsnet... Google is not being my friend on this (and I don't have a TES subscription so can't read the article linked to see if it's from there!)

The notice of the inspection and the time between the inspection and the release of the report are two very different things.

There's basically no notice of an inspection anyway. Heads get the phonecall at lunchtime the day before, then staff are informed usually after school. It's enough time to make sure that the people that Ofsted need to speak to will actually be there the next day when they rock up.

I don’t understand why such a meal is made of any of this. An Ofsted report should simply comment in neutral language on what works well in a school and areas of improvement - so they can improve and get constructive feedback. All of those should simply be a PASS. All schools can improve in some ways, even outstanding ones and all schools should work on constant improvement.

Then anything which is a safeguarding concern etc should simply be a FAIL and have funding and the book thrown at it.

As long as schools are measured and regulated properly, it’s fine. The report should be detailed, however, rather than being restricted within 1 page as suggested.

Why does the safeguarding issue need a FAIL splashed across the school for the funding and book thrown at it to happen?

That is what led to Ruth Perry's death. A safeguarding issue that could be rectified within a month.

@noblegiraffe - that is not what I meant, I obviously meant serious concerns about safeguarding, which will take a long time to fix. And need the book thrown at it to be fixed.

Not failing to follow up on one reference, kind of thing. That could just be an urgent improvement.

I think the reports should be more akin to work appraisals or school reports for kids. Some praise and some areas for improvement. I really cannot think of any other areas that have been so heavily scrutinised as schools. Can you? Most of us just want our kids to be happy and safe. Progress measures and results are there as well anyway. Although again, I think it would be better for children’s progress to be measured more holistically. Not sure how.

I would rather a robust process of constructive feedback and useful training and support from an inspectorate would be far more useful than ‘throwing the book’ at anyone.

This! I once asked an Ofsted inspector for clarification on something in the Ofsted guidance during an inspection. I was pointedly told that I should not ask questions, she was not there to offer advice and was purely there to inspect. Even when you contact Ofsted with a query they don’t seem to give a straight answer and it’s virtually impossible talking to anyone there.

Only 38% of parents who responded agreed with you.

Removed because the majority of those parents involved in the survey didn't value the one weird grading.

Labour are proposing inspections of MATS, just as LA’s are inspected.

there still needs to be checks and some sort of inspection process

I don’t think anyone is seriously proposing a removal of the inspection process!

It needs to be revised though-it should be fair, humane, transparent, consistent and useful. I don’t think it is any of those things currently. I think it should follow the old HMI ‘critical friend’ approach and its remit should be to support schools, to offer advice and next steps and to improve practice. The inspector should be part of the process-and come back to follow up on their advice to see how it’s gone.

I dislike the current model where often an unfriendly team arrive, trying to trip staff up in their barrage of questioning, stress out small children by pulling them out of class for questioning about what they remember from 7 months ago, pull the stuffing out of a school with their (often savage) lines of enquiry and then disappear never to be seen again, having given no useful advice at all, leaving staff confused and broken. Even when they come out with a ‘Good’ the process can be terribly traumatic. Does it need to be? Does a high level of trauma= good practice?

The inspectors should be experts in that sector-they should be adding something to that visit that helps the existing leaders and teachers improve. Not failed and ex- teachers who fancy a cushie job out of the classroom with a clipboard criticising those doing a job they have never/could never do themselves. My last infant school was inspected by a secondary geography head of department who had never been a deputy, let alone led a school himself. He had nothing constructive to add to our school and the report was a bland, pointless cut and paste job. What is the point of that?

Great news. I think it's an absolute joke that parents go so far as to move house to be near a school that's supposedly excellent. The primary round the corner is usually fine. Short commute, local friends, no stress. I feel for the teachers.

Or worse , they have a "pet project" so spend ages in a specific stage/year group stressing everyone out , nitpicking and messing up schedules. We had several members in tears after that fucking inspection and it was a good result and we were recommended for Outstanding which we got at a second inspection. That went a lot more smoothly,but what a waste of time and energy and pointless mental and emotional load , just because Suzie had a passion for "x". Go and teach X then!

I completely agree that the inspections should be fair and constructive. There's zero point in sweeping in, stressing everyone out and sweeping out again leaving a one-word result.

I am still amazed that so many parents blindly believe the Ofsted reports. Most of the ones I've read have been short and give little to no relevant information. For all the criticism the inspectors dish out, the reports they create are woefully poor!

More info has now come out. This is from the TES

Personally I liked them but also bright enough to do my own research and read the report why they had been marked down

I’m more dubious of the outstanding ones the seem to only concentrate on what get them marks rather than the full picture

I hope this will go some way in stopping this, house prices are already ridiculous and to also stop people bragging about their outstanding school and making others feel inadequate because they live 100 metres out.

I hope the report cards don’t just end up with a list of areas with one-word judgements!

Teaching and Learning: outstanding
Behaviour: Outstanding
Curriculum: Good
SEND: Inadequate

Then the poor Senco who probably has a tiny budget, not enough time to do the job, hugely inadequate funding from the LEA and no chance of getting high need pupils into specialist provision will feel 100% personally responsible!

That TES poster above says that subject deep Dives will stop for ungraded inspections, will they continue for graded ones? (What decides if your inspection is graded or not??).

I do wonder whether house prices will drop in areas close to outstanding schools once they go through the new inspection.

The 'outstanding' grading has been so damaging to education.

I actually wonder whether parents will focus on results even more from now on. There are good schools that have better results than some outstanding ones. Will this just refocus parents attention towards grades rather than ofsted reports. Am assuming this in turn will impact on house prices. So yes if you live near an outstanding one, you house value might go down but it might also go up if you're near a school with great results but only a good rather than an outstanding after the recent spate of inspections.

There is the even more worrying aspect that parents avoid schools with high FSM even more. Forget results, forget Ofsted.
At least with a full report a challenged intake can look great.

I expect teething issues.

And even the SEN inadequate - there will be people who will jump on a school like that because they might be happy for parents with SEN kids to be put off the school.