Ofsted's new report cards for schools are a pile of bollocks

[noblegiraffe]

Changes are being made to the way Ofsted reports school inspections. Instead of grading 4 areas Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good and Outstanding (overall grade has already gone) they want to grade schools on 9 areas, Causing Concern, Attention Needed, Secure, Strong and Exemplary

There's a video here explaining how it will look

There aren't enough words to express how much additional work this is going to create for schools. How many extra middle management positions to cover leadership in each of the 9 areas. How many extra ring binders of evidence, learning walks, mock Ofsteds. How many education consultants writing books called 'How to get Exemplary in "Developing Teaching".'

Oh but parents will appreciate the extra information - sure, is a school that is strong in 5 areas and secure in 4 better or worse than one that's exemplary in 2, strong in 3, secure in 2 and requires attention in 2?

And how is deciding whether a school is secure or strong anything but subjective on the day? You hope for rigorous rubrics? No, there are fluffy grade descriptors that are hard to decipher.

To illustrate this, a quiz has been put together. Can you decide whether e.g.

A) "Leaders continually monitor the progress of their pupil premium strategy and make helpful and proactive adaptations, as appropriate"

is better or worse than

B) "Leaders make sure that the delivery of their pupil premium strategy is sustained and monitored effectively, including through ongoing training and support for staff"?

I got 2/5 correct... you can see if you can do any better here https://schoolsweek.co.uk/ofsted-quiz-can-you-spot-a-strong-rating-from-a-secure-one/

The government consultation is running till April https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-the-way-ofsted-inspects-education/improving-the-way-ofsted-inspects-education-consultation-document#proposal-1-report-cards

4/5 Local Authority person

I looked for words like consistently, continually, rigorously etc. it's very far from clear though.

4/5 for me. Last inspection was 3 months ago.

But that's because one is active they are making the judgements) and the other passive. Agreed it's very hard to tell though.

And now we’ll have people trying to “add up” the new 9 assessments to get to a meaningful weighted answer so schools can be ranked. Of course it will happen!

Oh this is a good point, @MinnieMowse , that's exactly what will happen.

But the government would say in response to your point that Ofsted is meant to help schools to improve with 'Ofsted is needed so that parents can judge between schools'.

I note that if your school is below average in achievement it is automatically rated 'requires attention' so you're doubly penalised with Ofsted and the league tables. And because progress 8 is gone for the next couple of years, that presumably means that any school with a tough intake is doomed on that front, regardless of progress made.

@MrsHamlet yes! In my private sector professional life (not education), ‘knowing’ is always ranked below ‘doing’.

So if I’m interviewing a candidate for a job, on our rating system if someone can describe how something should be done, or a time they saw it done well, that’s “theory” and doesn’t get as highly scored as describing a time they actually did the thing well themselves (bonus points for adding how they plan to do it even better next time).

3/5 as a reasonably invested parent. Incorrect, correct, incorrect, correct, correct. The sort of result a coin might have attained.

Omg @noblegiraffe it’s all so much worse than I thought.

The concept of parent choice has aways seemed odd to me, because most of us cannot move to a location with the perfect school for each of our children.

In reality: surely what most of us do to choose a school is visit the schools on our shortlist, ask friends and other parents we know, or as on neighbourhood SM to find out what a school is “really like”? And then sense-check what Ofsted said on their report probably 10 years ago, and double check the school isn’t plummeting academically.

If Ofsted was more about “share best practice and provide objective viewpoint” and less about “critique and rate” - that would be enough for parents given all the other sources of information available.

I got 4/5 but I have been a civil servant since 1998 😭

Ex SLT, Ofsted in Feb 2023. I got 2 out of 5.

It's like the old APP grids.

If the grade descriptors are meaningless then what would happen is Ofsted will go on gut feeling and then try to post-rationalise their decision.

When I was trying to get out of teaching, I looked at CS jobs (I started my working career in the CS in the 90s before going private sector and then changing to teaching). Thought I'd be able to go back, but the bullshit bingo required on the application, and the fact that I couldn't really understand what I was being asked to evidence, put me off.

I just remembered, Bridget Phillipson also said that too many schools are good or above, so Ofsted will be bearing in mind that they need to be harsh when they apply the ratings.

It's all political bollocks.

This reminds me of when I was a trainee and struggling to mark some coursework. My then mentor told me "look at how long it is and then just go off your gut". Brilliant.

I've had an idea.... why not just issue inspectors with some lolly sticks and they can just pick at random.

2/5 too op, what a load of rubbish. No wonder teachers are stressed; I'm dreading seeing how the head is going to be after this at dc's school. There is already a fraught staff culture as it is. It is currently ranked as outstanding. 😫

But these are like the old ones on steroids.
Wasn't this review prompted by the tragic death of Ruth Perry? I shouldn't be surprised, but somehow... I still am.

As a former teacher, this feels unnecessary and pointless. I was considering going back into it but this just feels like my last "fuck that" moment.
As a parent, this feels unnecessary and pointless.
Generally, this seems like an exercise in justifying the existence of an outdated inspections board who always should have spent less time on pencil pushing and stressing people to produce paper and more time actually helping schools improve who need to.
As OP says, "fine" is adequate. It should cover the top 3 ratings, if they're fine they don't need to be better than that. There should be no distinction between schools that are fine and schools that are really, really fine.

Yup- it's that quote, they need to be 'like a restaurant hygiene rating, not a critic's review'

5/5 - parent and policy professional (not education). I get why teachers want to call it guff but there are meaningful differences between the descriptors and I think if you saw case studies with the two scenarios in play that would be evident.

What are they please?

3/5 Retired SENCo and Assistant Head.

Excellent (not) for recruitment and retention.

What's wrong with WWW and EBI? Works for the students 😁

I do smiley faces if I'm really impressed. That would work.

😂 That's why the average score is 3/5 right? Even from people who work in education and FROM NOVEMBER will be expected to work with these ridiculous descriptors?

Not fit for purpose. Not even slightly.

I managed 4 out of 5 due to the language used I think it would be very hard for parents to compare schools.