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

That’s us. After having a previous ridiculous one that was internally inconsistent.

It is beyond ridiculous that they think they can make these nuanced decisions in two days. Utter nonsense.

Like GCSE English Language they need total reform from first principals. What is it actually for and then design that. Stop tinkering. Badly.

The Good Schools Guide do narrative reports. Gushy, but they do give a flavour.

Ha ha I've just noticed my autocorrect! Ex-teacher not excellent teacher!! 😂

I am not disagreeing

But I was pondering this the other day as I noticed my daughter's primary school report card does this same categorisation with children

Attainment - greater depth/age relatedly/working towards
Home work - excellent/adequate/inadequate

And she seems very aware of these categories and which child is in which category. And thought she wasn't as clever as her friends due to her "ARE" in English (she has severe dyslexia, but is very intelligent )

Maybe children deserve more nuance and care in the way they are assessed too

I am sure you are both

I will try and conjure up some willpower to fill in the consultation ( I run an ofsted regulated programme in an HEI) but I'm probably not going to see the next inspection due to retirement. The phrase rearranging deck chairs on the titanic springs to mind!

The thing is, I don't think parents DO want schools 'across all levels" (if you mean all mixtures of intake) to be equally likely to get a high inspection grade. If they're looking at data and reports rather than visiting the school and going by how the climate feels, they want the high achieving school. And we don't need Ofsted to tell us which those are. Their subjective judgements of the tiny, tiny snapshot of school life they see during an inspection are pointless.

Oh for fucks sake. When did she say this? Does she actually want a workforce that sticks around?

Where are they going to get the workforce to do all the extra monitoring visits?

All the teachers that leave? That was one of my thoughts.

It said something about 5 monitoring visits. Plus it's my belief that if you have lots of small categories, the chance that one will need attention is higher. With less categories you sort of go on balance this broad section it's good even if this little bit is weaker.

If you look at the Independent Schools Inspecorate you can see an alternative model. It's guiding principles are different and schools either meet or don't meet the standards.
Now a lot of people don't like the ISI either for different reasons, but they responded to Ruth Perry in a slightly different way to ofsted.

What do other countries do?

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/education-secretary-speech-on-new-era-of-school-standards

“Our searchlight on poor performance must now become brighter
to see the problems of today and tomorrow quickly and clearly.
So a more rigorous system, raising the bar on expectations, on what good really looks like when it comes to the futures of our children.
Because when we hear that 90% of schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, it’s a reflection of millions of hours of hard work from teachers and leaders.
But it’s a statistic, I’m afraid, that just no longer paints the full picture.
Good as a judgement has become too vague to serve its purpose,
When there are schools rated as “good” in both the top and bottom 1% for attainment.
So just like we guard against grade inflation, to make sure that results really reflect the achievement of students, we must protect standards here too, because when almost 8 in 10 schools are graded as good, it’s time we bank that progress and take good to another level.”

There aren’t two options, a pile of crap inspection and no inspection.

Alternatives have been offered on this thread.

'bank that progress and take good to another level.'

Bank that progress meaning ignore that progress? In a context where the needs of children and young people are still increasing and external services still decreasing, 'staying good' is an unbelievable achievement. She'll be lucky to retain that- it's built on millions of hours of unpaid labour, schools going above and beyond all of the time to fill in the gaps. In a word, exploitation. Pushing even harder now is going to make the whole house of cards crumble, I reckon.

What makes me cross is that at the first open meeting with school staff, she recognised that the focus improving the life chances of children needs to be outside school, not just inside it. But she's fallen in love with the sound of her own voice in that speech. What a hero. Never mind the people who actually do the work.

it’s time we bank that progress and take good to another level.”

🙄

As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
This was entirely predictable. Nothing these days is ever overhauled to make it simpler and more sensible.

Our searchlight on poor performance must now become brighter
to see the problems of today and tomorrow quickly and clearly.
So a more rigorous system, raising the bar on expectations, on what good really looks like when it comes to the futures of our children.
Because when we hear that 90% of schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, it’s a reflection of millions of hours of hard work from teachers and leaders.
But it’s a statistic, I’m afraid, that just no longer paints the full picture.
Good as a judgement has become too vague to serve its purpose,
When there are schools rated as “good” in both the top and bottom 1% for attainment.
So just like we guard against grade inflation, to make sure that results really reflect the achievement of students, we must protect standards here too, because when almost 8 in 10 schools are graded as good, it’s time we bank that progress and take good to another level.”
Super stuff, stirs the soul, great motivational speech, now just tell us how we do that with current lack resources and higher needs and we'll get back to you!

Okay I'm not a teacher, but this kind of 'sweat your assets' bilge is what we had in the NHS from those from on high, except no one seemed to know how to do this stuff, it's all very well saying what is needed, but without the how it's just empty words. Which is what our esteemed government and those in the higher ranks of the civil service seem to be so found of; grand words in theory, lacking substance and viability without the extra resources in practicality.

What do you suggest as an assessment tool that would meet your needs, provide the school with the guidance they require, and ensure good care/education?

I would suggest the DfE have a floor standard of what schools should be providing-this should be laid out in an easy accessible format for schools/parents to use.

The inspectors come with a couple of days' notice and decide whether the school is meeting those standards.

They say that and then write a few points of what the school are doing really well and some points showing what they need to work on. If there are areas to improve, they work with the inspector who supports them to with an action plan and is a 'supportive colleague' in its implementation.
L

That's actually more or less how the ISI compliance inspections work.

ISI = independent schools' inspectorate

"take good to another level"!!! Is this the new " most schools should be above average" ( looking at you Mr Gove)

I'm a retired tutor and I got 4/5 but felt it was really anxious exercise in testing reading comprehension of different types of word salad rather than anything more meaningful!

Interesting. How do teachers in independent schools feel about them generally? Do they end careers if they are bad? Are people off sick because of them?

I also feel we should be looking at other countries-what happens in France/Spain/Denmark/Germany/Australia and what are the standards/staff mental health/retention figures like in those countries.

It feels like they are taking one paperwork-heavy, high stakes system which causes huge issues for teacher mental health and retention and recognising it wasn't working, and swapping it for something worse!

Ironic that 'strong' represents school going above and beyond what is expected, when supposedly the Government is concerned about workload and wellbeing of school staff.