Ofsted to bin gradings and go pass/fail

[noblegiraffe]

The latest rumours suggest that Ofsted will be scrapping school gradings and be replaced by pass/fail inspections from next year.

This would be amazing for education if true. Health inspectors instead of restaurant critics encouraging schools to jump through ever-more bizarre hoops in the pursuit of the ‘Outstanding’.

schoolsweek.co.uk/could-ofsted-be-about-to-wipe-the-grading-slate-clean/

Yes - I also think most parents have very little idea about what good provision looks like, and instead look for schools where their “tribe” goes to. Schools around here that try and mimic prep school behaviour (odd uniforms, weird behaviour rules) appear to be popular, but don’t perform particularly well.

cantkeep - yes, that's the one. I have friends who work there, but no one where I live (other side of town) wants to send their kids there. We're in a funny bit of town in that we're not really in the "catchment" for any school - some kids walk to one, and others get the bus to a village up the road, in equal numbers. That school seems to be the one that people get "put" into. If that's changing, then, good.

I guess my point was that OFSTED judgements don't always seem to be able to have an impact where it comes to reputation. Other schools in the area seem to keep their reputation despite OFSTED - another religious one in the city close by is still seen as a good bet reputationally, though its last OFSTED said something quite different.

Equally in a school in special measures there may be a few excellent staff - who sadly suffer the stigma of working in a SM school.

Absolutely. The school I left last summer was up and down and in and out of special measures for a long time. The assumption that I must be a bit shit because I taught there really pissed me off. My dept results were better last year than the same dept in the grammar school in the next town - one that is outstanding and describes itself as "the best school that money can't buy" There are always pockets of excellence. Likewise, my DTDs go to an "outstanding" school but some of the teaching there is incredibly lazy. I was aghast on parents evening at the lack of interest some of the teachers showed. Their outstanding, as far as I can see, is based on the fact that they have bright kids who are interested in doing well (and have supportive parents in the main) and therefore they churn out very good GCSE results.

while they can be moved down simply through extension of the same visit?

I don’t think they can extend to the next day any more?

parents really value the current gradings.

The question is should they be valued? Judgements are subjective, not scientific. They scrapped graded lesson observations because observers graded more on the charisma of the teacher than the effectiveness of the lesson. I reckon a charismatic head can similarly swing it for a school.

I’m sure there was a school recently that got Outstanding then had to close because its students all failed their GCSEs.

Im cynical and that the grading were a way to force academy status on a number of schools and parents who were perfectly happy with the way the school was being run. In some cases this will have caused an improvement, but certainly a few years ago that was due to injection of extra funds.

Noble, how recently did it stop? It happened locally a few weeks ago, IIRC. I know the changes are new, but not that new?

Latest Ofsted School Inspection Framework states under points 45 and 46 in this document that a Section 8 short inspection can be converted to a Section 5 inspection (the 2 day ones), usually within 48 hours, under certain circumstances, and always if safeguarding is inadequate.

As I say, to the best of my knowledge that has very recently been done locally by extending the section 8, with a larger team, into the second day immediately.

The document is dated April 2018 and doesn't seem to have been superseded?

Ah yes, it can be converted within 48 hours if there are serious concerns, but if there are less serious concerns that the school is slipping then the section 5 happens within a year or so, potentially to move to RI, like the one to move to outstanding.

parents really value the current gradings

Because they don't really understand how meaningless/misleading they are. As a parent (with decades' teaching experience) I would be cautious about choosing a school with a poor rating but would quite likely choose a 'good' school over an 'outstanding' one, having had first hand experience of working in the latter.

My dc's 'good' primary is wonderful. The 'outstanding' (rated 2 months before I started) school I worked in was truly awful.

I think this is a brilliant idea. It would help to eliminate this idea that if parents really care about their children they have to go to an outstanding school (or private) - even if they have to move, commit fraud, go to church etc in order to do so.

However I agree with the previous poster that it would ossify previous outstanding ratings which in some cases have already far too long. There's a primary near us that hasn't been inspected for a decade. Its results are fine, but they're the same as my kids' school's despite the latter having four times as many FSM children. In the same borough, a couple of km apart! They have none of the original staff left since the inspection, most of the pupils are tutored and everything I hear about the way it is run suggests that it's not outstanding after all. Yet it's the one people move next to and parents weep if they get offered one of the perfectly good alternatives.

Another good change also being suggested in that article is the elimination of 'outliers' from the data. There are some children that will never, for whatever reason, get through Sats and their results can skew the performance of the school and encourage schools to exclude/manage out such pupils when they need stability more than any. Their results are largely irrelevant if the vast majority of children are achieving well. Again I think of my kids' primary which doesn't exclude and has a reputation for taking on kids that more 'outstanding' schools want to get rid of.

Parents value the gradings because it’s the only “objective” data they have to go on. Everyone knows all schools are not equal; Ofsted is the only thing parents have to go on, other than the opinions of friends. I’ve been through 2 section 5s (one resulting in RI, the other in Good) and both times I thought they were fair and accurate judgements of the school. Every post 2015 Ofsted I have seen (to be fair, I have only looked at primary) places considerable weight on progress of disadvantaged pupils and I am confident the HMIs we worked with totally understood that a highly disadvantaged cohort makes a very different school from one with no PP/SEND.

If you’re going to give parents choice, they need data to make that choice (the choice argument is another kettle of fish...). And certainly not all schools are treated equally in our LA, so the idea that binning Ofsted gives a level playing field is bogus, too. I do think removing outliers would be good though-something like concentrating on the median 90%.

Another good change also being suggested in that article is the elimination of 'outliers' from the data.

This is happening from next year for progress 8. I think what determines an outlier will be decided by the national picture (e.g. progress in bottom 0.5%) so that schools won’t know beforehand which students’ results will be discarded.

Parents value the gradings because it’s the only “objective” data they have to go on

I’m pretty sure that a lot of parents value headline exam figures over everything else.

I am confident the HMIs we worked with

IME, HMIs do appreciate things like disadvantaged pupils, and in general i would FAR prefer to be inspected by one. Contracted Ofsted inspectors, IME, don't (and the subcontracted ones there used to be were almost universally dreadful).

Ofsted are currently crying because all their decent inspectors are being tempted away to work for MATs who can offer them more money.

DH was at a school which was a sponsored academy that had been graded outstanding in every area the week before

it was anarchy
stressed teachers, huge number of suppl and feral kids
(and 2100 kids with no outdoor space)

he was also at a school which had just been rated as into special measures
and it had the happiest team and kids he'd ever seen

ofsted box ticking and good learning experiences do not always line up

Ofsted don’t seem to care about staff happiness, or turnover. If they did, we might see a bit more of a focus on it in schools!

Which is stupid really because in my work, staff change is one of the biggest risk criteria we highlight

• cost of recruitment
• loss of knowledge
• disruption to systems

In the private sector, high staff turnover is a real red flag.

Have seen plenty of Ofsted reports highlighting staff turnover as a problem - they are completely aware that it usually means issues within the school. It’s interesting to know that HMIs seem to be better quality than the contracted bods - all my inspections have had an HMI, either as lead inspector or along for QC.

they note it
but do not demand that it changes

in my work I demand that the underlying causes are dealt with

They might note it but in a disinterested way. I’ve never seen ‘staff turnover is high due to the ridiculous workload expectations of SLT including a bonkers marking policy and oppressive observation schedule. Morale is rock bottom and as a consequence, Leadership is ‘requires improvement’’. That would put the frighteners on a few heads!

LOL
that is pretty much what I put in my audit reports

I wonder why Ofsted do not knock on my door ;-)