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Secondary education

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Original poster

Ofsted inspections mean nothing

56 replies

devongal1975 · 07/05/2023 11:21

Does anyone else feel Ofsted inspections and grades mean nothing? My DS attends a supposedly 'Outstanding' School. He has been beaten up 7 times this school year, and despite reporting it each time, the school have done essentially nothing to help and the daily bullying has gotten even worse. All my friends whose DC attend the school have the same story, in theory there is a huge bullying problem that the school brush under the carpet and hide from Ofsted to protect their reputation (which isn't even that good anymore judging by what my friends think of the school.) The behavior in lessons is appauling, the kids run the class while the teacher sits there drinking coffee doing nothing. The teachers are very poor at teaching, they do not assist anyone when they ask for help, and many do not know their subject very well. Some teachers also swear in their lessons as well. The school is a bullying infested mess with a victim blaming culture and surely should be in special measures? Does this not demonstrate how Ofsted reports are a load of rubbish? Or does anyone feel that this school truly deserves to be outstanding?

OP posts:
ItsBeenOneWeek · 09/05/2023 19:17

Semtee · 08/05/2023 15:06

Research shows there's no correlation between exam grades and whether a school is SM, RI or Good. There is a small correlation with better grades and Outstanding schools. Another example is the fact infant schools are many times more likely to be Outstanding than a junior school - it is much harder to get a decent rating as a junior school than as a primary and much more so than as an infants.

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i didn’t say there is a correlation between exam grades and inspection grades. I said that research correlates disadvantage levels with inspection grades.

ItsBeenOneWeek · 09/05/2023 19:19

Shelefttheweb · 08/05/2023 15:40

What is news and has been news is the devastating impact of inspection grades have on all involved.

whilst this may be true, without inspections highlighting failures a failing school can have a devastating impact on generations of children.

I didn’t suggest that there shouldn’t be inspections. I was merely pointing out that the OP’s premise that inspections were meaningless is problematic.

ItsBeenOneWeek · 09/05/2023 19:23

evermorr · 08/05/2023 17:36

Nobody should start a sentence with "Research says that ...' without providing a reference.

It is obvious why there is a correlation between outstanding grades and good results - pre Sept 2019, under the previous inspection framework, only schools that could demonstrate outstanding progress could get an outstanding grade. This has now changed - ofsted gradings have now been decoupled from exam results. But relatively few schools have been re-inspected since the change was made.

Since Sept 2019, the inspection framework has focussed on curriculum quality, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership. There has been much coverage of the fact thst many previously outstanding schools have been downgraded to Good or lower, but less coverage of the fact that many previously RI schools, with a disadvantaged intake and lacklustre results have been upgraded to Good. There is one in my area, which has never been better than "RI/Satisfactory" under previous frameworks, but is now Good. But it also has a passionate head who was working hard to improve the school's local reputation. That is the key ingredient - schools need special people to take risks on them, and teachers are often as wary as parents of doing that. A young person I know, who will no doubt be a fantastic teacher, recently finished her "Teach First" training working at a school with a deprived intake and walked straight into a new job in an outstanding school in a leafy area. Why wouldn't she? There are no financial incentives to work in deprived schools, so unless teachers are especially noble, they will always look at schools with a similar eye to parents and pick the ones that either seem most successful, or catch their eye for some other reason. Ofsted judgements are one part of their research for that decision. So even if a Good/Outstanding judgement is out of date, or plain wrong, it can have a positive impact on bringing teaching talent to the school, making it more likely that they will retain a positive rating next time. In contrast, RI or inadequate schools will lose talent and not attract new talent, so their negative grade becomes embedded too.

OP, I hope that when your school is re-inspected it scores badly on the Behaviour element at least!

You are right, of course, that I should point to research. I was tired and feeling lazy so I didn’t initially.
here’s a link that will point you to what I was referring to: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/affluent-schools-more-likely-to-improve-ofsted-grade-and-3-other-key-findings-from-epi-ofsted-report/

EPI Ofsted inspection research: the key findings

The Education Policy Institute has released a major piece of research based on Ofsted inspection outcomes and school performance and demographic data. The report, School Inspection in England: Is There Room to Improve, offers insight into how prior att...

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/affluent-schools-more-likely-to-improve-ofsted-grade-and-3-other-key-findings-from-epi-ofsted-report/

Semtee · 11/05/2023 19:11

ItsBeenOneWeek · 09/05/2023 19:17

i didn’t say there is a correlation between exam grades and inspection grades. I said that research correlates disadvantage levels with inspection grades.

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Okay. I think we're basically in agreement in our thoughts on Ofsted though.

Stettafire · 15/05/2023 10:56

Slight tangent, but in 2010 my own high school passed Offsted with a second-to-best grade. This same school locked autistic kids in a cleaning cupboard and tied an ADHD student to a chair. Plus one of their teachers was convicted of sexual abuse agianst a year 7 student. In fact he'd done that to lots of people, but only got suspended when he targeted the head teachers daughter! Nevermind I complained that he tried to kiss me some three years prior, but got told "Oh I'm sure you just misunderstood" Nice gaslighting there!

Safe to say I think these "Quality Marks" and "Ofsted inspections" are utter beurocratic nonscence. They cause excessive stress for excellent schools and don't punish schools who are failing students. The whole system needs an overhaul.

ItsBeenOneWeek · 15/05/2023 19:03

Stettafire · 15/05/2023 10:56

Slight tangent, but in 2010 my own high school passed Offsted with a second-to-best grade. This same school locked autistic kids in a cleaning cupboard and tied an ADHD student to a chair. Plus one of their teachers was convicted of sexual abuse agianst a year 7 student. In fact he'd done that to lots of people, but only got suspended when he targeted the head teachers daughter! Nevermind I complained that he tried to kiss me some three years prior, but got told "Oh I'm sure you just misunderstood" Nice gaslighting there!

Safe to say I think these "Quality Marks" and "Ofsted inspections" are utter beurocratic nonscence. They cause excessive stress for excellent schools and don't punish schools who are failing students. The whole system needs an overhaul.

If this a true and accurate description, you have a duty to whistleblow using the appropriate channels (rather than use MN as a means to rant) on behalf of children.

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