Teach Secondary 13.7

45 teachwire.net/secondary O F S T E D Going, going... GONE? T he recent announcement that Ofsted will no longer issue single-word judgments – i.e. ‘Outstanding,’ ‘Good,’ ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’ – for a school’s overall effectiveness is undoubtedly headline- grabbing. But it raises more questions than answers. There could well be an unintended consequence of replacing one cliff-edge judgement with four. Add to that the problem that the education profession has lost faith in the validity of Ofsted judgements, with school leaders potentially having to worry about four unreliable judgements rather than one, and the move seems more about capturing those headlines than providing solutions. Four key areas Under the proposed new approach, Ofsted will continue to assess schools across four key areas – ‘quality of education’, ‘behaviour and attendance’, ‘personal development’ and ‘leadership and management’. These areas will still be graded on a familiar four-point scale, however, leaving the framework largely intact. The crux of the issue thus lies in the fact that while the overarching judgment is being removed, the grades in those four categories will likely make it clear what the overall judgment would have been. A school receiving a ‘Requires Improvement’ equivalent grade in ‘quality of education’, for instance, would have likely received the same grade for ‘overall effectiveness’ under the old system. The proposal to end Ofsted’s overall effectiveness grades was heavily flagged in the Labour Party’s manifesto, so the government’s announcement wasn’t entirely surprising. However, its timing and the way in which the news was disseminated raised eyebrows. Reports suggest that even some senior Ofsted staff only found out about the decision via Mumsnet on the evening of Sunday September 1st, indicating that the DfEmay have taken the lead on the decision, rather than it being a fully-coordinated effort alongside Ofsted. Scorecard system In any case, the announcement is more of a stopgap measure than any kind of final resolution. Ofsted has promised that a new framework will be introduced by next September, which will include a scorecard system. Details so far are sparse, but it’s expected that the new systemwill shift focus back towards the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND – areas that many critics (and inspectors) argue have been overlooked under the current framework. Ofsted itself has meanwhile announced that the much-anticipated report cards will include ‘new criteria’ to inform parents and carers about “ What a school is doing well, and what the areas for improvement are. ” The new report cards are expected to provide parents and carers withmore detailed information, highlighting schools’ strengths and any areas for improvement. It’s been suggested that one significant change will see ‘attendance’ become a standalone judgment separate from behaviour, reflecting its increasing importance in school assessments. The Baker Clause That said, there is potential for things to be done differently this year. Under the current framework, ‘quality of education’ – the assessment of howwell schools conform to Ofsted’s preferred curriculummodel – has the greatest impact on the overall effectiveness judgement. No matter how good a school’s behaviour is, regardless of its impact on pupils’ personal development, the single word judgement was determined by the ’quality of education’ judgement. The upshot of this was that inspectors spent a disproportionate amount of time arriving at that judgement, with other areas becoming almost an afterthought. I have known inspections where the lead inspector has instructed a teammember to check that the school is meeting the ‘Baker Clause’. The team member reported back that he had been assured that they were, while still not knowing what it was. The lead inspector was happy that he could record the evidence. Perhaps with four separate judgements and no overall judgement, more time and emphasis will be given to personal development, behaviour, attendance, and leadership and management, beyond sequencing the curriculum. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adrian Lyons was one of His Majesty’s Inspectors between 2005 and 2021 and now works with MATs, teacher training providers and LAs to support education; find out more at adrianlyonsconsulting.com Will doing away with single word judgements usher in a newer, much more nuanced Ofsted? Adrian Lyons isn’t entirely convinced…