Teach Secondary Issue 14.8

The accountability theatre Why Ofsted’s much-vaunted ‘quick fixes’ won’t fix what’s really broken... L adies and gentlemen, please take your seats for tonight’s performance of Accountability Theatre!’ On stage, the role of the government is played by the over-eager understudy who mistakes shouting for acting. Ofsted is portrayed by the cast member who skipped rehearsals, but still insists on taking centre stage. The scenery consists of garish cardboard cut-outs – shiny enough to distract, flimsy enough to collapse under the slightest scrutiny. The house lights dim. The orchestra strikes up and we’re invited to suspend our disbelief, but the audience already knows all the lines. Teachers, leaders and pupils have sat through this play before. And they know exactly how it ends. Same old show The government’s announcement of sweeping changes to Ofsted’s accountability was billed as being intended to reduce the climate of fear within schools. Yet as the curtain rises, it’s become clear that this is just the same old show, slightly rearranged. What leaps out most is the speed of it all. From proposals to implementation, the turnaround has been dizzyingly quick – too quick for meaningful rehearsal, or for the profession’s voices to shape the narrative. It’s not the speed of confidence, so much as panic; a frantic attempt to placate critics and reassure the press. Teachers have been relegated to playing mere background roles, waiting for lines that never arrive. ABOUT THE AUTHOR ‘I, Teacher’ is a secondary teacher, teacher trainer and writer challenging binary teaching narratives; for more information, visit tinyurl.com/ts-ITC or follow @i-teacher.bsky.social This is all especially painful when considering Ruth Perry. Her death should have prompted a wholesale rewrite of the accountability script. Instead, it’s been treated as a momentary tragedy that politicians will invoke for pathos. A life reduced to symbol, rather than a catalyst. That’s not change. That’s spectacle. Audience dissent These reforms promised lighter burdens, more fairness and greater trust, but beneath the monologues lie the same tired tropes. Schools will still be judged by data-heavy frameworks that leave little space for nuance while the real issues – underfunding, staff shortages, ballooning workloads – go barely acknowledged. This isn’t accountability as a form of support. It’s a sword waved menacingly above the cast. And what of the claim that this government has ‘listened to teachers’? True listening means letting the profession shape the script, yet the hurried rollout suggests that this play was written some time ago, with token pauses left in for audience feedback. No wonder reports are suggesting that nine out of ten heads support taking industrial action over the current reforms. That level of dissent isn’t a heckle from the stalls. It’s a full walkout. Too much energy has been spent on tinkering with grading criteria, rebranding reports and adjusting inspection parameters. Things that are easy to quote and simple to present as progress. What remains unseen is the staff exhaustion, the erosion of support for vulnerable pupils and steady, unchecked exit of teachers from the stage. Accountability itself isn’t the villain here. Every production needs structure. But when inspections are treated as the finale, rather than as part of an ensemble, the performance becomes distorted. Schools end up rehearsing ‘Ofsted-friendly’ lines, rather than focusing on what genuinely matters for their students. Empty echoes Without tackling those deep-rooted issues – funding, staffing, workload, wellbeing – these reforms won’t change the lived experience of teachers or pupils. And without that change, all those speeches from the stage will amount to little more than echoes in an empty theatre. What we’re presently witnessing is Accountability Theatre – performed in haste, applauded in Westminster, but hollow at its core. Following Ruth Perry’s death, we should be seeing a more substantive set of changes that honour the humanity of those working in schools every day. So let’s stop performing these inspection rituals and start building a system that’s rooted in trust, support and sustainability. Because otherwise, Ofsted’s accountability will remain as something to be endured, rather than something that can empower. We’ve previously seen Ofsted eventually come to do the right thing, but only after they’ve tried every other act in their repertoire. By the time they get there this time, the audience may have already left the theatre. ‘ 49 teachwire.net/secondary O P I N I O N