Responding to the Public Accounts Committee’s report on
Ofsted, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the
NASUWT – The Teachers Union said:
“The NASUWT has always been clear that inspection has a critical
role to play in a genuinely meaningful system of school
accountability.
“Schools should be subject to inspection, but they should always
be inspected on the right things in the right ways.
“To ensure that this fundamental test is met, it is critical that
the inspectorate is given the resources and staff it needs to
fulfil its functions effectively. However, the Government’s
policy in this area over the past decade has been entirely wrong,
based on slashing Ofsted’s budget without any reference
whatsoever to the wide range of important responsibilities that
it has to discharge.
“The inspection framework is due to be revised in the autumn of
2019. This presents a valuable opportunity to consider the
fundamental objectives of inspection and adopt a new conception
of inspection and accountability which recognises the full
breadth of a school’s contribution to the lives of its pupils and
which genuinely supports schools to continue to improve and
succeed.
“However, for this process of revision to be meaningful, the
Government must also give a commitment that it will make
sufficient resources available to Ofsted so that its activities
in future can be guided by the principles of effective inspection
rather than by the limits of an inadequate budget. As the PAC has
made clear in its report, this is vital to ensuring the
inspectorate can retain the confidence of parents, the school
workforce and the wider public.”
