ASCL General Secretary Geoff Barton has today (Saturday) called
for a halt to all routine Ofsted inspections of schools and
colleges during the coronavirus emergency.
Speaking to delegates at the association’s annual conference in
Birmingham, Mr Barton said:
“At this time of national emergency, schools and colleges are
devoting all of their time and all of their energies and all of
their resources to keeping calm, to carrying on.
“They are preparing contingency plans in the event of closures.
“And they are doing this at a time of unprecedented pressure with
staff often away and self isolating in greater numbers all the
time.
“This is not a time for business as usual. It’s not a time for
business as usual for Ofsted.
“This is a time for the inspectorate to show that it understands
the extraordinary pressures on schools and colleges and for the
government to suspend all inspections during this crisis.
“We acknowledge that Ofsted has taken a step in the right
direction by accepting that the current situation may be a reason
for an inspection to be deferred.
“However, it has not gone far enough. A case by case basis is not
good enough.
“It simply cannot be right that schools and colleges are judged
in a high stakes manner in these extraordinary circumstances at
all.
“The only caveat to this would be if there are specific
safeguarding concerns in an educational setting which Ofsted must
obviously check.
“Aside from this scenario, however, we are calling on the
government to call a halt to all routine inspections, to enable
schools and colleges in a national mission to focus on supporting
their students.
“We have Ofsted national director Sean Harford here this
afternoon and we will be raising this matter directly with him,
and in person with the Secretary of State on Monday.”
