In tandem with the current consultation on
improving education inspection, Ofsted recently commissioned
YouGov to independently survey parents' views of the proposals
for report cards. In a speech to Parentkind today (26 March
2025), Ofsted's Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, will describe
the headline results.
The online poll of 1,090 parents found that 79% of those surveyed
said they already trust what Ofsted says about a school in
inspection reports, and 66% support Ofsted continuing to grade
schools on a scale (10% said they were opposed).
On the proposals currently out for consultation, 78% of parents
surveyed agreed the information in report cards would be useful
to them, and the same proportion said the new cards would make it
easy to compare schools. Meanwhile, 86% said report cards were
easy to understand and 84% found the use of colour coding
helpful. Overall, two thirds of participants (67%) said they
prefer the new report cards over current inspection reports,
while just 15% said they preferred the current reports.
When asked which of the 11 proposed evaluation areas for schools
they considered to be the most useful, approximately half of
parents ranked behaviour and attitudes highest (51%), followed
closely by personal development and well-being (48%), then
safeguarding (41%) and achievement (35%).
In his speech to Parentkind today, Ofsted's Chief Inspector, Sir
Martyn Oliver, is expected to say:
The changes we're proposing will do things differently. We will
report on a much wider range of areas. Things that matter to
parents. Things like behaviour, achievement, attendance, teaching
and the curriculum, leadership and governance, and inclusion –
really looking in detail at how schools make sure their pupils
all have a sense of belonging, especially those who are
disadvantaged, vulnerable, or have special educational needs. For
each area, parents will be able to see a clear grade, and a
description of what we found when we inspected the school.
Report cards will help give a more balanced picture of schools.
Because the best schools aren't perfect and have areas where they
could do better, and the schools which might be seen as ‘weaker'
will have aspects of their work that they do really well. In that
way a school's report card will be much closer to a child's
school report. Going back to my art teacher days, the one-word
grade paints a monochrome picture of a school, we want to paint
it in colour.
Sir Martyn will conclude:
Above all, we hope this approach will drive ever higher standards
for children. It will give schools an independent and expert
assessment of what they're doing well and where they could
improve. It will validate, assure, and celebrate their hard work,
and shine a light on how they can do even better.
And it will help parents meaningfully engage with the school on
the issues that need attention. Sometimes, it may validate your
concerns, other times it may reassure you that an individual
experience is not the norm.
Of course, what I've set out today are our proposals, they are
not set in stone. I'm sure there are things that could be better.
Things we could refine. But we are encouraged that parents seem
to support the broad approach that we have set out.
The full results of the YouGov research will be published
alongside Ofsted's response to the consultation in early summer.
Notes to editors
-
Parentkind is one of the
UK's largest federated charities. It has supported parents
and schools to build strong and supportive school communities
for almost 70 years and has a network of more than 23,500
schools, parent teacher associations (PTAs) and parent
councils.
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The total sample size for the survey was 1,090 parents.
Fieldwork was undertaken between 5 to 11 March 2025. The
survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted
by age, marital status, social grade, gender and region. It's
representative of all parents in England (aged 18+ and
excluding parents in education).
