Commenting on the release of the Ofsted Annual
Report, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of
the National Education Union, said:
“Amanda Spielman clearly identifies the problems faced by our
schools but fails to identify the obvious solutions to these
problems. Off-rolling, delayed identification and support
for children with SEND, orphan schools left for over 18 months
without a sponsor – all these are symptoms of an underlying
problem which is that the school system in England is fragmented.
“Schools are being left to ‘go it alone’ without adequate
oversight or support. Ofsted, quite rightly, abhors
off-rolling, but refuses to admit its own role in creating an
inspection system which has focused, above all, on data which has
created the pressure on schools to off-role.
“Ofsted deplores the delay in the identification and support of
children with SEND but refuses to identify the decimation of
local-authority funding which has led to the crisis in special
needs which is so catastrophic for children and their parents.
“Ofsted identifies a lack of sponsor capacity, which it concludes
has resulted in schools being left in limbo for over 18 months.
Amanda Spielman says that the current half-way approach for
academisation is not working. She then proposes the wrong
solution – that the Government looks again at incentives for good
schools to convert to academy status – when there is no evidence
that academy conversion improves school standards.
“Devoid of effective ideas to raise educational standards and
complicit in enforcing the narrowing of the curriculum and
teaching to the test practices it now deplores, Ofsted is now an
agency which is distrusted by teachers and school leaders.
“It is time for a new approach to school accountability and
inspection.”
