A Conservative majority government will give Ofsted greater
powers and more money to improve discipline in classrooms and
bolster school standards, under new plans revealed today.
With 85% of children now in schools rated good or outstanding by
Ofsted – up from 66% in 2010 – and the majority of parents
relying on Ofsted judgements to give them the information they
need to find out about their child’s school, these measures will
ensure Her Majesty’s Inspectorate have the resources and powers
they need to ensure standards in our schools remain high.
The package of measures will include:
-
Longer inspections to be sure of the full breadth of a
school’s activity. We will Increase the length of
inspections in secondary schools and large primary schools from
two to three days – with the extra day focused on behaviour,
bullying and the school’s extra-curricular offer including
sport and Physical Education to reassure parents that all
aspects of their child’s school are properly evaluated.
-
No-notice inspections to ensure inspections truly
reflect the day to day experience in schools. We
will pilot a ‘no-notice’ inspection scheme where the
requirement to notify schools at lunchtime the day before is
waived so that parents know the Ofsted rating of their child’s
school is a true reflection of its quality.
-
£10 million additional funding to back
Ofsted. This money will support the training and
deployment of more inspectors.
-
End of outstanding exemption. We will
change the rules so that outstanding schools are also subject
to routine inspections. This will give parents total confidence
that the best schools really are delivering the highest
standards.
The move contrasts with Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto plan to abolish
Ofsted and leave local politicians to mark their own homework
when it comes to the quality of schools. This would lead to 152
different systems making it impossible for parents to compare
schools and make the right choices for their children.
Prime Minister said:
“In the past decade, the hard work of teachers and our school
reforms have meant record numbers of children in good or
outstanding schools - more children having a good education and
learning the knowledge and skills they need to go on and live a
fulfilled life. Now, in the decade to come, these plans along
with the additional £14 billion that we are putting into our
education system will help to keep that number rising.
“But there is something else we need to do so that we can really
focus on making our schools the best in the world – end the
gridlock in parliament and get Brexit done.
“That’s the real choice at this election: a Conservative majority
Government that sorts Brexit and unleashes Britain’s true
potential. Or in Number 10, prolonging the
paralysis with more Brexit delay and the chaos of two more
referendums, and preventing the country from getting anything
else done.”
Secretary of State for Education said:
“Ofsted is an independent and trusted source of information for
parents and teachers and their inspections help to raise
standards in our schools.
“But Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour want to scrap Ofsted, meaning parents
won’t have reliable information about the performance of their
child’s school. Without independent inspections school standards
would fall and our children would be less safe.
“A Conservative Government will back Ofsted with more funding to
carry out better and more focused inspections so that parents
have more reliable information about their child’s school, and
school standards are driven up across the country.”
