Commenting on Fight or Flight? How ‘stuck’ schools
are overcoming isolation, a report published today by
Ofsted, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint
General Secretary of the National Education Union,
said:
"Ofsted identifies the problem of ‘stuck’ schools but
persistently and resolutely fails to recognise its own role in
creating the problem.
"As recent EPI research shows, schools in deprived
circumstances are much more likely to find it hard to get out of
the Ofsted category than schools in leafy suburbs. Ofsted is not
the independent and objective arbiter that it’s making itself out
to be.
"Fear of Ofsted is a key factor in school leader and
teacher flight from these schools. Ofsted judgements routinely
fail to recognise the work of schools in challenging areas with
deprived pupil intakes. Even when these schools are doing well in
terms of pupil progress, Ofsted disproportionately and unfairly
awards them negative grades which can end teacher and school
leader careers.
"The new inspection framework is not fit for purpose. 54%
of the ‘stuck’ schools are either primary or junior, and Ofsted
will be aware of NEU's serious concerns about the ways in which
the new framework is ill-suited to that sector. (1)
"Far from being a force for educational improvement in the
areas that need it most, Ofsted is, unfortunately part of the
problem, not the solution."
Editor’s Note
(1) Letter to Amanda Spielman, 25 November
2019: https://neu.org.uk/media/7531/view
