Responding to Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver’s launch
of the ‘big listen’ and the focus on championing high standards
for all children, especially the most disadvantaged and
vulnerable, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of
School and College Leaders, said:
“We welcome the ‘big listen’ as an important step in resetting
the broken relationship between Ofsted and the schools and
colleges it inspects. It is vital that the inspectorate wins back
the confidence of leaders and teachers who at present regard it
as unnecessarily harsh, punitive and inconsistent. Sir Martyn
Oliver has already signalled a change of tone, and this has been
well received – but the proof of the pudding is in this
translating to a better and fairer system.
“The focus on putting the interests of disadvantaged children at
the heart of the future reforms is also very welcome. This is a
huge priority for school and college leaders and their staff
already. It is important that Ofsted shows sufficient
self-awareness that the inspectorate has itself been part of the
problem – because its negative judgements stigmatise schools and
make it harder to recruit and retain the staff they need to
secure improvement for all their pupils, and particularly those
facing the greatest challenges.
“We have repeatedly called for the current system of graded
judgements – where everything a school does is reduced to a
single phrase – to be scrapped and replaced with a narrative
description which is more informative for parents and more
supportive to schools that need additional support. This is not,
however, something that Ofsted can implement but needs to come
from the government. We hope they are also listening.”
