Commenting on the Government's response to the Education Select
Committee report on Ofsted's work within schools, Daniel
Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education
Union, said:
“The DfE's response to the Education Select Committee on Ofsted
misses the opportunity to take significant steps towards
meaningful change.
‘The DfE's refusal to accept that single word judgements should
be scrapped will be met with dismay across the teaching
profession. No school or college's contribution to their
community can be summed up in one word only. The NEU agrees with
Professor Walters, Ruth Perry's sister, who wants to build
awareness of how misleading and counterproductive single word
conclusions are. The Committee heard more concerns about single
worded judgements than on any other issue, and recommended that
the DFE should look to develop an alternative that better
captures the complex nature of a school's achievements. There is
no good reason why this isn't happening.
‘A school inspection system should not cause teachers and other
school staff sleepless nights, anxiety, and an urge to leave this
profession. The DFE response to the Education Select Committee
underestimates the impact of Ofsted on school leaders and their
welfare and their health. It's no good investing in
counselling for leaders if we're to continue with a culture and
approach which itself directly generates too much pressure
through unrealistic demands and narrow measures.
‘It is disappointing that the DfE is still wedded to forced
academisation for schools with two negative judgements; this is a
crude formula for a decision that has far-reaching consequences
for schools, given that Ofsted doesn't fairly account for
individual context.
‘We will look carefully at the potentially helpful changes to the
relationship between inspections and safeguarding issues. The
handling of complaints by Ofsted still needs more significant
change to restore any confidence that Ofsted is not marking its
own homework.
‘Ofsted has lost the trust of the profession and needs to be
replaced with an altogether fairer system of school support that
is supportive and effective. Change can't wait because of the
clear links to teacher and leader turnover, which is so
detrimental to outcomes for children and young people, especially
in areas of high poverty”.