Commenting on the government's response to the recommendations
for Ofsted reform made by the Education Committee, Paul Whiteman,
general secretary of the school leaders' union, the NAHT said:
“Today's government response to the select committee report
completely fails to recognise the strong consensus that Ofsted's
inspection model is broken.
"It smacks of a government that is out of touch with parents and
professionals alike. The government's defence of discredited,
simplistic, and reductive single-word or phrase judgements simply
perpetuates an inhumane and unreliable inspection system that is
driving a mental health and well-being crisis across England's
schools.
"Single-word judgments do not 'provide significant benefit' –
they are deeply harmful and must be scrapped entirely. Last
year's tragic events showed that, and we cannot rule out
something awful happening again in future if the inspectorate
does not change. Should such a horrific situation occur, it will
be ministers who need to answer for the decisions that have been
taken.
“To bring interim relief, and pending a full review of the
inspection framework, methodology, and reporting arrangements,
the Department for Education should permit Ofsted to extend the
notice period to approximately 48 hours, publish all training
materials, and publish a narrative report, without grades,
setting out a school's strengths and areas for development.
“For leaders and teachers, safeguarding is paramount. We are
clear this should be removed from periodic inspection in favour
of an annual assessment, possibly to be conducted by local
authorities.
“We also need to see academies treated in the same way as other
bodies – there should be trust level inspections, and there
should be no direct link between inspection and academisation.
“We have always been clear that Ofsted must take a more human
approach – and were pleased that Sir Martyn Oliver began his
tenure by introducing initial measures such as mental health
training and is now taking time to listen to leaders and teachers
about the changes required.
"We support his calls for more funding from the department, which
should be used to drive forward the fundamental and far-reaching
reforms that the inspectorate desperately needs to make.”
