New Ofsted grades must be based on sound and reliable evidence

Responding to the announcement that Ofsted will be scrapping the ‘satisfactory’ judgement in inspections ASCL General Secretary Brian Lightman  said:

“ASCL has been critical of the misuse of the word satisfactory in Ofsted inspections for a long time so we agree in principle that the term needs to be replaced with something which more accurately reflects Ofsted’s views. Whether the judgements are sound that determine if a school ‘requires improvement’ is another matter. It will be most important that any school in receipt of the ‘required improvement’ grade will be given the support and resources to bring about this improvement. It is also reasonable to expect improvement to take place within a three-year period. We have serious concerns that no notice inspections will undermine this process.

“Our main concern is about the implementation of these changes. This is the second set of changes to inspection that Ofsted has announced without consultation within the first two weeks of a new inspection framework and a new chief inspector. We have also been told that there will be a further consultation on the future of Ofsted inspections. School leaders need to be able to focus on the quality of provision in their institutions but instead they are being distracted by having to look over their shoulders every day to see what the next announcement is.

“These changes mean that it will be even more important than ever that Ofsted judgements are grounded on a sound and reliable evidence base. The current framework states that for a school to be rated ‘good’, standards must broadly be at or above national averages. Anyone with a basic understanding of maths knows that ‘national average’ by default means that half will be above and half will be below. If the majority of schools are expected to be good or outstanding the whole framework will have to be rewritten, unless the word average is redefined in the way ‘satisfactory’ has been in the past. 

ASCL agrees with the Chief Inspector that children have only one chance to receive an excellent education. We therefore urge Ofsted to consult closely with the profession in order to ensure that the inspection service works with school leaders to achieve that aim.”

17 January 2012