From November, Ofsted will award inspection grades on a five-point scale – from ‘urgent improvement’ to ‘exceptional’ – across a range of evaluation areas.
The system has been developed to replace single headline judgements which were scrapped last September following the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry.
However, our survey of 1,080 state school and college leaders in England, has found that 65% believe the new system will be worse or much worse for their wellbeing – while fewer than 5% think it will be better or much better.
Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “
It is important to remember that these changes have been brought in following the suicide of a headteacher under the previous inspection system.
“The fact that the majority of school and college leaders believe the new system will be even worse for their wellbeing is therefore deeply worrying.
“
On top of the human toll, there is the fact that this will deter people from becoming leaders and teachers, exacerbating a deep and chronic recruitment and retention crisis.
“There was an opportunity here to make a real difference to the working lives of educators.
“Instead, that opportunity has been squandered, and we’re faced with a continuation of the bad old days dressed up in a new set of adjectives.”
ASCL has repeatedly warned Ofsted and the government that the new system will place enormous strain on education staff as those achieving the ‘expected standard’ will then be under pressure to get ‘strong’ and ‘exceptional.’
We have also raised concerns that the system is likely to be inherently flawed as inspection teams will struggle to reach so many finely balanced judgements in a single inspection reliably and consistently across all school and colleges.
ASCL is now consulting with members on our
Executive Committee and
Council over what steps to take next to impress upon the government and Ofsted the need for a rethink.
Our survey was carried out from September 12-19. Most respondents (80%) were from secondary schools and the remainder from a mix of providers including primary schools, colleges, and special schools. The full results were:
| How do you feel about Ofsted's new inspection system? |
|
|
|
| Very satisfied |
|
|
0.46% |
| Satisfied |
|
|
6.11% |
| Neutral |
|
|
19.07% |
| Dissatisfied |
|
|
36.94% |
| Very dissatisfied |
|
|
37.41% |
| |
|
|
|
| Is the new five-point grading scale across a range of evaluation areas fairer than single-word judgements? |
|
|
|
| Much fairer |
|
|
1.48% |
| Fairer |
|
|
20.74% |
| No difference |
|
|
47.04% |
| Less fair |
|
|
16.94% |
| Much less fair |
|
|
13.80% |
| |
|
|
|
| Do you think the new inspection system will be better or worse for your wellbeing compared to the old system? |
|
|
|
| Much better |
|
|
0.28% |
| Better |
|
|
4.26% |
| No difference |
|
|
30.83% |
| Worse |
|
|
37.31% |
| Much worse |
|
|
27.31% |
| |
|
|
|
| Does the timetable for implementing the new inspection system provide enough time for you to prepare for these changes? |
|
|
|
| Yes |
|
|
6.94% |
| No |
|
|
80.28% |
| Not sure |
|
|
12.78% |