School ratings such as outstanding and inadequate would be scrapped in England under a Labour government and replaced with a “report card” aimed at helping parents, the shadow education secretary is to announce.
Bridget Phillipson will tell a headteachers’ conference in Birmingham on Saturday that Ofsted’s current system of ratings “is high stakes for staff but low information for parents” because it fails to convey important details about a school’s strengths and weaknesses.
“I am determined that under Labour the focus will again return to how we deliver a better future for every child, through high and rising standards in every school,” Phillipson will tell the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) conference.
Under the current system Ofsted inspectors award one of four overall effectiveness grades: outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate. A rating of inadequate is usually the trigger for a change of management or leadership.
