Ofsted inspections are deeply flawed and the system is broken and clearly unfit for purpose—but we seem to be trapped in it as a profession, as making improvements requires us to get heavily involved ourselves, at a time when we are struggling to recruit and retain staff and there is constant crisis management.
However, I believe that with a few changes, the inspection process could actually become a force for positive change, with institutions and heads having ownership and agency over the process.
How can we compare a small village primary school with a large sixth form college? How can we compare schools in very deprived areas to those in leafy, rich suburbs? These are all very different institutions facing very different problems, and that needs to be recognised within the framework. Curriculum for a challenging school may well look different to a top-performing school, and rightly so.
For anyone who has watched Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares, you will know that when he goes into a struggling restaurant, the one piece of advice he almost always gives is to reduce the size of the menu – do a few things and do them well. This is sage advice for schools which may be struggling, whereas schools which have some success should be looking to offer more – expand their curriculum or extra-curricular provision. There is no way a ‘one-curriculum for all’ model fits everyone.
