One criticism often made about Ofsted is the consistency and reliability of its inspections. I am currently collaborating with Sam Sims and Christian Bokhove on this very issue and the interest shown in our work has been quite overwhelming.
In my view, this is perhaps the most important part of the Education Select Committee’s ongoing inquiry into Ofsted. It is great to see that they will be taking evidence my colleague Sam Sims tomorrow on this very matter.
But why don’t we know more about this issue? While Sam, Christian and I have tried to push forward research in this area, the evidence base remains far too thin. In fact, there are whole areas – such as inspections of Early Years settings (where judgements are often based upon the views of a single inspector on a single day) – where there is virtually no evidence in the public domain.
Here are my own personal reflections on why this is the case.
