MPs have concluded their inquiry into Ofsted's work with schools.
The Committee heard a great degree of concern about single-word judgements, including that they can be seen as reductive or simplistic. It recommends that the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted should, as a priority, develop an alternative to the single-word judgements that better captures the complex nature of a school's performance, and ensure that these changes interact effectively with Department policies. In doing so they should examine alternative systems used inside and outside of the UK.
Whilst there is recognition that the current regulatory system requires clear thresholds for intervention, as a first step the Committee recommends that Ofsted and DfE’s websites should always show the full list of judgements, not just the overall judgement, and encourage schools to do the same on their websites and published materials.
Linked to the concerns over the one-word judgement, MPs said the DfE should assess its policy of maintained schools which receive two ‘requires improvement’ judgements being required to become academies in the majority of cases. Witnesses said this raises the stakes for headteachers who then fear losing their job.
