Ofsted should ditch graded judgments and replace them with a “narrative description” of a school’s strengths and weaknesses, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has said.
In a policy discussion paper published today, the union also said schools should be told in which year they’ll be inspected (see full proposals in box
below).
Longer-term changes should include separate inspection frameworks for different school phases, while safeguarding and health and safety should be checked through light-touch annual audits, the union said.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said graded judgments were a “woefully blunt tool to measure performance”.
