An examination of Ofsted reports in April shows that 50% more schools declined in grade then schools that improved in grade.
highlighting a drop in the grade quality April also showed that 21% of schools inspected Required improvement or were deemed Inadequate.
To find out why more schools are lowering in grade including multiple outstanding schools. Key events need to be highlighted and to help with understanding this from an education perspective, two teachers from Wray Common Primary School, a Good school agreed to interview.
The Changes to Ofsted:
Mrs Belinda Ellis, 52 has been a teacher for 27 years, having worked at Wray Common Primary School for 7. Miss Jade Jenkins, 26 has been a teacher for 2 years, but both are teachers who have gone through the new inspection framework as Wray Common Primary School was inspected in November 2021.
In 2019 Ofsted announced it would once again be inspecting outstanding schools after placing a moratorium on doing so in 2011 and many Good schools were planned to be inspected around the same time as Good schools inspections are done every 4 years. Till Covid occurred.
at the same time Ofsted also announced it would be changing how it grades and inspects schools with one of the most significant changes being advanced notice: “Previously we used to get a whole week and during that week everything was dropped so I could overprepare. Whereas now the most recent one was literally 48 hours’ notice.” Said Belinda.
The results of the changes:
in the 2021–2022 Ofsted report, the first report after Covid and the new inspection framework was fully implemented, Statistics show that 83% of schools inspected that were outstanding had dropped a grade or more.
and in the month data collected for this article outstanding schools are still losing their grade in 2023 with 5 outstanding schools dropping down a grade.
The changes were also keenly felt by Jade who experienced her first ever Ofsted inspection under the new framework. When asked if she felt shielded from the inspection, she pointed out that she was being supported and if she had messed up partial blame would have gone onto the support but argued she was still a fully qualified teacher and should have the same expectations in standards as everyone else.
Ruth Perry:
the death of headteacher Ruth Perry was ruled a suicide and her family blame her death on an Ofsted inspection that occurred at her school Caversham Primary. The report downgraded her school from Outstanding to Inadequate and Ruth Perry took her life in January 2023.
several factors around the report were blamed for increasing stress immensely for Ruth including that she was not allowed to tell staff of the results and that Ruth had to wait weeks for the report to be published.
Both Belinda and Jade discussed the pressures that headteachers have to face when dealing with an Ofsted inspection: “The result lies with the headteacher, and the senior leadership like at the end of the day it stops with them.” Said Jade.
Belinda said of the pressures in an inspection: “The role of the headteacher is really the pinnacle, that's where it’s coming down to and you can’t micromanage it all. I wonder if in her role (Ruth), I could imagine it being that point of it all falls to me.”
The Response:
The death of Ruth Perry has caused repeat verbal clashes between teaching unions and Ofsted. Particularly when demands around pausing inspections were rejected by Ofsted.
Ofsted has argued that as an organisation it would be against children’s best interests to pause inspections and the one word grading system should remain in place as many parents found it useful and easy to understand.
This response from Ofsted has made several teaching unions argue for the abolishment or radical restructuring of Ofsted as an organisation while Ruth Perry’s sister, Prof Julia Waters, wants headteachers to quit being Ofsted inspectors.
Both Belinda and Jade of Wray Common Primary School highlighted similar grievances with the one-word grade particularly around the fact parents take the grade at face value despite there being a full report behind it.
But with Jade she said: “I definitely looked at Ofsted gradings when applying for schools just because as a new teacher I thought I needed the support.”
While Belinda's experience with the one-word grading system was less positive: “Previously I had been at an Ofsted inspection where it was a failing school and that was a very different experience, because you just knew there was so many potholes and you had worked so hard to fill these gaps and you just knew you still weren't at that level of good.” Said Belinda.
The results of one month:
The results of the month of April are small on the national scale but highlight a continuing drop in schools and their quality of education as decreed by Ofsted.
Amidst continuing debate around the future of Ofsted with political parties and unions arguing over how or if Ofsted should reform the inspections continue.
Schools are continuing to feel the pressure of Ofsted and under the new framework more schools are still continuing to drop in grade then improve.