Over recent weeks it has been my privilege, as director of strategy and engagement at Ofsted, to hear feedback on - and challenges to - our proposed reforms.
I’m hugely grateful to everyone who has completed or has attended events to help us refine and improve our changes to the inspection of schools, nurseries, colleges and other educational institutions.
The feedback we’ve received has already helped us to identify areas that we need to improve - and there’s still time for more feedback if you haven’t yet had the chance to send us your views.
Ofsted inspection changes
We know how important it is to carefully design a process that always puts children’s safety and futures first, while also reducing any unnecessary pressure on the professionals we work with.
As well as the benefit to Ofsted of hearing how we can be better, it has been fascinating and gratifying to engage in discussion and debates about the various trade-offs involved in designing inspections. Perfect in inspections isn’t attainable.
There are myriad competing priorities, as well as the constraints of time and funding. So what is needed is an honest appraisal of how to pragmatically achieve the best possible outcome.
It is no surprise to those of us who work at Ofsted that professionalism and seriousness has been the defining quality of the engagement we’ve had from teachers, lecturers, early years professionals and teacher trainers.
We know that everyone working in education is dedicated to improving the lives of children. And we know how seriously every professional takes the responsibility entrusted in us by parents and carers.
We are grateful, too, to representative organisations for their engagement with the consultation, many of which have already submitted responses. A few weeks ago we received one from the Association of School and College Leaders and now we have received the response of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST).
There are thoughtful suggestions for improvements in each, with some common messages, too.
Our reaction so far
So, what is our reaction to the things we’ve heard so far?
The most important thing to say is we are still waiting to hear all the feedback from the consultation before we make any final decisions. We are duty-bound - as well as legally required - to conscientiously consider every piece of feedback during the consultation.
But that doesn’t stop me from acknowledging some of the challenges we need to address:
- Yes, our proposed approach to grading is too complicated. We’re looking hard at how we can simplify what’s proposed, including considering carefully the feedback we’re hearing on the new top grade of “exemplary”.
- Yes, we’ve committed to looking again at the clarity of drafting between the grades “secure” and “strong”, so there is greater clarity on what we’ll be looking for.
- Yes, we’ve heard both that there is overlap between some evaluation areas and that there are arguably too many evaluation areas. We have had positive reactions to the greater nuance that a larger number of evaluation areas provides, but we recognise there is some simplification to be done.
- Yes, we’ve heard really positive reactions to our emphasis on disadvantaged children and children with special educational needs and disabilities through the creation of an “inclusion” evaluation area, but we’ve also heard from experts about the importance of making sure that support for these children is not treated as a bolt on.
- And yes, we have been learning lots on our test visits (a big thank you to all of the schools that volunteered) about how we can build a rigorous approach to gathering evidence, which involves the lead inspector and school leaders working collaboratively to ensure that we see typical practice.
We know we can improve what we proposed and we are grateful for the feedback. I want to stress the seriousness with which we take our responsibility to the professionals we work with.
We know we need to hear the feedback and challenge being offered. And we need to respond with that same level of professionalism and seriousness.
I’d like to finish where I began. It has been a professional privilege to hear the feedback over recent weeks. I know my brilliant colleagues are taking on the challenges and suggestions to iterate and improve our proposed approach.
That process will continue in the weeks to come as we take account of the thousands of pieces of feedback we’ve received.
Rory Gribbell is director of strategy and engagement at Ofsted
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