While we welcome Ofsted’s admission that its proposed reforms to the inspection framework can be improved, the wealth of opposition from across the education sector means it will take more than tinkering around the edges to make the proposed new system fit for purpose.
In fact, so much is wrong that we believe Ofsted should abandon its dash to introduce its changes in inspection practice by the autumn. It needs time to completely review its plans.
There is even a strong case for a total re-evaluation of inspection policy and practice by a commission independent of both the Department for Education and Ofsted.
If the government and Ofsted force these highly problematic proposals through, a major crisis will occur, with an unwilling, disaffected teaching profession losing patience with the situation.
Ofsted has got it wrong
We should not forget that it was the tragic death of Ruth Perry, headteacher of Caversham Primary School, and the subsequent Gilbert learning review that prompted Ofsted to consider making these changes in the first place.
The review, which followed the coroner’s criticisms of Ofsted, clearly stated that the inspectorate needed to change in order to improve its culture and work practices.
However, wrongly, Ofsted decided to concentrate on revisions to its inspection policy and practice that have clearly been dismissed by the whole sector.
That was why, as former senior HMIs very supportive of the principle of inspection, we believed Ofsted’s Big Listen exercise last year had major deficiencies and failed to ask key questions.
So we launched the Alternative Big Listen to offer those working in schools an opportunity to review Ofsted’s current and past performance.
The Alternative Big Listen’s findings were damning: 90 per cent of respondents regarded Ofsted as not fit for purpose. It was clear that Ofsted had lost very significant levels of trust and confidence from those working in schools and colleges.
Ofsted is now consulting until 28 April on its inspection proposals to be introduced in the autumn - a timescale that implies no fundamental changes are envisaged and it sees itself as fit for purpose once its revisions to policy and practice have been put in place.
It is important to note that Ofsted, in its consultation, is not asking respondents to make a judgement on whether each of its main proposals is fit for purpose. Instead it asks for an unstructured comment on each proposal. This approach replicates the weaknesses of the Big Listen and allows Ofsted to focus on the aspects that it chooses.
We have now published the results of our Alternative Big Consultation and again the results are damning. Just one in 10 think the proposals are an improvement on the current arrangements, while 62 per cent believe they are worse.
The results reveal the extent to which the education sector, including parents, is opposed to the inspectorate’s new framework, with almost nine in 10 rating all but three of the 13 reforms unfit, or largely unfit, for purpose.
Respondents also made clear their strong desire for more radical reforms to the way Ofsted inspects.
The worst could happen again
The much-vaunted inspection score card, which has been so vociferously backed by chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver was similarly dismissed by 88 per cent of respondents, who thought it unfit or largely unfit for purpose.
Even though Rory Gribbell, director of strategy and engagement at Ofsted, has said the inspectorate is prepared to make amendments, we retain a genuine fear that without fundamental change another school leader could take their own life.
This should be a wake-up call for the government, let alone for Ofsted. In short, its efforts to rehabilitate itself are faltering and the teaching profession continues to lose faith and confidence in the inspection process and the inspectorate itself.
Professor Colin Richards and Frank Norris MBE are both former senior inspectors
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