Headteachers’ leaders have urged Ofsted to take longer developing its new inspections as a survey shows the vast majority of school leaders do not have confidence in the watchdog’s ability to create an effective framework.
Ofsted is set to launch a consultation this month for a new framework for school inspections, which are set to start in September this year as it moves to a report card system.
However, a report published today by the NAHT school leaders’ union shows that 93 per cent of school leaders do not have confidence in the inspectorate to design an effective new inspection framework.
The union is now urging Ofsted not to rush to “meet arbitrary deadlines” and that a “slower trajectory towards the delivery of a new report card and inspection framework in September 2026 would be prudent”.
The recommendations come in a report, which includes findings from a survey of almost 2,000 school leaders.
It comes as a report from the support charity Headrest, seen by Tes, warns that ”restoration of trust in Ofsted is, in reality, approaching the irreversible”.
Ofsted needs to ‘go back to the drawing board’
Although overall Ofsted single-word judgements have been scrapped, leaked draft plans suggest the watchdog would be keeping grades for a series of sub-judgments in its plan for new inspections.
The NAHT survey found that 76 per cent of school leaders say Ofsted needs to “go back to the drawing board” to design a completely new framework and inspection methodology, rejecting a plan to simply “evolve” the current system.
And 75 per cent do not agree with proposals for graded sub-judgements to be part of a future report card.
The poll also reveals support for the government’s interim measures to improve inspection - with 65 per cent saying the removal of headline grades - introduced in September 2024 - will help to reduce the stress of inspection.
And 79 per cent think the government’s “stronger emphasis on supporting schools to improve, rather than a default approach of forced academisation, will help to reduce the stress of inspection”, according to the NAHT findings.
However, 72 per cent oppose Ofsted continuing to give schools graded sub-judgements during this interim period of inspections this academic year.
The NAHT says the findings demonstrate leaders’ expectations of deep and lasting system reform that mirrors the approach taken by other inspectorates that have scrapped numeric grading systems in favour of clearer narrative judgements.
Ofsted is set to launch a consultation on a new inspection framework later this month.
Ofsted report card
In September last year, the Department for Education abolished Ofsted’s overall single-word inspection judgements and announced that from this September they would be replaced with a report card.
Tes revealed last year that Ofsted’s initial plans involved separating teaching and curriculum into individual inspection categories, prompting concern among sector leaders who had seen the plans.
A suggested that the cards could see Ofsted assessing schools across 10 different sub-judgment areas and on a five-point scale.
NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said that some of the interim measures to make inspection “more humane” had been a step in the right direction. But he added that “they clearly do not go anywhere near far enough”.
He said: “Many of the fundamental problems with inspection remain. Our big fear is that the inspectorate has still not properly understood the scale of the reform required.”
Five-point scale ‘landed badly with profession’
Mr Whiteman said that reports of a plan for a five-point scale to replace the existing four-point one “has landed extremely badly with the profession and suggest a paucity of thinking when it comes to the design of a new system”.
He added: “The current system is clearly broken. Now is the moment for a genuinely new approach that gives parents the detailed information they need and addresses the hugely harmful impact inspection currently has on school staff. What we cannot accept is a revised version of the existing system.”
The upcoming consultation on the future of inspection will be “absolutely crucial”, he said.
Mr Whiteman added: “We remain deeply concerned about the current timescales being proposed and Ofsted’s ability and willingness to make meaningful changes based on consultation responses.
“The consultation must be a genuine opportunity to influence the future of inspection and Ofsted must be willing to go back to the drawing board if necessary.”
The DfE and Ofsted have been approached for comment.
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