The government should consider how to capture pupil wellbeing levels as part of plans to reform the accountability system, a think tank has recommended.
An Education Policy Institute (EPI) on reforming the accountability system notes that “there are no current measures of pupil wellbeing available in centrally-collected data.”
Annual surveys of pupil wellbeing are carried out in areas including Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton, and are examples of how this data could be collected more widely, the report says.
The government “should consider how to reflect children’s and young people’s wellbeing” in accountability measures, it adds.
However, it added that if school support for pupil wellbeing were measured, the government would need to consider if the “burden it places on schools is reasonable” and whether the information it generates should be public.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, raised concerns over measuring wellbeing.
“We do not support attempts to come up with measures for ‘wellbeing’ at school level as there is far too much that influences wellbeing which is beyond a school’s control,” Mr Whiteman said.
“While well intended, such a measure is fraught with dangers and the unintended consequences are significant,” he added.
Ofsted focus should be on teaching and curriculum
The EPI report further warned that the current accountability system “does not adequately reflect how schools are now run”.
It said that while Ofsted judges “quality of education” and “leadership and management”, decisions around ”financial management, workforce deployment and the curriculum offer are now often taken at trust level”.
The EPI called for Ofsted’s role to instead be on inspecting the quality of teaching and learning, and a broad and balanced curriculum.
This report comes as Ofsted is due to consult the education sector on its new report card system at the end of the month. The inspectorate has said it will launch school report cards in September this year.
However, NAHT recently called on the school watchdog to delay the new inspection system until 2026 and aim for a “slower trajectory” of reform.
The EPI report supported the rollout of report cards, agreeing that “it is right that the Department for Education and Ofsted are reevaluating how school performance is measured”.
MAT inspections should have ‘flexibility’
The report also advocated for multi-academy trust (MAT) inspections, warning that performance tables for academy trusts are ”aggregations of their individual schools” and do not measure the “impact that the trust has on pupil outcomes”.
It said that the inspection system is “mature enough” for MAT inspections, but any potential framework should have “flexibility” to recognise the different sizes and scales of MATs across the country.
Earlier this month, Ofsted chief Sir Martyn Oliver said that he supported trust inspections, but admitted that there is still a “lot of work to do” to employ more inspectors with trust experience.
The report added that parents likely do not understand how “decision-making is delegated to individual schools”, and trust-level inspection reports should help them understand how decisions relating to their child’s education are being taken.
Performance measures ‘vulnerable’ to ‘perverse incentives’
The report said that performance tables have become both a way that ministers can “signal their values” and “a lever by which they have been able to shape what happens in schools”.
It warned that, even in the best-designed system, performance measures are “vulnerable to the development of perverse incentives”.
When combined with other factors such as funding pressures, this can provide a “disincentive to schools being inclusive for all pupils”, the report continued.
Placing 51 within a “high-stakes framework” can have unintended consequences, such as “incentivising people to hide issues rather than acknowledge them and seek help”.
Labour’s manifesto pledged to introduce an annual 51 check as part of its reforms to the inspection system.
Safeguarding separation ‘welcomed’
Jon Andrews, author of the report, and head of analysis and director for school system and performance at EPI, welcomed Labour’s plans for an annual 51 check.
“We think [51] does need a separation from other parts of the accountability system to ensure all schools receive regular training and feedback,” Mr Andrews said.
“There are of course risks of unintended consequences in any accountability system. But separating an annual check of 51 from a high-stakes inspection may reduce the incentive to hide issues rather than address them.”
In response to the report’s recommendations, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “The need for Ofsted reform to drive high and rising standards for all our children in every school is overwhelmingly clear.
“The introduction of report cards will provide parents with a much clearer and broader picture of how schools are performing.”
Ofsted declined to comment.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered every weekday morning, sign up for the Tes Daily newsletter
