At the 2021 Labour Conference, party leader Keir Starmer pledged to deliver a school improvement plan- Labour’s ‘National Excellence Programme’- which would see a Labour government boost the number of outstanding schools in all areas of the country; recruit thousands of new teachers to address vacancies and skills gaps across the profession; reform Ofsted to focus on supporting struggling schools; and provide teachers and headteachers with continuing professional development and leadership skills training.

 

Here, we present some ideas from members of the Fabian Education Policy Group about how OFSTED might be reformed. These views are informed by a belief that our country’s schools need an inspection service going forward that will positively support schools to continually improve. Research indicates that educationalists improve more when they work in mentoring, coaching and supervision situations with peers and experts.

 

The Context

Ofsted as currently constituted and run belongs to a different era. Rather than continue as just an ‘accountability measure’, the time has come to develop its role and remit, enabling it to offer proper support and structured help for educational institutions. In this way it can become the motor for further improvement.

A reimagined Ofsted or its successor should be more like a ‘critical friend’ to schools and colleges, rather than simply ‘judge and jury’. Indeed, this judge and jury model has not led to widespread school improvement. Those judging schools need to be able to propose remedies, drawn on best practices from around the country and around the world. In short, our inspectors need to be our most knowledgeable educators.

 

What’s the broad aim?

To develop an accountability system, coupled with a knowledgeable and experienced support service, which leads to school improvement, unlike the current Ofsted system.

 

How can we achieve this?

Ofsted in the long term should be replaced with a multi-dimensional approach that is essentially supportive and improvement-focused. This would go a long way to reduce the anxiety for staff (and, it must be said, some students) involved in the present ‘high stakes’ assessment system.

Ideas for revising Ofsted’s PURPOSE:

• Ensure it retains its current general remit to ensure standards, but put equal emphasis on a new ‘support and development’ function. Knowledge sharing would be central to this. This can be done through sharing national reports of excellent practice; webinars on specialist areas of knowledge to support improvement; and engagement with teacher training organisations so that initial and continuing professional development is of the highest standard.
• Develop dependable measures to reassure the government and the public that Ofsted helps schools to improve, and that it delivers value for money.
• Change the focus of inspections and inspection reports: Shift this from simply praising and extolling excellence based on educational performance data. Move to more holistic judgements of effectiveness, based on a wider range of assessment criteria. For example, Ofsted could reward and praise schools for improving pupil wellbeing, and further develop its ways of evaluating the work schools do with the most vulnerable cohorts, such as SEND students and looked after children.

Ideas for revising Ofsted’s REMIT AND ROLE:

To achieve this new and improved function for Ofsted, a national specialist training programme for inspectors will need to be established, which would also be open to headteachers and middle managers. There will be a strong focus on subject knowledge expertise, so that our knowledge about how to teach complex subject concepts to young people becomes world leading. Labour created the National College for School Leadership under the previous administration which was dismantled. A proposed new National Education Leadership scheme would be a virtual university college, drawing on learning sciences research (including in specialist subjects) from around the world.

In addition, we advocate the following measures:

• Split Ofsted into three clear specialist branches: An office for nurseries and early years providers; an office for schools (primary, secondary and special schools); and an office for FE and the tertiary sector.
• Make Ofsted entirely independent of government (as with the Bank of England) to end political interference with regulatory roles.
• Review the current Ofsted grading system. This could either be simply abolished, or replaced with a newer assessment system, based on criteria that better reflect the new and more positive ‘support and development’ culture outlined above.

 

Ideas for changing Ofsted’s IDENTITY:

• Consign the name to history and rebrand the organisation. For many, Ofsted is linked to excess teacher workload and the stress of inspection. Consider a name that is fresh and positive, such as the “National Education Consultancy” or “Education Development Board”. Alternatively, something that connotes respect and a sense of integrity would work well. For example, the National Education Union (NEU) suggests reverting back to the title of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate (HMI).
• Change the tone and language used by- and about- Ofsted, using terms that reflect positivity, progress, co-working, and a growth mindset. The current ‘punishment and reward’ rhetoric is divisive, and reflects a simplistic, anti-teacher, world view.

 

This piece is adapted from a wider Fabian Education Policy Group document: Urgent Priorities- Future Plans. It represents neither the views of the Fabian Education Policy Group, nor the Fabian Society as a whole, but only the views of the contributing authors.