Moves to overhaul the way schools are inspected in England have been criticised by headteachers and teaching unions as “demoralising” and worse than the system they are aiming to replace. The changes by the Ofsted schools inspectorate would replace single judgments such as “outstanding” with a new report card for parents. They will be unveiled by Ofsted’s chief inspector, Martyn Oliver, on Monday alongside the launch of a public consultation. The leaders of England’s education unions have derided key aspects of the proposals, as did the family of Ruth Perry, the primary school headteacher whose suicide after an “intimidating” Ofsted inspection precipitated Labour’s pledge to scrap the use of headline grades.
Yes, this entire effort is driven by the fact one - ONE - teacher, who clearly was in the wrong job and must have had other issues, killed herself.
The new system would grade schools, nurseries and colleges in eight individual areas on a five-step scale, ranging from “exemplary” to “causing concern”, alongside a separate evaluation of whether safeguarding standards were met. Inspections currently look at four to six areas, including safeguarding, on a four-step scale from “outstanding” to “inadequate”. Despite months of discussion by Ofsted, many of the proposals have been rejected as bewildering and ineffective by union leaders, leaving the overhaul in disarray at the start of the 12-week consultation.
If you find this 'bewildering', are you maybe in the wrong job?
But Prof Julia Waters, Perry’s sister, said her fears that Ofsted was incapable of reforming the inspection regime had been justified. “Ofsted’s proposed new inspection model has some improvements but retains many of the dangerous features of the previous system, while introducing a series of changes with potential new risks to the wellbeing of teachers and headteachers,” Waters said.
Screw their 'wellbeing', they are there to do a job, and if they feel aggrieved at being judged on how well they do it, so what? We are all judged accordingly.
