Unofficial consultation on Ofsted proposals draws overwhelming thumbs down from respondents

"Alternative Big Consultation" shows 88 per cent of respondents rejecting inspectorate's plans for report cards.

 

Nearly nine out of 10 respondents to an unofficial consultation on the future of Ofsted inspections felt that the inspectorate’s central proposed change is “unfit for purpose,” its results released today reveal.

Some 88 per cent of respondents to the “Alternative Big Consultation” said the proposed report card system was either “largely unfit for purpose” – 39 per cent – or “unfit for purpose” – 49 per cent.

Meanwhile, nearly two thirds – 63 per cent – of respondents felt that the inspectorate’s proposals would actually make the inspection system worse, with some 38 per cent said they would represent a “considerable worsening”.

This consultation was organised by the former senior inspectors Colin Richards and Frank Norris, following their “Alternative Big Listen” exercise last year. Both had been prompted by frustration from the former inspectors that Ofsted’s official versions had not allowed respondents to give an unequivocal verdict on the current regime and the inspectorate’s proposals for improvement.

There were 708 respondents to the Alternative Big Consultation (ABC), nearly half of whom – 293 – were headteachers, with a further 164 being classroom teachers*.

Professor Richards and Mr Norris acknowledge that this consultation’s respondents were “self-selecting,” but their consultation report argues that “we believe that our ABC sample is large enough, and internally consistent enough, for reasonably valid observations and tentative conclusions to be drawn”.

Ofsted’s proposals, which are scheduled to be introduced this coming September, also include replacing the current four-point grading system with a five-judgement scale, ranging from “exemplary” to “causing concern”.

But this was one of a host of measures put forward by the inspectorate which were rejected by those responding to this consultation.

Some 90 per cent described the five-point scale as “largely unfit for purpose” or “unfit for purpose”, with some 65 per cent simply saying it was “unfit for purpose”.

For all but four of the 12 Ofsted proposals asked about in this survey, respondents felt they were either largely unfit for purpose or unfit for purpose.

Some 92 per cent felt the inspectorate’s proposals for “exemplary practice” – highlighting a school leader’s work as such following inspection, and then inviting them to submit a case study of their work to the Ofsted academy - were either largely unfit or unfit for purpose.

And a total of 89 per cent of respondents rejected proposed changes to the way Ofsted carries out inspections, in terms of, as the ABC consultation report puts it, changing “both how the inspection looks and how it feels, especially at the point of professional interaction and conversation between inspectors and leaders”. This new approach would “stress the core values of professionalism, courtesy, empathy and respect,” removing Ofsted’s current “deep dive” approach to particular aspects of inspection including subject teaching, and “using the available time for more discussion and evidence gathering”.

Worthy as this sounds, nearly 60 per cent of ABC respondents rejected this proposal outright as “unfit for purpose,” with free text comments highlighted by the report including one arguing that this was “just moving the deckchairs around”. “There was a sense that an opportunity for radical change had been lost,” argued the report.

The only aspects of Ofsted’s plans which prompted fewer than 80 per cent of respondents to reject them were the inclusion of more data alongside the report cards – 66 per cent stating they were “largely unfit for purpose” or “unfit for purpose” – the specific aspects of Ofsted is proposing to inspect (70 per cent), its working definition of inclusion (75 per cent) and its research, statutory guidance and professional standards (79 per cent).

This means, though, that on all 12 aspects of Ofsted’s plans presented for consultation here, clear majorities of respondents rejected them.

This consultation also asked respondents to consider a range of possible alternative approaches.

Some 97 per cent of those expressing a view supported the idea that all inspected providers “should have access to a fully independent complaints process outside of Ofsted itself”. **

And some 89 per cent of respondents supported annual safeguarding reviews “by an agency other than Ofsted”.

Professor Colin Richards said: “These findings clearly show that there needs to be a substantial pause to Ofsted’s plans to introduce their changes in inspection practice from the Autumn. Given the lack of support, there is 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…

 “There is a major crisis in the offing should the government and Ofsted force its highly problematic proposals on an unwilling, disaffected teaching profession. The quality of education is being put at risk, as is the sector’s patience and resilience.”

Frank Norris said: “We urge Ofsted to take very seriously the findings of the ABC and to take due account of the opinions expressed in its own consultation. It is clear from our findings that very fundamental changes are needed to the current inspection model to satisfy the legitimate expectations of both parents and the teaching profession.”

Ofsted has highlighted a YouGov poll of more than 1,000 parents last month, which found that two thirds preferred the new report cards to current inspection reports.

Ofsted’s own consultation finishes next Monday, and has reportedly had more than 5,000 responses already. The inspectorate is encouraging people to respond.

*Other categories of respondent were 17 non-teaching staff; 68 governors, 50 parent/carers, and 116 “others”, “including [academy trust] CEOs, former HMI, local authority advisers, general public”. 

**Perhaps, given the scale of unhappiness with Ofsted that seems evident in the profession, this reflects how remarkable it may be that such an independent complaints process is not currently part of the plans for Ofsted reform.