Community: the union for education and early years professionals has welcomed Ofsted’s announcement (12 June 2023) of changes to its school inspections. These include revisiting schools graded inadequate over child welfare within three months, and regrading them if concerns have been addressed; undertaking a consultation on its complaints system, and providing more details of when schools will be inspected, and what is expected in measures to keep children safe.
National Officer Helen Osgood said:
“Whilst we welcome today’s announcement, as a first step in the right direction, these measures don’t go far enough to reform a blunt and sometimes brutal inspection process that is not fit for purpose.
“Ofsted’s culture needs to change from punitive to supportive.
“There must be an end to one-word outcomes. Headline outcomes do not tell the whole story of a school and the hard work that goes on in it on a daily basis.
“It is tragic that somebody had to lose their life before anything was done to reform the system.”
Further information
Community:
- has been calling for the inspection system to be reformed;
- believes that inspection – in its current form – is not fit for purpose;
- believes that inspection should work for the school community and provide the necessary improvement advice;
- wants to see an end to one-word outcomes; and
- will continue to work with the government and the inspectorate to achieve these goals.
Community’s letter to the Secretary of State in in response to the death of Ruth Perry (March 2023)
The response from the Secretary of State (May 2023).
Ofsted:
Changes made to school inspections – Ofsted (12 June 2023)
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