The Guardian

‘We realise the pressure schools are under’

Adrian Lyons was an Ofsted HMI from 2005 to 2021 and is now a consultant supporting schools, academy trusts and teacher training providers

A school leader recently asked me: “Do people in Ofsted not understand the pressures schools are under?” Coming after an academic year in which Ofsted made little allowance for the impact of Covid in schools, the final straw for many was its continuing inspections in the last week of term last year despite an extreme heatwave.

The school leader’s question was a cri de coeur likely to be echoed by headteachers across England. I responded that his majesty’s inspectors (HMIs) all have school experience and do understand the pressures. It is Ofsted’s chief inspector, Amanda Spielman, and her advisers who do not, given their lack of teaching experience coupled with a culture of meeting targets at all costs.

Ofsted is incredibly powerful in the state schools attended by most children. About 85% of schools are graded as at least “good”. For those schools, Ofsted may be an unnecessary burden. The problem is that without inspection it is impossible to know whether a school is good or not.

A couple of years ago I led an inspection of a secondary school that was previously graded as “requiring improvement”. The school’s results were now more impressive, and pupils seemed to be getting a good deal. It was only on the second day of the two-day inspection that we uncovered evidence suggesting a less-positive picture: a significant number of year 11 pupils were being taken off the school’s roll with nowhere else to go. This made the school’s GCSE results look better, and improved the climate for learning. But there were totally inadequate checks on whether the pupils taken off the roll were safe, or even alive. So an expected “good” grade instead became “inadequate”.

Does Ofsted do enough to ensure inspectors always act professionally? No. Is Ofsted’s focus on a narrow range of subjects and a shallow interpretation of cognitive science helpful? Absolutely not.

But most importantly, is inspection a vital champion for parents and especially children? Yes. That is why, despite my criticisms of Ofsted, I still believe in inspection.

National | Schools

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2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://guardian.pressreader.com/article/281767043473499

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