Edmund Barnett-Ward

Christine Gilbert set to be appointed Ofsted chair Ex-chief inspector set to be announced today, as report card consultation response delayed until September

Christine Gilbert's review of Ofsted's response to the death of Ruth Perry had a ludicrously narrow scope, ignoring the events that led to Ruth's death, but she has proven her ability to provide challenge to the inspectorate which I hope she continues. schoolsweek.co.uk/christine-gi....

Ofsted must do better, they have to listen harder, and most importantly, they have to respond appropriately. Despite numerous opportunities, what the coroner said in 2023 is still true today: “There is a risk of future deaths if there is only lip service paid to learning from tragedies like this.”

So, Julia Waters can, on the one hand, be recognized for her fight against Ofsted, a public body refusing to acknowledge its failings—while the exact same body proudly launches an initiative that does exactly that: ignores its own failings…

Julia was struck by the common threads that linked all of these institutional failings - public bodies lying, denying, deflecting, withholding information, victim - and family - blaming. Defending institutional reputation rather than finding truth or preventing future deaths...

Julia was invited along with other representatives of people whose lives have been affected by systemic failure; Hillsborough, Grenfell, infected blood etc. They met with ministers and senior civil servants to outline what they would like to see from the Hillsborough law…

Do you know what Ruth Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, was doing on Monday when Ofsted launched the consultation on their proposed reforms? She was taking part in another consultation; the Hillsborough Law Family Listening Day…

This is the heart of the problem: we are all reasonable people making a reasonable case that school accountability should work without causing undue stress. We can, and do, highlight system failings that create stress, yet we’re repeatedly met with an unreasonable response…

I challenge anyone to watch last year’s select committee hearings (see my shared media) and say unions want anything more or less than a fair, consistent, and transparent accountability system—with proportionate consequences and a robust, independent complaints process…

I struggle with the modern tendency to assume bad faith. Some dismiss unions as if every concern is a grift, a play to hoodwink society, but unions are society—our friends, neighbours, and those we trust with our children. When did legitimate grievances become so hard to hear?...

I listen to the union leaders because they are mandated to represent nearly the entire teaching profession. If they are concerned, I am concerned — if they are concerned then we all should be concerned...

I’m just a parent who appreciated the wonderful headteacher at my children’s school—that’s my stake in this. I’m speaking out against something I believe to be wrong, but I, myself, am open to being wrong. This is why I always listen to and engage with anyone who has an opinion…

Pepe Di’lasio of ASCL was dignified and forthright on the World at One, “Ofsted and the government appear to not have learned anything over the last twelve months.” Dr Patrick Roach of NASUWT underlined the importance of the need to provide “better support for schools”…

Paul Whiteman of the NAHT said “It is important that the government makes a clean break from the past and avoid using the same old tired tropes”. The NEU’s Daniel Kebede summed the situation up perfectly when he said “you don’t fatten the goose by weighing it more”…

In January, on the anniversary of Ruth Perry’s death, Julia (Ruth’s sister) and I met with the heads of all teaching unions. It’s both distressing and reassuring that EVERY union has raised concerns about the proposed inspection framework changes since Monday…

Thank you Liam!

The savage irony of Ofsted identifying, in these proposals, the defining qualities of an institution that fails in its duty of safeguarding as one where “There is a closed culture. Leaders are not open to challenge and/or do not learn from issues or incidents.”

The Big Listen, failed to even consult on single word/phrase judgements but provided text boxes respondents used for that purpose, the consultation does, at least, invite all of us to say exactly what is wrong with the proposals and we all should do so…

I say, resist Ofsted's 'new' proposals with every fibre of your being and respond to this consultation…

There is no evidence that Ofsted has looked at alternative models of inspection and monitoring. The ‘new’ proposals all stem from the same, tired formula; the assumption that they can only fulfil their duties by going into schools and finding faults…

I cannot believe any mental wellbeing professionals or suicide prevention experts have looked at the glorified traffic-light system Ofsted proposes and concluded that it is the safest and best system of school accountability…

As with the Big Listen, questions surrounding the proposed changes are generally ineptly framed with only a cul-de-sac of possible answers. The question regarding the 5-point scale, for example, only asks ‘what is the best point-scale’ not ‘should we even use a point-scale’…

‘Limiting judgements’ return. Ofsted provided sample ‘toolkits’ which explain inspection grade criteria. “If inspectors consider any standards for a particular evaluation area to be ‘causing concern’, then the overall evaluation area will likely be graded ‘causing concern’.” …

The layout focuses attention on what is wrong not on what is good (we read left to right in English and the table is presented from left to right; what is wrong to what is right). So, the first information you read is the most negative aspect of the evaluation…

‘Secure’ replaces 'good’ and ‘exemplary’ replaces ‘outstanding’ the new grade ‘strong’ falls between ‘good' and 'exemplary’. There may be one more descriptor, but it is essentially the same method of reporting…

The new system of reporting inspection findings is the old system with a new coat of traffic-light paint. The grades are the same but run through a thesaurus; ‘causing concern’ replaces ‘inadequate’, ‘attention needed’ replaces ‘requires improvement’…

What is being assessed may be clearer but there are no improvements to the way in which complaints about inspection judgements are dealt with. As with inspector conduct, there is no independent adjudication for disputing an inspection’s conclusions...

There are commitments to make inspections more fair, consistent and transparent, delivered in an atmosphere of “professionalism, courtesy, empathy, and respect” but there are no improvements to the way in which complaints about inspector conduct are dealt with…

Evaluating the efficacy of the proposed reforms, the central question is “do these reforms remove pressure from the system”? I would suggest rather strongly that they do not…

Each ‘evaluation area’ can be drilled down into for a summary description. So, to be clear, the ‘new’ system is literally more of the same; yes, there is more detail in the reports but there are also more points to the grading system, and more areas to the headline grades…

The single-word summation of a school is history. The ‘key judgements’ have been replaced with more ‘evaluation areas’ graded using a five-point scale and represented visually on a colour coded table, with Safeguarding being evaluated separately as being ‘met’ or ‘not met’…