Labour proposes ‘report card’ to exchange Ofsted grades

A Labour authorities will seek the advice of on scrapping Ofsted’s present grading system and changing it with a brand new “report card” for faculties if it wins the following election.

Shadow schooling secretary Bridget Phillipson will announce the transfer on the annual convention of faculty leaders’ union ASCL right this moment, pledging to deliver a few “wind of change to our schooling system”.

Labour would look to exchange the present system, which grades faculties between ‘excellent’ and ‘insufficient’, with a report card which might provide mother and father data on a faculty’s efficiency.

However the transfer could be topic to session with each academics and oldsters.

Phillipson will say mother and father and faculties “deserve higher than a system that’s excessive stakes for workers, however low data for folks”.

She’s going to add that report playing cards will give mother and father a greater understanding of the place a faculty will be higher, and wherein areas it’s is bettering.

Transfer comes amid ongoing scrutiny of system

Current analysis from FFT Training Datalab instructed Ofsted grades have been “not significantly helpful” for folks selecting secondary faculties due to the infrequency of inspections.

In the meantime, polling from Public First in December discovered simply 48 per cent of oldsters know their youngster’s college’s general effectiveness grade.

Labour additionally pointed to analysis by the College of Southampton and UCL which confirmed feminine Ofsted inspectors usually tend to hand out harsher grades for major faculties than their male counterparts.

Faculties Week has additionally reported on issues from the sector over the loosening hyperlink between efficiency outcomes and Ofsted grades.

Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman tried to handle issues over how inspectors arrive at judgments through the Birmingham convention on Friday.

Spielman stated pupil voice was “not one thing which of itself ought to ever result in a judgment” however admitted she had “heard about a few instances the place the weighting may need been maybe a bit heavier than it ought to have been”.

Labour has already pledged to reform inspectorate

Labour has lengthy pledged to re-assess how faculties are graded by the watchdog as a part of proposed reforms.

Ofsted is anticipated to show its focus to highschool enchancment beneath a Labour authorities, with the size and frequency of inspections additionally up for evaluate.

A latest coverage paper printed by ASCL additionally known as for an finish to general graded judgments and for leaders to be advised which educational 12 months they’re as a result of be inspected.

“The subsequent Labour authorities will deliver a wind of change to our schooling system…and drive ahead reform of schooling and of childcare as a part of our mission to interrupt down boundaries to alternative,” Phillipson will say.

“As a result of I’m decided that beneath Labour the main focus will once more return, to how we ship a greater future for each youngster, by way of excessive and rising requirements in each college.” 

Annual safeguarding evaluate deliberate

The get together additionally plans to introduce a brand new annual evaluate of safeguarding, with Phillipson saying the security of kids is just too vital to be left to rare inspections.

It comes after the Everybody’s Invited motion in 2021 uncovered the breadth of sexual harassment in faculties.

A subsequent Ofsted evaluate discovered over 90 per cent of ladies had been topic to sexist language, sexual harassment and on-line sexual abuse from different college students.

However talking in an earlier dialogue, Spielman stated she could be “very nervous about creating a complete separate system” of safeguarding inspections.