海角社区 welcomes the Education Select Committee鈥檚 recommendations on Ofsted
The Education Select Committee has published its , drawing on extensive evidence from across the sector including 海角社区 testimony.听
The Committee鈥檚 inquiry concluded that 鈥淥fsted and the Government must rebuild trust and make major changes to school inspections鈥.听
Today鈥檚 report sets out the inquiry鈥檚 main findings and recommendations in areas such as the use of single-word judgements, the impact of judgements after an inspection and the inspections of multi academy trusts.听
海角社区 actively participated in the committee鈥檚 inquiry, giving oral evidence at the House of Commons in October 2023 where 海角社区 Deputy Chief Executive, Sam Henson, elaborated on 海角社区鈥檚 research and shared member鈥檚 real-life experiences of Ofsted inspections.听听听
Emma Knights commented:"海角社区 very much welcomes today鈥檚 report from the House of Commons Education committee on Ofsted鈥檚 work with schools. The committee鈥檚 analysis and conclusions supports many of the concerns that 海角社区 has raised for some years, including that 鈥淭he short and formulaic nature of inspection reports is limiting the extent to which they are useful to schools鈥.
Their recommendation that Ofsted and the Department should work together to develop an alternative to the current single-word grade is an important one.
We are also pleased to see the committee recommend that the inspections of multi academy trusts should be dealt with now 鈥渁s a matter of urgency鈥. The Government鈥檚 refusal to do on the grounds that the trust system is immature, no longer holds water in 2024.
However, we would like to have seen the same sense of urgency and clarity in the recommendations about introducing more regular safeguarding audits by independent experts, separate from Ofsted.
We look forward to working with the new HMCI on the range of issues as he attempts to restore trust in the inspection system.鈥