Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver and chair Christine Gilbert were grilled by MPs on Parliament’s education committee today ahead of next month’s rollout of new-style inspections and report cards.
Here’s what we learned.
Consultation response was ‘transparent’
Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden pressed Oliver on Ofsted’s refusal to publish a breakdown of the 6,500 consultation responses it received regarding new “report card” inspections.
Unions have criticised the decision to provide only a narrative summary as “deeply problematic”.
Voaden cited findings from the “alternative big consultation” – a smaller carbon copy of the consultation, run by a group of former HMIs – which found just one in 10 people viewed Ofsted’s proposals as an improvement on the current framework.
She described this as “a pretty damning verdict” and asked if Ofsted chose not to publish its own consultation responses, because it received similar findings.
Oliver rejected this, saying: “I think we have published openly and transparently the views that were expressed to us.
“We set out really clearly the negativity that we heard against what we proposed to consult on.”
He added the finalised framework “has changed in so many ways” since consultation.
Requests for a “granular breakdown”, he said, reflected a “fundamental misunderstanding of what a consultation is”, adding that “it’s not a plebiscite or a vote”.
Union tensions a ‘concern’
Oliver said the fact the new inspection framework has failed to win confidence of teaching unions “does concern me”, but going forward he “takes confidence” from the response of “those who’ve actually experienced an inspection” under the new framework “as opposed to those who are theoretically looking at the toolkits”.
“Those in the test visits, all of the challenges that they raised, which allowed us to refine our approach for the final consultation, have come forward and said, you know, this feels better,” the chief inspector added.
But he was not able to say whether Ofsted will publish its analysis of pilot inspections that are currently underway.
Today, the Association of School and College Leaders shelved plans to ask leaders to quit as Ofsted inspectors but has now vowed to “explore legal action” against the reforms.
Headteachers’ union NAHT has already filed a legal challenge against Ofsted’s reforms in the high court.
Ofsted complaints go ‘further than almost all regulators’
Gilbert, who published a damning review into Ofsted’s response to Perry’s death before becoming chair, said progress has been made by the inspectorate.
She described Ofsted’s new complaints processes as “much more human” and “far better” than it used to be. “The terrible tales I heard when I was doing the review … that does happen now, you can talk to a person.”
But she said looking at making the process independent from Ofsted is “really key”.
“I’ll look at the options for… greater independence in the process, and we’ll come back to that hopefully by about February, March time.”
Oliver said he feels Ofsted “go[es] as far and if not further than almost all of the regulators in this country, with dealing with complaints.”
“But do I think we can go further? I think we can.” He welcomed the “experience” and “challenge” Gilbert will bring.
Board ‘will be looking at ourselves’
Gilbert’s 2024 review of Ofsted found the role of its board “appear[ed] curiously limited”, and called for it to be strengthened.
Having now been at its helm for around six weeks, she assured the education committee the Ofsted board “won’t be taking reports, nodding, and saying ‘well done’”. “We will be looking ourselves at…engaging with the sector.”
Meanwhile Oliver said the new framework “removes the ‘gotcha’ moment” from inspections and “will allow complaints to surface during the inspection rather than at the end” when “they’re allowed to fester”.
Inspectors will “talk to the provider and explain what they’re seeing” as they go, rather than revealing a grade at the end of day two.
More details on inspector ‘matching’ process
Oliver also gave insight into Ofsted’s plans to match inspectors with settings they have had experience in.
He said Ofsted had “undertaken what they are confident saying is the largest data set on civil servants, to match their experience and expertise”. He said this comprises “two million sets of data” on HMIs.
He added Ofsted now specified settings when advertising for HMI.
“Each region has looked at its strengths and deficits of experience and it’s advertising to fill that pool. We’re on it,” he said.
MPs also cited the independent wellbeing impact assessment recently commissioned by Ofsted, which found the new framework “does not reduce the pressure on leaders…and is likely to increase stress and workload”.
Asked whether this means Ofsted “has failed” in its bid to reduce pressure on leaders, Oliver said Ofsted has “made very significant changes” to the framework in light of the report.
“I can’t make inspection entirely stress free, any more than exams or tests can be stress free, but I am doing all that I can to make them manageable, constructive and, above all, useful to leaders.”
He added: “We’ve tried to find the most sensible way throughout all of this, and I think the new report card does that. It has an at a glance grade, it has the narrative which the trade unions have pushed for, it has the data, it has the context – it has all of those in the round.”
Oliver ‘corrects the record slightly’ on Caversham inspector
An inquest in December 2023 ruled that Ofsted “contributed” to headteacher Ruth Perry’s suicide. Coroner Heidi Connor said the conduct of the inspection was among the “most important areas of concern”, with some elements of it “rude and intimidating”.
Oliver today backtracked on an assertion he made at a previous committee hearing in January, when he said there was “no suggestion” inspectors involved in the fateful inspection at Caversham Primary School, where Perry was headteacher, “did a bad job or did anything wrong whatsoever”.
He thanked the committee this morning for the “opportunity…to try and correct that record slightly”.
Oliver accepted that “clearly” the coroner found “concerns about the way the conduct” of that inspection took place.
The individual inspector has also “reflected” on their conduct and the coroner’s findings while Ofsted is taking responsibility for “all of its actions”.
The chief inspector later dismissed claims that the inspector has been “promoted”, adding that they were taken out of their role and has been given “a different role and different challenge”.
DWP’s skills takeover won’t impact inspection
The recent announcement that control of adult skills policy will move from the Department for Education to the Department for Work and Pensions is unlikely to have any impact on inspections.
Oliver told MPs today: “At this stage, I don’t anticipate any significant change to our inspection activity resulting from responsibility moving from some policy areas to DWP, I think we’ll manage it carefully.
“We’ve long history. If you think about inspection of prison education, young offenders, we work really closely with the Ministry of Justice. We’re well used to doing this. I think it will be fine.”
ITPs show ‘greatest variance in quality’
Having an inspection toolkit that is “unique to FE” and report cards that grade up to 16 inspection areas will help hold the sector’s independent training providers (ITPs) to account, Oliver said.
Committee chair Helen Hayes said she had recently heard “horror story” reports from a union of an apprenticeship training provider with “unqualified staff” who were using YouTube as a teaching guide and lacked basic safety training.
Oliver responded that while some ITPs have “got some fantastic quality” their inspections also show the “greatest variance” in provider quality.
Speaking about the framework more generally, he said taking away the overall effectiveness grade gives “nuance and complexity” that will help the government “deliver on our ambition to provide the skills needed for an improved economy going forward”.
The chief inspector argued that while the number of areas is large, inspections of colleges are “some of the biggest” Ofsted carries out, stretching over a fortnight with 20 to 30 inspectors.
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