The Government’s announcement today that single-word Ofsted judgements are to be scrapped with immediate effect will be broadly welcomed by school leaders and teachers. For many, it signals a deescalation of the often fraught relationship schools have with their regulator, and anything which lessens that tension (albeit symbolically) is good news at the start of the new academic year. Even the former Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, agreed that these often blunt judgements had become ‘more of a problem than a help’. The suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry, in 2023, probably meant that such a change was inevitable if a Labour government was elected.
Whether the decision will be as well received by parents is more difficult to gauge: it is generally believed that these four headline ratings (Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvements and Inadequate), along with performance league tables, gave parents crucial and easily understandable information when it came to deciding which school they want their children to go to. Such judgements also helped the Department for Education measure standards across sectors, and act as tools for change. Of course, education is complex, and those working in schools would argue that these judgements were too reductive, and often ignored a school’s contextual factors. The question some will ask is: who is the Government trying to serve? The parents or the teachers?
Look a little closer, though, and you’ll see that Education Secretary, Bridget Phillpson, has not removed all judgements, and nor will inspections be paused, as some headteachers have called for, in order for them to reassess how they adjust to this new approach. Parents will still see grades across the (retained) sub-categories (Quality of Education, Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, and Leadership and Management). So, as with many decisions taken by a new administration, the announcement seems more about ‘the optics’ than it is about driving through lasting, meaningful change.
For once, independent schools are ahead of the state sector in getting rid of single-word judgements. The Independent Schools Inspectorate ditched single-word judgements in the latest inspection framework, and it’s been well-received by schools (again, there is no real evidence to suggest it is equally well-received by their parents). What the headlines haven’t really captured is that schools will continue to be inspected by Ofsted and that the Department for Education will still intervene in poorly performing schools: it will be Ofsted that identifies those schools ‘causing concerns’ (previously ‘inadequate’). Furthermore, from September 2025, parents will be able to read a ‘report card’ on a school, which will provide further details about what inspectors saw during their visit. This is the detail of school improvement that can get lost in the news agenda, but which matters hugely to headteachers.
The tension about how to improve schools, while also keeping teaching unions, school leaders and parents happy, will continue, and may indeed be exacerbated by a Government which is perceived to be more friendly towards unions than its predecessor. The same day Labour announced the abolition of single-word judgements, teaching unions were calling for foundational knowledge – such as learning times tables and basic laws in grammar – to be scrapped in primary schools. Daniel Kebede, the leader of the National Education Union, the largest teaching union, has called for primary schools to ‘prioritise… the wellbeing’ of pupils and ‘put an end to high-pressure government testing’. The same union has called for more outdoor learning and lessons on climate change. Most parents would favour the more traditionalist view of learning than that outlined by Kebede, believing, rightly, that being able to write well and do basic maths are more important than building a teepee.
The new Education Secretary will soon have to decide whether raising standards in schools – something which undeniably occurred under the Conservative government in England at least – can be put at risk from the demands being made by the vested interests of educationalists and politically-motivated union leaders.
It seems obvious to say that schools are run for the benefit of children, not adults, and inspections are a vital part of ensuring that not only are those children safe, but that they learn and get the best grades they are capable of achieving. Accountability is complex, and sometimes the best tools are those that are most easily understood by all. What is not in doubt is that the risks could not be higher. Should the new Government get this wrong, the country will pay for it for a long time to come.
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