The Department for Education announced yesterday that it would keep the one word grading system for schools based on their Ofsted reports. Currently, schools are given single word ratings by Ofsted, as well as a full report. This system came under fire last year when head teacher Ruth Perry committed suicide whilst waiting for an Ofsted report.
These are the categories and what they mean:
Outstanding – The school will receive grade 1 or 2 in every category of the inspection, meaning all aspects of the school are perceived by the inspectors as excellent.
Good – The school may score a grade 3 in one or two categories, but on the whole the school is performing well in most areas.
Requires improvement – Importantly, a school in this category is still providing “an acceptable quality of education and care” but they need to improve in certain areas.
Inadequate – Will have received a grade 4 in most areas. The school is failing to provide acceptable levels of care and education.
Pros of the system:
- Easily understood.
- Give parents a snapshot of a school’s performance, which can be important in deciding where to send a child to school.
- Gives a very small degree of objectivity to the reporting.
Cons of the system:
- Is it really possible to distill a school’s performance into one word, when you have visited for one or two days?
- Like an über rating, anything other than ‘outstanding’ is seen as a disaster, even though that’s not how the system was designed.
- Parents and boards often ignore the full report, which has much more detail and nuance.
- Places staff under immense pressure that is not healthy.
Do let us know what you think? And if you’re looking for schools advice beyond one word, please get in touch.