Reinspecting top schools post Covid is unfair, says teaching union chief

Head teachers fear losing funds if Ofsted downgrades ‘outstanding’ status while recovering from pandemic

HEAD teachers are resisting Ofsted plans to relaunch inspections of “outstanding” schools that have not been assessed for more than a decade.

Hundreds of schools across England have not been examined by the inspectorate since 2011, when those rated outstanding were exempted from re-inspection. But in September, using new inspection criteria, Ofsted started a fresh wave of reporting at some of the most sought-after schools in the country – and thousands of them are expected to lose their “outstanding” status.

The inspections have prompted criticism by teaching unions, such as the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which last week wrote to

Ofsted asking for them to be paused until spring if a head teacher tells them that they are not ready, as many schools are struggling to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Geoff Barton, general secretary ASCL, said: “We don’t think it’s reasonable to go in ‘business as usual’ if the head teacher says they are not ready for an inspection, either because they have hundreds of young people off and dozens of staff off, or because they have been affected by Covid.”

Mr Barton added that a head teacher in Oxfordshire had 20 staff off sick, three in the maths department. “If Ofsted was going to go into that school and do a deep dive into the maths curriculum… it would not be fair. Ofsted have been proceeding even if the head teacher and members of the leadership team are off. That simply is not fair.”

While inspections are resuming for all schools, the risk for those rated outstanding is “very high stakes” as extra funding and opportunities could be lost, Mr Barton added. Under the new inspection criteria, schools will be rated on academic results and whether they have a broad balanced curriculum, and the number of “outstanding” schools in England is expected to fall from 4,133 to roughly 2,000.

King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford was last inspected in 2006, while the Tiffin School in Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, and Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Greater Manchester last had full inspections in 2007.

Mr Barton added: “The important thing for parents to understand is that if their school of 14 years is now ‘good’ instead of ‘outstanding’, it’s because they are being judged in a different way – [but] it will still sting in the community and particularly for the head teacher.”

Dr Mary Bousted, of the National Education Union, said: “If a school says that the circumstances aren’t right for an inspection because they have got 200 kids absent, they just have to stop the inspection.”