In an interview with The Observer ahead of her speech to the Labour Party conference yesterday, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said that England’s school inspectors were fuelling a ‘crisis in teacher recruitment’ and Ofsted’s rating system does not give parents a ‘clear understanding of how good a school is’.
A Labour government would scrap Ofsted and replace it with a ‘two-phase’ inspection system, under which schools and childcare providers would be subjected to regular ‘health checks’ led by local authorities. Where concerns arose, more in-depth inspections would be carried out by full-time, trained inspectors.
Ms Rayner said, ‘I believe Ofsted measures poverty. It measures deprivation. It doesn’t measure excellence. I think Ofsted has to measure excellence. It’s driving these competitive league tables.
‘I want parents to have confidence that regardless of where your child is educated or what your child’s abilities are, they will get the best possible education. At the moment the current Ofsted system does not measure that.'
She added, ‘Certainly some of the things that I’ve been made aware of, when I’ve gone round schools, is some of the gaming that does on [during inspections]. There is no better judge of whether that school is right for your child [than] by actually physically going into the school and seeing whether the school environment is right for them. At the moment they’ve been weaned off some of that.’
Sector response
The proposals have sparked a mixed response.
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said it had concerns about inspections being done at a local level as it could create a ‘postcode lottery of standards’.
Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said, ‘Parents want to be assured about the quality of care and early education so any proposed changes and new structures must have a clear way of doing this. The safety of children must be paramount. There also needs to be a way of recognising that settings follow national standards and deliver the EYFS curriculum.
‘We need to see more details about what is being proposed to replace the current inspection and regulatory system in England to ensure it meets the needs of children, families and providers. We would have concerns about this being done at a local level as it could potentially create a postcode lottery of standards.’
However, the National Education Union (NEU) said it welcomed plans to scrap Ofsted and looked forward to working with Labour in developing new inspection proposals.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) agreed that reform is needed to the inspection system.
Deputy general secretary Nick Brook said, ‘NAHT’s Accountability Commission did not call for the abolition of Ofsted. The name above the door of the school inspectorate is less important than how it operates. However, reform is necessary.
‘Scrapping the four judgements in favour of something else, which is still easy for everyone to understand, but doesn’t reduce an entire school to a single grade, is absolutely the right thing to do and is something we’ve been suggesting for several years.
‘A light-touch health-check approach for schools that are already good, with a more detailed focus and resources to identify and support those schools that still need to improve, is the right way to go.'
During the Labour party conference at the weekend, Ms Rayner also reiterated the party’s commitment to Sure Start with the delivery of a Start Plus programme to ‘transform lives’, along with its plans to introduce ‘free’ childcare for all two- to-four-year-olds under its National Education Service.
The NDNA argued that there should be no more promises of ‘free’ childcare made to parents and that any expansion plans would need to involve all childcare sectors to ensure its success.
The Early Years Alliance said that the proposals represent a move in the right direction, but warned without a firm commitment to ensure funding matches the true cost of delivery, the sector will struggle to take them seriously.
Chief executive Neil Leitch said, ‘Proposals to create more funded hours and reinvest in Sure Start would mean more children have access to a quality early education. It’s an offer that could transform the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children and should be welcomed by anyone interested in social mobility.
‘That said, even without seeing the detail we can be confident these proposals represent an unprecedented financial commitment to early education spending. And that will concern childcare providers, especially when thousands have closed in recent years, many as a direct result of governments overpromising “free” childcare in elections and underfunding in delivery.'
Government response
Responding to Labour’s plans, the education minister Nick Gibb said, ‘This is yet another sign of the extreme left-wing ideological drift that Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party has taken.
‘Labour are clearly intent on reversing the huge improvements that have been seen, particularly for the most disadvantaged children, by ending academies and free schools. Now they want to stop parents having even the most basic information so that they can make informed choices about their children’s schools.’
