Ofsted has lost teachers’ trust, according to new inquiry

The Beyond Ofsted probe called for “transformational change” and said it found the organisation had a “detrimental impact on schools which some perceive as toxic”.

Inquiry chairman Lord Jim Knight, the former schools minister, said: “Ofsted has lost the trust of the teaching profession and increasingly of parents.

“Our recommendations are designed to restore trust and address the intensification of leader and teacher workload, while reforming a system which is ineffective in its role of school improvement.”

The inquiry recommends that schools could “self-evaluate their progress” and work with an external School Improvement Partner who would work long term with the school. They would validate and support staff to deliver an action plan.

Launched in April, the inquiry responded to calls for the inspectorate to revamp its school ratings system – which uses one-word judgments. It recommends an “immediate pause to routine inspections” to allow time for trust to be regained by the teaching
profession. Ofsted inspections would continue to give feedback to the Department of Education on the impact of Government policies.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “After every inspection we ask schools whether they believe the inspection will help them improve. Nine out of 10 say it will.”

It comes as the Institute for Public Policy Research think tank said “overly simplistic” school inspection judgments often trigger abrupt changes to management.