A former Ofsted inspector has defended school inspectors as “not demons” but rather teachers themselves who are “trying to do a good job,” as the watchdog launches a major overhaul of its inspection system.
Chris McGovern’s comments come as Ofsted unveils proposals for a new colour-coded report card system with a five-point grading scale, set to replace the current single-word judgements.
Speaking to GB News, McGovern said: “The campaign for Real Education has always supported inspections. We think that they’re there for children, after all, and we do need accountability.
“Sometimes we forget that these inspectors who go into schools, they’re not demons, they’re just teachers themselves. Most of them are senior staff staff members.
Chris McGovern said that he supports his colleagues on the new rules
GB News
“On the whole, they do a very good job. Also, if there’s a criticism of Ofsted, it is that they’re too generous. I know we’ve had this terribly tragic incident of a headteacher taking her own life, the old truism is that hard cases make bad laws.
“I don’t think we should be changing too much. I agree to some extent the new system is a bit complicated.
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“If I had my way, what we would do is look at the different areas of a school’s life and think there are nine at the moment and we would mark out of ten and then transfer that into an overall percentage.
“So you’d have not good, bad or excellent or whatever. You’d have a percentage. That’s what I would do.
He added: “I think we definitely need inspections. We do need accountability. They’re there for the children. And often inspectors are just ordinary people.
“Sometimes they get it wrong, but they’re trying to do a good job. So I will support my colleagues in this one.”
Ofsted has unveiled a proposal for a new colour-coded report card system
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Ofsted has launched a 12-week consultation on its new inspection model, which will run until April 28.
Under the proposals, schools in England will receive ratings across multiple areas using a colour-coded system, from red for “causing concern” to various shades of green for higher ratings.
The new format will replace the previous four-grade system of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate, which was scrapped last year.
The reforms come after widespread criticism of the inspection system following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Chris McGovern said ‘we need accountability’
GB News
Schools will be evaluated and graded across at least eight areas, including leadership and governance, curriculum, teaching, achievement, behaviour, attendance, personal development and inclusion.
Each area will receive one of five ratings: “causing concern”, “attention needed”, “secure”, “strong” or “exemplary”.
Safeguarding will be assessed separately as either met or not met.
Schools with early years provision or sixth forms will receive additional separate grades for these areas.