The former chief inspector of schools Sir Michael Wilshaw has poured scorn on Ofsted’s judgment that almost nine out of 10 state schools in England are “good”, describing it as “complete nonsense”.
According to the latest official statistics, 88% of schools were judged to be either “good” or “outstanding” by the schools inspectorate as of the end of last December, but Wilshaw told MPs that having visited some of those awarded a “good” rating by Ofsted, he did not agree.
Wilshaw, a former headteacher who led Ofsted between 2012 and 2016, was giving evidence to MPs on the Commons education select committee which is holding an inquiry into Ofsted’s work with schools.
One of the issues MPs are looking into is Ofsted’s use of headline judgments which label a school outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate at the conclusion of an inspection.
Headteachers say the classifications are too simplistic, and the Labour party has pledged to replace them with a report card system.
Wilshaw said he thought the days of the one-word judgment were coming to an end. “I was a big supporter of it,” he told the hearing on Tuesday, “but I’m not any more. They are not giving parents an accurate picture of what’s happening in schools. It’s providing parents with false comfort.”
He went on: “Ofsted says that nearly 90% of schools are good. That’s nonsense. That’s complete nonsense. Having seen some of the schools judged good over the last few years, I would not say [they] were good.
“When I’ve been in to some of these schools and then I’ve seen the [Ofsted] report, I’ve felt like going to Specsavers and getting another pair of glasses because they were not good and it’s giving false comfort to parents.”
Wilshaw also accused Ofsted of moving too far away from data and he said inspection judgments were becoming much more subjective.
“We’ve got the ridiculous position of schools with really low progress scores – minus progress scores – and terrible outcomes getting a good judgment.”
According to Ofsted, the proportion of schools judged good or outstanding was unchanged at 88% since August 2022 when it increased from 86% the year before. The proportion of good and outstanding primary schools has increased from 89% to 90% since August 2022, whereas for secondary schools the proportion has remained unchanged at 80%.
The work of Ofsted has come under intense scrutiny since the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. Her family say Perry killed herself after a “devastating” Ofsted inspection. Her death is the subject of an inquest due to take place next month.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “One-word inspection grades succinctly summarise independent evaluations on the quality of education, safeguarding and leadership, which helps to give parents confidence in choosing the right school for their child.”
