3 Pathways to Excellence

The Recent Heads Roundtable Conference opened up discussion on Accountability Measures and Ofsted. It reminded me of a letter I wrote to Ofsted back in March 2010. I was appalled at the “new framework” of the time, which was introduced in September 2009.  We were one of the first schools inspected. It led to me writing  the TES feature “Diary of an Ofsted Inspection“, and this follow-up letter to Ofsted.

I actually got an invite to Ofsted HQ for tea and biscuits and platitudes… which was nice (-:

April 2010

3 Pathways to Excellence

Dear Ms Gilbert,

I would like to offer some proposals which I believe would make the current Ofsted framework for the Inspection of Schools more credible in the eyes of the teaching profession and strengthen Ofsted’s core purpose.

The fixation on raw scores and standards within the current framework is socially unjust, morally indefensible and destroying the passion and commitment of many in the profession. There is nothing meritocratic about a selective grammar school, for example, that attains high standards, and is therefore given access to an “outstanding” judgement, being compared to a school or academy in the front line of social change that cannot ever make the elevated raw score grades, by dint of its socio-economic context and the ability profile of its learners on entry. Despite overcoming many more barriers to learning, and perhaps making progress at better than national rates, such an institution would be lucky to get a “good” grade overall except in “the most exceptional of cases”. This is simply unfair.

I personally have no objections to the “raising of the bar” signalled by the new framework. I am happy to be held rigorously accountable within such a framework. However, the framework must be re-designed to recognise and celebrate good and outstanding practice that can be found in some of the most challenging of circumstances. Schools can be good for different reasons, and my proposals allow this to be recognised and celebrated without weakening and resolve or the core purpose of Ofsted, which is to raise system performance through inspection and the identification and dissemination of best practice.

Ofsted must remove the limiting grade system that is exclusively built around raw score performance, and replace it with a series of judgements that acknowledge three possible pathways to excellence: “good” because of high standards (as is the current situation); “good” because of high value added (which is partially acknowledged in the new framework); and “good” because the school is improving securely and quickly against overall year-on-year national improvement trends (this is also partially acknowledged in the current framework).

These proposals represent a relatively small change in the current framework, but the impact on the system will be profound. Every primary and secondary school or academy can therefore aspire to the possibility of a “good” rating. Those that can prove they are good against two out of three of the criteria open up a gateway to an outstanding rating, which would also be right and proper.

If progress is found wanting in any school, then the right to an outstanding, or even good, needs to be probed… but PLEASE, do not base this judgement on the Raiseonline “value added” data, which is a wholly unreliable statistical dogs-dinner of a measure, reflecting a norm-referencing process which by definition holds back 50% of schools at one stroke.

The removal of the concept of “limiting grades” will also enable inspections to highlight outstanding practice (against the new rigorous and demanding criteria) wherever it exists. For example, a “satisfactory” school may have outstanding child safeguarding procedures worthy of sharing.

I believe passionately that every school can be a good school. I beg to consider seriously these proposals, and review the framework so that it enriches and re-energises the green shoots of progress, rather than poisoning them.

Yours sincerely

Marius Frank
Headteacher Bedminster Down Secondary School
CEO Designate ASDAN