Number of failing schools doubles under new OFSTED regime

The number of schools judged to be “inadequate” by school inspectors has doubled in the six months since OFSTED introduced its new inspection regime, while the number of schools judged to be “outstanding” has halved in the same period, analysis by the Times Educational Supplement (TES) has found.

Between September, 2009 and the end of February this year, only 9.2 per cent of schools have been given the top rating, compared with 19 per cent under the old regime, the TES said. Meanwhile, proportion of schools put in special measures or given formal notices to improve grew from 4 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

Primary schools suffered the biggest rise in “inadequate” ratings, with the proportion in this category more than doubling from 3% to 7.3% although secondary schools were most likely to lose their “outstanding” ratings – down from 22% under the previous inspection system to 9.5% under the new regime.

When the new inspection criteria were introduced in September last year, OFSTED claimed that the new system would “raise the bar” and also indicated that inspections would focus more on under-performing schools. Under the new arrangements, “outstanding” and “good” schools have fewer inspections (once within a five-year period), satisfactory schools are inspected every three years while “inadequate” schools are visited regularly until they make the improvements necessary.

However,  Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told the TES that said the idea of the inspections being skewed towards poorer schools did not tally with his experience.

He called for Ofsted to stop revamping the inspection framework. “We’ve got to stop tinkering with the system and have a measure of school performance over time,” he said. “All this nonsense about raising the bar is exactly that - nonsense.”

The TES reported that headmasters were complaining that the new inspection framework provides inspectors with far less flexibility when evaluating schools and is overly focused on exam results and compliance with safeguarding regulations.

OFSTED will publish its official figures next week and said it will not comment on the TES research until its own figures are released.