Ofsted defends school failure rate as official inspection figures show doubling of inadequate schools

Ofsted has defended its new inspection regime as newly released official data for the first four months since its new inspection regime was introduced in September last year show a doubling in the number of schools deemed to be inadequate.

Ofsted carried out 2,140 school inspections from September to December 2009, just over 10% (218) of which were judged to be “inadequate”. Of these, 102 were put in special measures with the remained issued with notices to improve. Under the previous regime, just 4% were given an “inadequate” rating in the academic year ending in August 2009. Secondary schools were much more likely to be described as failing (14% of those inspected) than primaries (10%).

The proportion of inspected schools considered to be “outstanding” also fell sharply in the first four months of the new inspection regime. Just 9% received the top rating, compared with 19% in the last year of the previous inspection system.

Ofsted claimed the higher failure rates reflected a new emphasis on inspecting weaker 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.

Ofsted said: “The findings reflect Ofsted’s sharper focus on weaker schools and confirm that by emphasising the overall achievement of all pupils, in particular their progress as well as the quality of classroom teaching and learning, Ofsted is providing the additional challenge to schools that the new inspections were intended to provide.”

But Chris Keates, general secretary of the teaching union NASUWT, told the Guardian that the results were misleading.

"The outcome that more schools would be deemed inadequate following the introduction of the new framework was entirely predictable," he said. "It is misleading and inaccurate to claim that Ofsted has 'raised the bar'.

"In reality, what Ofsted has done yet again is to move the goalposts. It is the equivalent of preparing to play a cricket match and turning up to find you are expected to do the high jump. Ofsted is losing the confidence of schools, staff and parents by building an inspection system on constantly shifting sands."

Last week Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told the Times Educational Supplement 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.