MPs call for Ofsted to be split in two

An influential committee of MPs has called for Ofsted to be broken up into two separate inspectorates dealing with education and children’s care.

A report by the House of Commons Education Committee said: “Ofsted has grown too big to discharge its functions as efficiently as smaller, more focused and specialist organisations might.”

Splitting Ofsted into two would make a marked difference to the value of inspection, the MPs said. Key benefits from the break-up would include improved confidence that inspection is being carried out by inspectors with relevant training and experience, and a boost to Ofsted’s non education remit, which the report said had not been adequately communicated.

The report also called for inspection to be more clearly defined. “From inspectors, practitioners and parents, there is clear confusion as to whether the existing Ofsted is a regulatory and inspection body, or an improvement agency,” it said.

The committee also called for:

• the greater focus on the worse-performing institutions to continue
• the new Education Inspectorate to prioritise reporting on progress per pupil across the full range of ability groups. The Department for Education should give these measures the same prominence as the five good GCSEs and English Baccalaureate
• targets for the percentage of school inspectors who are serving senior practitioners on secondment to be raised. “Too few inspectors have recent and relevant experience of the types of settings they inspect”
• the Voluntary Childcare Register to be reformed as a matter or urgency. MPs said they heard evidence that the current operation of the “register is seriously flawed and, far from providing a reliable system of registration and safeguarding, might mislead parents by suggesting a level of quality assurance that has not been undertaken”
• Ofsted to consider creating two new positions – the Chief Education Officer and the Chief Children’s Care Officer – “to ensure policy is informed by recent and relevant experience”
• Inspection reports to be made more parent-friendly while still containing a greater depth of intelligence useful to practitioners.

Committee chairman Graham Stuart said: “Ofsted’s reach is vast and its remit has grown substantially since its inception, but this has come at the expense of providing a more specialised service. We need a radical shift in how inspection operates in this country, with a more proportionate, specialist and focussed approach."

Stuart added that while Ofsted had made a great impact on the quality of provision across the country, the evidence showed that smaller, more focussed organisations could do “even more so”.

Ofsted Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, said there was much in the report that the watchdog welcomed, “particularly the recognition of the impact of Ofsted’s work, our independence, and the important role inspection plays in improving quality”.

She warned that any proposal for further reorganisation needed to be “very carefully considered” and was ultimately a matter for the Government.

“There are issues about additional costs and a risk of distraction from the core business – namely continuing to deliver high quality, rigorous inspection which helps to drive up standards for children and learners everywhere,” Gilbert argued.

The Chief Inspector acknowledged concerns about the Voluntary Childcare Register and said Ofsted would welcome changes to the legislation under which that operates.