MPs fire warning shot over Ofsted expansion and impact on schools and local authorities

The growth of Ofsted is putting the schools inspection body at risk of becoming an unwieldy and un-coordinated organisation, while schools continue to be subjected to a "bewildering array" of new initiatives, MPs warned this week.

In its School Accountability report, the Children, Schools and Families select committee described the government’s New Relationships with Schools policy as a laudable attempt to simplify the school accountability system, particularly in relation to inspection.

“However, the government has continued to subject schools to a bewildering array of new initiatives and this has in many ways negated the good work started in New Relationships with Schools,” the committed said.

The MPs also criticised the government’s 21st Century Schools white paper as signalling ever-greater complexity in an already complex system of school accountability and improvement initiatives. “There is a real danger that schools may become overwhelmed by the intricacies of the proposed reforms and that school improvement partners and local authorities may not have sufficient time or resources to mediate effectively between schools and the myriad providers of school improvement support,” they added.

Other key findings include:

• The government should reconsider proposals to place additional statutory duties on governors;
• There should be a model of accountability which encourages and supports schools towards a meaningful, continuous self-evaluation process;
• Local authorities should be more involved with monitoring, supporting “and, where necessary, intervening” in school budgets and finance;
• Partnership working between local authorities and all schools in the local area is a valuable means of providing support and spreading best practice;
• The government should be sparing in the use of its extended statutory powers to intervene in relation to school improvement. “We consider that these powers should be used only in cases where the relevant local authority has failed in its duty to secure school improvement”;
• There was support for the approach to inspection set out in the 2009 inspection framework;
• Ofsted’s role in school improvement should be clarified so that lines of responsibility are made clear to all those involved in the school system; and
• The introduction of the school report card is welcome but it should be tailored to the needs of the English schools system – a single score is unlikely to be accurate either.

The report concluded that inconsistencies in the approach to school accountability and improvement and inconsistencies in the judgements which are made in different parts of the accountability system are “both confusing and damaging”.

The MPs added that the government’s drive to increase the ‘flexibility’ of the system was giving schools and councils significant problems. “Schools and, indeed, local authorities are in sore need of a period of stability so that they can regroup, take the necessary time to identify where their priorities lie and then work, with appropriate support, to secure the necessary improvement,” they said.