OFSTED - Time for Change? Issues and solutions.

Location: House of Commons Committee Room 12

Date: Tuesday 28th March 6pm-8pm

The Fabians' Education Group extends an open invitation to those interested in contributing solutions to issues within the Ofsted Inspection service in England.

The seminar will be of interest to policy makers, educators, researchers, union representatives, professional and subject association representatives, councillors, education journalists and parents.

Goals of the seminar

Our government and each of us as members of society have a moral imperative to educate our children in the best way possible as the children of today create the society of tomorrow. Currently the accountability model of inspection and particularly OFSTED is under the microscope. Is it fit for purpose and is it 'changing lives' as its remit suggests?

Speakers will address the issues around the Ofsted accountability cycle including:

- Identifying and evaluating approaches to creating reliable and supportive judgements.

- Exploring the extent to which Ofsted creates unnecessary extra work for school leaders and staff.

- Specifically to identify policies/strategies which mitigate the stress and anxiety caused by Ofsted inspections.

- To consider whether Ofsted creates a compliance tick box culture in schools and teacher training institutions

- To consider other possible models of school accountability and teacher training accountability

- To consider to what extent Ofsted inspections have improved schools and children’s education.

- To consider the use of Ofsted as a tool for change by politicians.

- To establish how far the new Ofsted EIF (July 2022) addresses some of these concerns.

Speakers

Leora Cruddas CBE: Leora is Chief Executive of the Confederation of School Trusts. She has advised successive governments and sits on DfE advisory bodies

Naheeda Maharasingam: Naheeda is Head teacher at Rathfern Primary school, Lewisham. She is CCT Network Lead at Rathfern Research hub and steering group lead for race equality.

Tom Middlehurst: Tom is the Curriculum, Assessment and Inspection Specialist at ASCL, leading trade union for school leaders. Tom is a governor and trustee.

Ros McMullen: Ros is a former Executive Head who manages the Heads’ Roundtable and Headrest. She is an Educational leadership consultant.

Professor Marilyn Leask: Marilyn is a former Dean of Education, secondary school assistant head and public servant at what was the DfE arms length body, the Training and Development Agency for schools. She experienced HMI inspections and CPD as well as one of the first Ofsted inspections of initial teacher training when Michael Gove was Secretary of State for Education. She is a researcher and author, having co-edited the Learning to `Teach in the secondary school series of textooks since 1992.

The event will be chaired by: Dr Deborah Outhwaite , Director of Developing Teachers,Schools and academies(DTSA) and University of Liverpool.

Ways of working

Each speaker will speak for 7-10 minutes

Time will be set aside for questions to the panel from participants. Panel members will then have a few minutes to respond to the issues and solutions suggested during the seminar.

Outcomes

A summary of the event will be available on the Fabians website and will be circulated to participants. The outcomes are intended to support any political party in developing accountability processes. Participants should be aware that photographs of the event and written accounts will be publicly available for example on the Fabian Education Policy website and social media.

Securing a place

There is no charge for the event and it is open to all. Places are limited and while some places will be reserved to ensure a balance of experience and perspectives, the remainder will be allocated on a first come first served basis. These events generate considerable interest and a waiting list will be created. Those allocated places are therefore asked to notify the organisers if they are not able to attend at the last minute so that others may take their place.

Afterwards you are invited to continue discussions at the Old Shades pub 37 Whitehall, SW1A 2BX.

Please allow an hour to pass through security and to take your place.

We look forward to meeting you on Tuesday 28th March 2023.

Brian Matthews-Fabian Education Policy Group Chair.

Background reading

The background readings listed here provide information around current Ofsted practice in England.

Education inspection framework (EIF) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Research Evidence For and Against OFSTED | BERA

The Ofsted framework may be fine but the system's broken (schoolsweek.co.uk)

Curriculum research reviews - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

A series of reviews by Ofsted looking at the research evidence currently available about different curriculum subjects.

www.gov.uk

The framework may be fine but the system's broken

The new Ofsted framework looks alright, but the high-stakes accountability system will ruin it, says Ros McMullen schoolsweek.co.uk

Host or Publisher The Fabians' Education Policy Group