School leaders and Department for Education officials have criticized proposed changes to school inspections as merely cosmetic, vague, and possibly outdated. Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, has attempted to address previous criticisms by altering its inspection toolkit, including renaming grades and reducing the number of evaluation areas. However, these adjustments are unlikely to alleviate skepticism among teachers in England.
The new inspection system is part of the government’s effort to reform inspection reports and abolish controversial single grades. Ofsted’s struggle to revise its framework is causing concerns for Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who is also dealing with a curriculum review and a special needs education overhaul.
The draft proposals, set to be approved by Ofsted’s executive, have removed plans for a “secure” grade and introduced new terms like “expected standard” and “exceptional” for the highest grades. The number of evaluation areas will be reduced from nine to seven, combining certain areas. Inspectors will be tasked with assessing aspects like leadership and assessment using vaguely defined language. As a result, some critics argue that many schools will likely fall into a middle grade, due to vague criteria and overlaps between categories.
DfE officials have raised concerns that the proposals miss government plans to increase mainstream school capacity for children with special educational needs. Feedback from officials highlights “future-proofing and sequencing concerns” and warns that the plans may become outdated. Additionally, officials believe that Ofsted’s requirement for schools to achieve “above average outcomes” in exams to secure high grades could discourage the enrollment of pupils with special needs.
Both the Association of School and College Leaders and the National Association of Head Teachers have stated that the proposed timetable for implementing these changes is “entirely unacceptable,” suggesting it will increase workload pressure and negatively affect teacher wellbeing. Tensions between Ofsted and the teaching profession are still running high following a coroner’s ruling that an Ofsted inspection contributed to the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry in 2023. Perry’s sister, Julia Waters, has described Ofsted’s plans as a “rehash of a deeply flawed system”.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/aug/04/ofsteds-new-inspection-proposals-are-vague-and-out-of-date-say-experts
