The United Kingdom’s Department for Education has announced the immediate removal of the one or two-word Ofsted inspection grades for schools in England. The categories of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, and Inadequate will no longer be issued as a result of the change. The government has deemed this necessary to reduce the high stakes for schools and provide parents with more detailed information.
While Ofsted will continue to examine schools using the same criteria, reports will now offer greater detail on specific aspects of school performance as compared to their current format. The level of detail includes the safeguarding procedures in place at a school, among others.
Following the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry in 2023, Ofsted apologised for their role in aggravating her mental health. According to an inquest, Perry’s reaction to hearing that an inspector had given her school an Inadequate rating tipped her over the edge. This incident resulted in the British government’s decision to abolish such worded grades.
Early next year, the government is preparing to establish school improvement teams across the country, and by September 2025, parents can expect school reports that more effectively illustrate the parameters of the inspection process. Parents will receive grades in this academic year under the current subcategories: quality education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.
The Department for Education declared that “simplistic one-word judgments fail to provide a fair and accurate assessment of overall school performance across a range of areas and are supported by a minority of parents and teachers”. The charity Parentkind hailed this change as essential in providing parents with an improved understanding of school achievements. The move was also praised by Education Union Chief, Daniel Kebede, Paul Whiteman, General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, and Chief Executive of Parentkind, Jason Elsom. Nonetheless, Labour’s shadow Education Secretary, Damian Hinds, disagreed with the decision, arguing that headline inspection results are a critical guide for parents.
In 2023, headteacher Ruth Perry of Caversham Primary School took her life in anticipation of an inadequate Ofsted inspection outcome. As a result, the inquest that followed led to a formal Prevention of Future Deaths report by senior coroner for Berkshire, Heidi Connor, highlighting the issues that needed to be addressed to avoid another suicide. This report noted that the same word could not be used for schools that require minor corrections and those in need of significant alterations. Overall, recent inquiries have encouraged Ofsted to change its culture and improve its approach to inspections
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