OFSTED changes and concerns

On 23rd September 2010 Michael Gove announced that he was directing OFSTED to dispense with the expectation that schools would complete self evaluation forms and to outline a greatly simplified schedule for future school inspections. This simplified regime is intended to focus on 'four principal areas': quality of teaching, the effectiveness of leadership, pupils' behaviour and safety, and pupils' achievement. Michael Gove notes that this will mean 'inspectors no longer spending time monitoring compliance with peripheral issues but instead concentrating on our shared core mission of improving standards in education’.

There are concerns regarding the likely impact of these changes to the monitoring and inspection of schools on bilingual pupils and those from ethnic minorities. Ofsted retains the responsibility of inspecting race equality in schools under the Race Relations Amendment Act but final decisions have not yet been made on how schools will be expected to fulfil the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. It has been widely discussed that community cohesion is 'peripheral' to schools and many colleagues are fearful that the helpful focus on the progress of groups will be an early casualty of the Government's focus on reducing bureaucracy.

NALDIC will be following developments carefully and urges Ofsted to ensure that consideration of the achievements of bilingual and ethnic minority groups remains an important part of the inspection framework