University Alliance has responded to the consultation on ‘Improving the way Ofsted inspects education’.
In our response we:
- Raise concerns about losing detail for adult learners, employers and professionals in the new report card layout.
- Call for the “contribution to meeting skills needs” evaluation area to be the subject of additional engagement between the relevant sectors, Ofsted and the Department for Education to consider the unintended consequences of this only being applied to some FE and skills providers.
- Raise several concerns about the proposed 5-point grading scale and approach to ‘exemplary’ practice.
- Support the principle that Ofsted should take into account the context that a provider operates in, but raise concerns about presenting data alongside report cards.
- Highlight that distinctions between proposed grades in the toolkits are often unclear, which could lead to inconsistencies in judgments.
- Welcome steps outlined in the Ofsted Big Listen consultation response on notice periods, proportionality and the experience of inspectors, but raise questions about the implications of removing the deep-dive methodology.
