CHURCH education bodies have welcomed the Government’s decision to scrap the use of one- or two-word grading for schools by Ofsted.
Before the change was announced on Monday, with immediate effect, schools were rated by Ofsted inspectors as either Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate.
The system had been criticised as lacking sensitivity and respect, after an inquiry last year concluded that an Ofsted inspection had contributed to the death of a headteacher, Ruth Perry. She had taken her own life while waiting for the Ofsted report of her school — which she knew had been rated inadequate — to be published.
The Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS), which inspects church schools on behalf of the Church’s National Society for Education and Methodist Church, switched from a similar system last year, and no longer grades schools with single words (News, 24 March 2023).
Dr Margaret James, director of SIAMS, said on Tuesday: “A year from the removal of grades in SIAMS, the National Society now knows more than ever before about the strengths and development points in Church of England schools across the country.
“This is enabling the provision of meaningful and targeted training and support instead of a less valuable focus on arbitrary grades. Inspection can play its part in school improvement as long as, with rigour, it produces relevant and insightful information.
“Feedback indicates that the vast majority of school leaders found the experience of SIAMS to be both compassionate and challenging — possibly the ideal outcome for all concerned.”
In her annual SIAMS report, published the next day, Dr James described the move away from inspection grading as as “win win” for schools, “with nothing of true worth being lost with the removal of single word grades”.
SIAMS inspectors had carried out 904 inspections in the last academic year: almost twice as many as in the previous year, and more than three times as many as in the year before, she said. This had been possible “due to significantly increased inspection capacity — capacity that is now established in a sustainable way”.
For the first time, the report includes a survey of school and diocesan leaders: 530 and 72 respondents, respectively. It also surveyed 104 inspectors.
The results, however, suggest that more research is needed to establish the success of the new framework.
Asked whether, should SIAMS remove judgements (which replaced traditional grading), the importance of the inspection would decrease, 64 per cent of school respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed; 64 per cent of diocesan responses either agreed or strongly agreed.
“The views are diametrically opposed. . . It could suggest that diocesan team members have greater understanding of the usefulness of the insights provided by judgement data because of their focus on providing appropriate training and advice for schools; or it could suggest that it is school leaders that have greater understanding as they are on the ‘front line’ in the work to improve schools.”
Dr James continues: “Academic research findings on the impact of school inspection on school leaders indicate that leaders experience greater anxiety and distress as a result of inspection outcomes (findings are usually related to grades) in a way that might be disproportionate to the benefit provided.
“If this is the case in SIAMS, then it could be said that the judgements are arguably having little or no positive impact on the work to improve church schools, as any potential benefits are being negated by the corresponding negative side effects of the judgements on school leaders. However, this phenomenon may already have been mitigated by the transition away from grades to judgements.”
The results were therefore “inconclusive”, Dr James said.
Views on whether SIAMS inspection judgements helped schools to improve were also mixed: schools (50 per cent), dioceses (65 per cent), and inspectors (66 per cent) agreed, but about one fifth of respondents (17 to 22 per cent) in all three categories said that they “neither agree nor disagree”.
Further research and consultation was needed, Dr James concluded.
There was general agreement, however, across all three groups (schools, 83 per cent; dioceses, 90 per cent; inspectors, 97 per cent) on the value of SIAMS inspection development points related to school improvement.
Dr James writes in her foreword to the report: “The 2023 SIAMS Framework marked the Church of England’s evidence-based decision to move away from awarding inspection grades. Firmly rooted in a commitment to ‘inspection in a Christian manner’, this new approach has resulted in over 99% of all inspections being carried out in a way that has lessened the stress on school leaders whilst simultaneously improving the robustness of inspection.”
Welcoming the scrapping of Ofsted grades on Monday, the C of E’s chief education officer, the Revd Nigel Genders, said: “Our SIAMS framework — which examines the Christian character of church schools — has already made that change, and has shown that compassionate accountability can coexist with rigorous standards.”
Later on Monday, the Prime Minister welcomed the new system. He denied that it would confuse parents. Instead, it would provide a “richer picture” of a school’s strengths and weaknesses. “We’ll absolutely be pressing schools on standards, and I don’t accept that parents will be confused.”
This article was updated on 4 September 2024