Teachers call for abolition of Ofsted and league tables – Morning Star Online

by Matt TrinderIndustrial reporter

DELEGATES at the National Education Unions annual conference backed a motion today calling for the abolition of Ofsted and performance-based league tables.

Over threequarters (77 per cent) of the more than 10,000 school staffho responded to the unions State of Education survey, published to coincide with this weeks online event, said that reducing the role of the education inspectoratewas vital to help schools recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Respondents said that reducing the pressure ofaccountability measures such as Ofsted andleague tables that rank schools based on national exam resultswould enable themto focus on helpingstudents catch up on learning after school closures during the pandemic.

Regular full school inspections have been suspended sinceMarch 2020but they are set to resume in September.

NEU joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said that Ofsted was a blunt instrument and a wholly negative presence in schools.

As we emerge from a time of great challenge for the education system and all who work in it, there is no taste for the return of full inspections, she said.

We must focus on the needs of pupils and what schools and their staff judge to be the best approaches to rebuilding on-site learning.

We already knew that Ofsted was not fit for purpose. Inspections are crude snapshot assessments, conducted without much regard for local context.

We need to see a new, fair and reliable system of inspection which works with schools, gives them confidence to make changesand generates meaningful, accurate and reliable information.

Ofsted is a symbol of the dead hand of government, of its lack of trust in the profession, and must be abolished.

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Teachers call for abolition of Ofsted and league tables - Morning Star Online