Chair of Ofsted questioned on governance of the inspectorate
Dame Christine Ryan, Chair of Ofsted’s board, attended an accountability hearing of the House of Commons’ Education Select Committee this week, answering questions about the governance of the inspectorate.
Robert Halfon MP, Chair of the committee, asked about the ways in which the board was able to hold Ofsted to account. He noted that while the Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, always attended accountability hearings, these did not hold Ofsted to account on a day-to-day basis. He asked how responsive Amanda Spielman was to the board, and whether or not it was worth having a new level of accountability for Ofsted.
Dame Christine said that the governance and accountability of Ofsted was typical of most ‘arms length bodies’, having to carefully walk the line between being politically independent of the Department for Education and working harmoniously with them. She argued that during the pandemic (the period for which she has been chair), Ofsted and the DfE had worked positively together.
On holding Ofsted to account, Dame Christine said that Amanda Spielman is completely committed to working within Ofsted’s remit, working constructively with the board through formal meetings every two weeks, and keeping the board up to date with developments. She noted, however, that how we defined good governance of agencies like Ofsted had changed over the past decade, and within the governance of Ofsted this hasn’t been revisited.
Beyond governance, Dame Christine was questioned whether or not Ofsted put enough emphasis on personal development and careers guidance. MP for Gateshead Ian Mearns expressed concern that Ofsted had a laissez faire approach to careers education, despite its importance in progression for young people. Robert Halfon added that in 2 out of every 5 providers rated good or outstanding, weaknesses had been reported in careers guidance, and questioned whether or not Ofsted was hammering schools for some things, but not for others.
Dame Christine defended Ofsted’s record, saying that all schools were inspected to the same standards, and that Ofsted has been strengthening the guidance to inspectors on careers education.
As Ofsted inspections start up again following the pandemic, it is crucial that schools are judged fairly. In Schools North East’s Manifesto for North East Education, we emphasised the impact contextual factors have on student attainment and outcomes. While the current inspection framework goes further on this than previously, there are still concerns that Ofsted does not have the right tools to hold schools to account on what has been expected of schools during the pandemic, or to understand the different experiences across the country of Covid-related disruption.
On the 25th November, Schools North East will be holding our annual ‘Ofsted Update’, where we will be joined by Belita Scott, Senior HMI, North East, Yorkshire and Humber. For more information, please visit the following link.