Ofsted criticised by MPs

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Ofsted now oversees early year’s settings, colleges, children’s services and social care, as well as schools. In a new report the Commons schools select committee has attacked the breadth of Ofsted’s responsibilities and their overreliance on exam results when assessing schools.

Criticism has also been targeted at the “relentless pace of reform” that Ofsted is overseeing; saying that schools feel “coerced and constrained”. The select committee has urged Ministers to give schools and LAs a period of stability. The committee is supported by the Association of School and College Leaders General Secretary, Dr John Dunford, who commented that the obsession with accountability has led to a sense there, is a crisis in the schools system.

With a general election campaign about to begin, is there really any likelihood of a period of stability?