Weak schools that become academies will no longer have their inspection history wiped from the Ofsted database, according to new proposals from the schools’ inspectorate.
Under the new plans, released this morning, Ofsted suggests that the inspection grades received by the pre-conversion school would remain online and readily available.
In its consultation document, Ofsted states: “The vast majority of schools without a current inspection outcome are new sponsor-led academies. These schools usually have an inspection history from the school’s predecessor school…
“These predecessor schools tend to be weaker schools: around 85 per cent were judged ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’.
“Not including these schools in the statistics affects the national grade profile because, in effect, the stronger schools tend to remain in the dataset when they become an academy, while the weaker ones drop out.”
Of the 916 schools currently without an inspection outcome, 578 have a clear predecessor school with an inspection grade. In the case where multiple schools have merged to form an academy, no grade would be included in the dataset.
‘More accurate’
Ofsted states that this system would be “more accurately representative of school standards”, as well as “more transparent and useful”. It will also allow users of its website to track a school’s changes over a longer period of time.
Ofsted says that its data and analysis would make it clear where an inspection outcome related to a predecessor school, rather than to the current academy.
It adds that the impact of these changes on its statistics - based on its August 2017 inspection figures for all schools in England - would be a two percentage point decrease in the proportion of “good” or “outstanding” primary schools, and a three percentage point decrease in the proportion of “good” or “outstanding” secondaries.
Across all phases, this would equate to a two percentage point decrease in the proportion of “good” or “outstanding” schools.
The consultation closes at 11.45pm on 18 January.
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