Ofsted leaders pushed back against criticism of the watchdog’s new report card when they faced MPs’ scrutiny on the incoming inspection framework today.

However, Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver admitted to the Commons Education Select Committee that he was “concerned” that education unions do not support report cards.

“It does concern me, and I’ve tried really hard to work with them. I continue to work with them, and I continue to show as much as I can to work with them,” Sir Martyn told MPs.

This is the first time MPs have scrutinised the chief inspector since Ofsted published its finalised new inspection framework and grading system for schools, which will be introduced in November.

Ofsted chair Dame Christine Gilbert, who took her position in September and is a former chief inspector, also answered questions.

Dame Christine led an independent review into the school watchdog’s response to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life in 2023 after an Ofsted inspection.

In today’s hearing, she set out her plans for how she will hold the watchdog to account. MPs also quizzed the senior Ofsted figures on the responses to the inspectorate’s report card plans.

Ofsted complaints system to be reviewed

In the new inspections Ofsted will judge schools across six different evaluation areas using a five-point grading scale, with volunteer schools making up the first wave of report-card inspections.

It will also give schools a binary judgement on safeguarding. Schools will not receive an overall single-word effectiveness judgement after these were scrapped by the Labour government in September last year.

During the select committee hearing today, the sessions focused on the issue of schools making complaints about an Ofsted inspection.

While Sir Martyn listed a number of ways the inspectorate has reformed its complaints system, he also acknowledged that there were “limitations” to the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted.

“It only looks at whether Ofsted has followed the complaints policy,” Sir Martyn told MPs, adding that the inspectorate “can go further” on complaints.

Dame Christine will be reviewing the complaints policy, and said she is considering a number of options to build “greater independence in the process”.

However, she added that the complaints system is now a “far better process” and “more human” than when she carried out her independent review earlier this year.

Concerns over an extra inspector recognised

Sir Martyn said he was “utterly shocked” that unions had rejected the plan to add an additional inspector to school inspection teams.

“I was utterly shocked when the trade unions came back and said the additional inspector would just be more pressure,” the Ofsted chief told MPs.

However, Dame Christine told the session that she was not surprised by union concerns, considering the “unhealthy hold” that fears about Ofsted have over the sector.

Unions have expressed “grave concerns” about Ofsted’s finalised inspection framework and have repeatedly called on both the inspectorate and education secretary Bridget Phillipson to delay the rollout of new inspections until 2026.

Oliver rejects call for Ofsted to inspect admissions

MPs also raised concerns that Ofsted’s new focus on inclusion does not consider school admissions - a worry also raised by unions and the chair of a new inclusion taskforce.

Sir Martyn stressed that Ofsted does not have the power to inspect admissions, which is the role of the school adjudicator, and said it “does not want to”.

However, he said he believes that the report cards can look at “achievement separately to inclusion, separate to curriculum and teaching without double and triple jeopardy of one area domino-ing down the other areas”.

Schools volunteer for first wave of inspections

The Ofsted chief also confirmed that 172 schools have now volunteered to be part of the first wave of the new-look inspections.

“I will personally call a sample of those to get feedback directly from them, because, equally, I could never understand how Ofsted was relying upon these post-inspection surveys,” Sir Martyn told MPs.

The committee also heard that Ofsted now has around 2 million sets of data on its HMIs, which Sir Martyn said is the largest dataset on civil servants to match their experience and expertise.

“We’re working really hard to develop that level of expertise. When we now advertise for Ofsted inspectors or HMIs, it’s now not just a blanket - the adverts are saying we want a primary or special.”

Sir Martyn added that Ofsted has to “think about primary headteachers far more, and so we’re really doubling down on that”.

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