Reform considers return to single-phrase Ofsted grades

As Reform UK grapples with disciplinary problems of its own, Suella Braverman wants to tackle “out of control” pupil behaviour and rule-breaking schools.

The former Conservative frontbencher turned Reform MP says schools should be held to clearer standards, including a potential return to single-phrase Ofsted judgements.

And she used one of the best-received speeches of the party’s conference over the weekend to promise to tackle a “disciplinary crisis” in schools.

Delegates repeatedly broke into applause as the party’s education spokesperson attacked “activists” in the classroom, promised a “patriotic” curriculum, and pledged pupils would sing the national anthem and hymns under a Reform government.

There were particularly loud cheers for her claims that the curriculum had been “hijacked”, as well as her promises on behaviour and transgender guidance.

But away from the Birmingham conference stage, details of what a Reform government’s education system would look like remain a work in progress.

In an interview with Tes following her speech, Braverman suggested Reform could bring back single-word Ofsted judgements, backed more “zero-tolerance” behaviour policies and parent behaviour contracts, and signalled another overhaul of the special educational needs and disabilities system.

Discipline in schools

Behaviour and discipline have become defining themes in Braverman’s vision for education.

Classroom behaviour is currently “out of control”, and teachers have become “disempowered”, she tells Tes.

“There are too many children, and I’m afraid too many parents in some instances, who don’t accept the authority of the teacher,” Braverman says.

She repeatedly points to her involvement in Michaela Community School in north-west London, where she was co-founder and the first chair of governors, as an example of the approach she envisions for all schools. The school is viewed as the “strictest in Britain”.

“You’ve got to sort out discipline first and foremost. Zero tolerance,” she says. “We need more of that in schools.”

Asked whether this would translate into Reform encouraging schools to adopt “zero-tolerance behaviour policies”, Braverman stops short of confirming a national policy.

But she is more explicit about another Michaela practice - getting parents to sign agreements setting expectations around behaviour and disciplinary procedures.

“I think there’s a lot of value in that,” Braverman says, arguing that teachers could be undermined when parents refused to accept sanctions for disruptive pupils.

“There is a lot of value in getting parents to sign up to codes of behaviour expected in schools.”

Could single-word Ofsted grades return?

Braverman takes a hard line on school accountability, but this sits alongside an acknowledgement that the existing inspection regime can place extreme pressure on school leaders.

Asked by Tes about the new Ofsted framework put in place following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry, and continuing concerns about its impact on leader wellbeing, Braverman describes Ms Perry’s death as an “absolute tragedy”.

Teachers are under a “huge amount of pressure”, she says, adding that their workload is “frankly unsustainable in many, many cases”.

“I understand the pressure that many teachers face and fear from Ofsted, and I think we do need to look at Ofsted,” she says.

But Braverman also criticises the Labour government’s move away from headline inspection judgements.

“I’m very much against how the government has tried to water down the ratings for schools and kind of make them more opaque. That’s not the solution.”

Pressed by Tes on whether Reform would bring back single-word Ofsted judgements, she replies: “Well, listen, we’re looking into it.”

Reform wants to maintain national standards and give parents information they can easily understand, while avoiding a “climate of fear” around inspection, she says.

SEND ‘emergency’

Braverman is clear on her verdict of the SEND system - pledging to “bring an end” to the “emergency” - but there is little detail on what this would entail.

Reflecting on more than a decade of constituency casework, she describes meeting parents whose children have been out of school for years, and families waiting for support.

This shows the current system is “not working”, she tells Tes.

But when asked what a Reform government would actually change, Braverman says further policy will be announced “down the line”.

She is clearer on her conviction that mainstream education is not the right environment for every child.

“For some children, mainstream school is right. For others, it is not right and they do need a specialist school.”

And she accuses the government of failing to give sufficient thought or resources to increasing specialist capacity, criticising what she regards as inadequate teacher training for additional needs.

Asked whether rising SEND demand reflects overdiagnosis - as other senior Reform figures have previously suggested - Braverman does not directly address her colleagues’ comments.

Instead, she says Reform will look “more carefully” at the criteria used to determine support, distinguishing between pupils with complex needs who require specialist provision and those who could remain in mainstream schools with different teaching approaches.

Curriculum ‘hijacked by activists’

While Reform policy on some of the biggest issues affecting schools remains scant, Braverman is unambiguous about what she wants schools to teach.

Her conference speech promised a “balanced, patriotic curriculum”. The British Empire “did so much good for the world”, she said.

She described how schools would be required to fly the Union flag and ensure that pupils sang the national anthem, “belting it out from the bottom of their hearts”, as well as traditional hymns - proposals that won loud applause from delegates.

Schools have been “hijacked by activists”, she also claimed, attacking teaching about gender, racism and white privilege.

Speaking to Tes afterwards, Braverman goes further, alleging that she has heard from pupils and parents that teachers had expressed anti-Reform views in lessons.

“That is political indoctrination,” she says. “A lot of these schools are breaking the law.”

She does not provide specific examples of schools allegedly breaking political impartiality rules.

Her party’s chairman, Lee Anderson, had earlier offered his own example, telling the conference that a school in his constituency had placed him and party leader Nigel Farage on the “far right” of a political spectrum display alongside Benito Mussolini and Oswald Mosley.

Reviving free schools

Braverman wants to revive another policy closely associated with her own involvement in education, saying that she rues how the free-school movement has “withered on the vine”.

“Free schools could be a really good force for increasing quality and good outcomes,” she says. “I think we need to support the creation of new schools.”

An education department under Suella Braverman would appear to have some clear goals: stricter discipline, a renewed emphasis on patriotism and traditional school culture, greater specialist SEND provision and potentially a return to single-word Ofsted ratings.

Exactly how Reform will deliver on these policies, however, remains to be seen.