Bridget Phillipson defends controversial Ofsted changes: ‘It’s right to raise the bar’
The education secretary tells The News Agents why she rejects criticism of the speed with which the Ofsted changes have been introduced, and says parents deserve more details about the performance of their child’s school.
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In brief…
- Bridget Phillipson introduced changes to the Ofsted ratings system, ending its one-word assessment of schools, and offering more details.
- She admits this has been brought in at a “demanding” pace, but tells The News Agent she is “delighted” her proposals have brought education to the forefront in the UK.
- Phillipson denies claims the UK’s education system was improving under the previous Tory government, saying it was climbing the ranks because other countries were failing faster.
What’s the story?
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has defended her plans to change Ofsted school ratings from single word reviews, following criticism from the Tories, and inside Ofsted itself.
UK Schools are currently given a one-word ranking after an Ofsted assessment, but under changes introduced by Phillipson in September 2024, there will now be a more detailed review, giving parents more insight on which areas schools are succeeding, and failing in.
She rejects criticism that this was introduced "at ridiculous speed" without research to underpin the changes.
"The pace has been demanding, because back in September, I set out that we would be removing headline grades in inspection," she tells The News Agents.
"That does require us to move at pace, to set out a new system together with Ofsted, but I do believe the system will give us more information, will give parents more information.
"It will also allow us to identify problems and identify areas of fantastic practice."
Under Phillipson's changes, schools will be ranked from 'exemplary' to 'attention needed', on a five-point scale. The current four-point scale ranks schools between 'outstanding' and 'inadequate'.
Critics have also attacked Phillipson’s changes as minor tweaks to the existing system, and a leading teacher’s union has said they could make things “worse, not better”.
Why do some say the Tories were succeeding in improving the UK education system?
Phillipson says she is "delighted" her proposals have "kicked off a debate about education" in the UK, and says what she wants to introduce will allow schools the opportunity to highlight areas where they excel.
The education secretary rejects claims – including those from parents – that one of the few areas some some felt the previous Tory government were making an improvement was in education, and its creation of academies where schools were failing.
"The reason we were rising up the rankings is because other countries are falling more quickly," Phillipson says.
"So I would just slightly caution against that argument.
"We have a big challenge around support for children with special educational needs, and disabilities. So we don't have a system that is catering to all children and delivering the best possible outcomes for all of our children."
Phillipson says, under her plans, head teachers will not necessarily be the ones who take the entirety of the blame for a poor Ofsted rating, adding that it could result in restructures over job losses in many cases.
"Leadership change isn't always necessarily about that individual headteacher. It can be about the wider organisation of the school," she says.
"It can mean leadership change absolutely. Structural intervention often involves moving a school into a different setup, whether that's a maintained school, a council school – in effect, becoming an academy.
"But lots of the schools that are not performing at the moment can often be in academies too. So moving that school into a high performing trust, so that change of leadership that drives forward school improvement is essential.
Ofsted reports faced scrutiny following the suicide of Reading headteacher Ruth Perry in 2023 while waiting for her school to be assessed.
Why she believes it’s ‘right’ to raise the bar of Ofsted ratings
She believes the people who will benefit most from her changes will be the parents – and their children in education.
"I do believe parents are more than able to understand a bigger range of information about what's working well and what needs to change," she says.
"This is a change that will be more effective. It will ask us all collectively to raise that bar – and I think that's right."
She says Ofsted reports have highlighted 600 schools across the UK, serving 300,000 pupils, which fall below acceptable standards of education.
"Part of what I've been setting out is a renewed focus on those schools that have not had attention, did not get attention under the last government, and where the rise teams that we're setting up will be expert advisors in their far more rapidly, working with schools to turn things around before it becomes more serious."