My thoughts on Reading Council’s Learning Review following death of Headteacher at Caversham

29/07/24

Following the tragic death of Ruth Perry, Headteacher at Caversham Primary School and the subsequent publication of the Coroner’s Report, Reading Council commissioned a Learning Review led by two recently retired, independent and experienced officers. Their report was published on 12 July 2024. I have reviewed the seven references made to Ofsted’s Big Listen in the report and considered whether the reviewers were fully aware of deficiencies in the Big Listen process and whether they should have considered more carefully the references they made to it.

As a former HMI and CEO of the largest business sponsored academy trust in the country. I have a deep understanding of the inspection process from both undertaking and receiving them. I decided to engage with the Big Listen with an open and honest approach, so I started to complete the survey and gradually found that it was very limited in its scope and didn’t specifically offer a chance to clearly state whether I agreed with one or two word judgements. whether I felt that the complaints system was fit for purpose, or whether Ofsted was successful in achieving what it set out to achieve.

My frustration was felt across the education sector with a prominent CEO of a large trust making clear in the TES on 13 March.

‘Chiefly, the Big Listen appears more like the Big Exercise in Control. It presents all stakeholders with the same pre-prepared questions, with…. the consultation design based on multiple-choice responses to a limited series of questions set within carefully designed parameters. It appears to maintain Ofsted’s fidelity to the same unshakeable belief in the importance of the things it deems important. ….There is not even a question on the issue of whether Ofsted should move away from or retain single-word judgements – hardly a sign of a listening exercise where nothing is off the table.’

When I read the Learning Review I was struck by the report’s authors emphasising the importance of Reading Council using Ofsted’s Big Listen to make clear their concerns about the inspection process. Paragraph 15 of the report makes clear.

‘There has not been an honest dialogue nationally about the context, focus and impact of inspections and the authors are pleased that Ofsted under its new Chief Inspector has embarked on its ‘Big Listen’. We also recommend that the Council makes strong representations to Ofsted through the Big Listen. In particular the representations should encompass the issues of conduct, improving the complaints procedure, single word judgements, limiting judgements, pausing inspections, delays in publication, training for inspectors.’

It is clear to me that the Big Listen did not specifically address any of the issues listed by the Reviewers. Yes, respondents could add a comment to a relevant text box in the survey, but Ofsted did not include a question about one or two word judgements, it did not seek a view on whether inspections should be paused and it did not seek a view on the quality of training for inspectors. So, I am left with a strong feeling that the reviewers have placed far too much trust on Ofsted’s Big Listen’s capacity to conduct an open and transparent review of its work. The fundamental criticisms of Ofsted revealed in the findings of the Alternative Big Listen, published on the same day as Reading Council’s Learning Review, make it clear that the reviewers’ trust has been misplaced.

Frank Norris
Co Author of The Alternative Big Listen
www.thealternativebiglisten.co.uk

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