Marjon School of Education: ‘Removing single-word outcomes will create a more powerful learning community’

Released: 05.09.24

On 02 September, the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, announced that Ofsted, the Government’s school inspection body, would be scrapping its single-word judgements of schools.

The School of Education at Plymouth Marjon University welcomes the news from the Department for Education that removes the single-word outcomes for schools following an inspection. For far too long, schools have operated within a system that categorises performance in a reductive and overly simplistic manner. This is problematic for numerous reasons. For instance, single-word judgements are made on questionable foundations. The system is at best subjective and at worst arbitrary. Moreover, through inspections, a snapshot of a school may not reflect the institution's general performance. A very good school may underperform during an inspection or, more troublingly, the opposite may occur for a school where practice is too often less than satisfactory. Finally, the realities of how schools operate and perform are, through an attempt to simplify, actually more opaque.

The change being implemented by the new government is a radical step change and should impact all stakeholders positively. For teachers and school leaders, the new system will enable full challenge and accountability, whilst removing punitive and damaging judgement. For parents, more information to understand the culture, ethos and operations of a school will be powerful. And for children, who should always be at the centre of decisions about education, it removes a sense of stigmatisation (no child should think their school inadequate) and – more importantly – a system that is pragmatic and articulate about school performance will foster a culture and ethos that is empowering and progressive, creating a more powerful learning community.