Ofsted says inspections will ‘carry on as usual’ despite the discovery of the new Omicron Covid variant
Ofsted has said it’s following public health guidance but will be ‘carefully’ considering requests from schools to defer inspections. But Tes reports¹ that one in three requests from schools to defer inspections due to the pandemic disruption has been turned down by Ofsted this term.
Over the last few weeks, I have met with headteachers and senior leads who are stretched, stressed, and carrying the huge burden of staff and children’s wellbeing on their shoulders. They have unanimously spoken about staff absence and skeleton staffing due to Covid, a looming sense of uncertainty and concern of not only children but the adults too and of trying to hold a dysregulated community steady, to continue to actually come to school, enable a level of learning and keep children and staff safe and supported. There are many stories of huge losses and bereavements that staff and children are facing and schools need to be applauded for trying to ‘carry on as usual’. This is certainly not usual.
We know the impact on children is significant because where the adults are dysregulated, stressed, and stretched, children feel it and their anxieties are exacerbated which impacts progress and learning outcomes.
With this as the backdrop, schools are aware that Ofsted will be carrying out inspections and the dread of this for schools facing a judgement in these difficult and unusual times is feeling for many just too much to contend with. So, the question has to be asked: How can Ofsted ‘carry on as usual’ and what is the emotional fallout and pressure likely to result in for schools, staff, and the children within our communities?
Schools and services working with children understand that inspections have to happen to ensure children’s wellbeing, safeguarding and that children are receiving their entitlement to a quality education and schools are prepared for this, but there is a cry for reasonable adjustments at the very least and for the system to be open and fair. The call is also about timing and is it really necessary for this to be back to a usual framework and approach within these complex times?
The anticipation of ‘the Ofsted call’, is a huge pressure in its own right, despite the current circumstances and within the current climate is pushing leadership teams and school staff to breaking point.
As one senior lead said to me: “I am currently doing everything I can to find a way out of teaching and out of education.” Sadly this isn’t an unfamiliar cry and with the Ofsted call in the mix it is a case of ‘straw and camel’ and feels like we are snapping the back of schools and the staff who are trying to hold it all together.
So, how can this be; ‘carrying on as usual?’ and shouldn’t the focus be on support and a focus on emotional wellbeing and care so that stress is alleviated, minimised and reduced from the toxic level it is currently at?
Schools are reassured that they can ask for a deferment and in an article for Schools Week (November 30th, 2021), an Ofsted spokesperson was reported to have stated:
“We appreciate what schools are up against, and we are considering requests to defer carefully, on a case by case basis.”
But schools are still in that place of pressure, anticipation, foreboding, and fear as to whether the Ofsted team will have compassion and care and even this deferment process, of needing to be considered and held powerless in this situation, is stressful in itself.
Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman, speaking at the recent Schools and Academies Show, tried to reassure schools and made the point that “Not every school is the same, and we have to make sure – for children’s sake – that inspections are being postponed for the right reasons.” Children’s entitlement must be protected and inspections are deferred only on an individual basis once the context has been explored. She went on to say: “I know this really isn’t ‘business as usual” but sadly, the ever-present threat of Ofsted means that it is hard for schools to feel trust and that the judgements received will be fair in a very unfair and unusual context.
Questions and uncertainties remain but surely schools will be supported through this additional pressure?
Will Ofsted continue to prioritise standards and performance outcomes relentlessly irrespective of huge mitigating factors? Will the framework be adjusted to ensure the wellbeing of school communities under such unusual circumstances and will this be central to any inspection? We hope it will but in an unusual world ‘carrying on as usual’ couldn’t be further from the reality.
