More schools have been graded good or outstanding across the majority of Ofsted inspection areas since headline grades were ditched, new figures show.
The watchdog has scrapped the use of single-phrase headline grades this academic year following the suicide of Reading headteacher Ruth Perry.
While schools are not given overall grades, inspectors have continued to rate them outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate across four key judgment areas.
Grades keep getting better
Latest inspection data for September to the end of December shows the proportion of schools rated good or outstanding for quality of education remained the same as last year, at 84 per cent.
But the percentage of good or better judgments across the three other areas – behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management – all increased by between one and two percentage points.
Overall, the proportion of schools judged good or outstanding by Ofsted was:
- 84% for quality of education, compared to 84% last year
- 94% for behaviour and attitudes, compared to 93% last year
- 97% for personal development, compared to 95% last year
- 89% for leadership and management, compared to 87% last year
The findings are based on 2,149 inspections that were carried out between the start of the year, and December 31, including 1,218 that were graded.
A significantly higher number of inspections – 2,611 – were carried out in the same period the previous year. Of these 1,604 were graded.
Primaries out-performing secondaries
The latest figures show primary schools achieved higher grades than secondaries for all key judgments.
Last year, the biggest difference between primary and secondary was for behaviour and attitudes, but this year the biggest difference is for quality of education.
At primary, 86 per cent of schools were rated good or outstanding for quality of education, compared to 74 per cent in secondary.
Ofsted said this matches the trend in previous years, where primaries outperform secondaries “for all key judgments”.
They added: “Outcomes for behaviour and attitudes and personal development are more positive than outcomes for other key judgements.
“This has been the case each year since the EIF (education inspection framework) started.
Most schools get the same grade across categories
The results show schools can get a range of different grades across the four key judgements – but most actually got the same.
In the 1,218 graded inspections in the three months last year, 62 per cent of schools received the same grade for all four judgements.
In 90 per cent of cases, schools received the same grade for both quality of education and leadership and management – making these the most likely judgements to correlate.
Just 67 per cent of schools received the same grade for both quality of education and personal development, making them the most likely to differ.
Ofsted is currently consulting on plans to overhaul its inspection framework and introduce new “report cards”.
The proposal would see the current four-point grading system replaced with a new five-point system.
Schools would also be judged across a total of nine areas, with additional inspection areas for early years and sixth form provision, where applicable.
Ofsted has said the reforms will “reset the bar to raise standards” in schools.
The number of schools rated ‘good’ or better is now at its highest level ever, but most parents do not believe this is reflective of the sector, a survey found.
A Schools Week investigation last month found that grades for the behaviour judgment are rising, despite national data showing classroom disruption is worsening.
Visit the consultation website here.
