Schools with an inclusive ethos, and which cater for a wide range of pupils, are more likely to receive a “needs attention” judgement for achievement, attendance and behaviour than other schools.
An analysis of more than 650 Ofsted inspections by the headteachers’ union, the NAHT, found that the rating was “significantly higher” for schools serving areas of high deprivation or a higher proportion of pupils with SEND.
The union said this raised “alarm bells” for the government’s ambition of more SEND pupils being educated in mainstream schools.
The analysis shows that a third of schools with above average pupil eligibility for free school meals (FSM) received a “needs attention” judgement for achievement, compared to 18% of schools with below average FSM.
And almost one in four of schools with above average FSM eligibility received a “needs attention” rating for attendance and behaviour, compared with one in ten other schools.
The expectation that results meet crude statistical averages means schools face an uphill battle
Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: “For a long time there have been well-founded concerns that successive Ofsted frameworks have penalised schools serving communities with higher levels of deprivation.
“Rather than fix that issue, the new framework appears to have compounded it.
“The latest inspection handbook states that to get the ‘expected’ standard, performance measures must meet or be above the national average. Most primary age pupils would immediately spot this as a mathematical howler.
“It is an impossible demand of schools. While it may not have been Ofsted’s intention, the expectation that results meet crude statistical averages means that schools serving the most deprived communities face an uphill battle.
He said every school leader was ambitious for pupils to get the best outcomes.
But Whiteman added: “We have to recognise that, due to context, for some schools that is a significantly greater challenge than others. Recognising the challenges and barriers to pupils’ progress is to engage with their lived reality.
Demoralising heads and teachers
“Under Ofsted’s system, schools may do an incredible job in helping pupils who face all manner of challenges in their lives to progress from a poor starting point but still be marked down if overall test scores are below national averages. It’s hard to imagine anything more demoralising for leaders and teachers.
“Not only are these lower grades unfair for schools that operate in more deprived areas, they also actively penalise those that are more inclusive for pupils with SEND.
“Furthermore, it risks discouraging leaders and teachers from going to work in the very schools that need them the most. This should ring serious alarm bells for the government’s stated White Paper ambition for more pupils with SEND to be educated in mainstream schools.”
School leaders will debate and vote on motions relating to Ofsted at NAHT’s Annual Conference in Belfast, on May 1-2.
