Today I am announcing the Government’s response to their consultation on school accountability reform. It is vital we have a better accountability system that sets clear expectations, facilitates improvement and spreads excellence to drive high and rising standards for every child throughout each phase of their education. I would like to thank all who responded to the consultation—the Government value the feedback.
The consultation received 870 responses and officials met with stakeholders including groups representing teachers, school leaders, governors and local authorities, and with parents to discuss the proposals. It ran in parallel to Ofsted’s consultation on education inspection reform and report cards. Ofsted is publishing its response today also.
My Department consulted on:
our approach to improving school accountability, and the principles guiding our work, so there is a shared understanding of what drives our approach;
the Department’s future vision for school profiles—an accessible digital service providing information about schools, supporting parental choice and collaboration between schools; and
new arrangements for intervention in maintained schools and academies, including when academisation to change the governance of a school is needed to drive high and rising standards for every child.
The consultation demonstrated strong support for our accountability principles. In response to feedback, we have further strengthened our commitment to inclusion, ensuring that our reforms support all children and young people, regardless of circumstances. This supports the Government’s opportunity mission to break the link between background and success. Ofsted will also introduce inclusion as a stand-alone evaluation area in its renewed inspection framework, reinforcing its importance across the system.
There was also strong support for school profiles, with 77% of respondents agreeing that they should be the central source for up-to-date information on school performance. This academic year, we will develop two new digital services to support parents and schools. The first is school profiles, giving parents a more rounded picture by bringing useful information about schools together in one place and helping them to make informed decisions about their children’s education. The second is a digital school improvement service that will help schools compare their performance with other schools and support collaboration and sharing of best practice.
Subject to the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, structural intervention through issuing of academy orders will continue to be the default approach for schools in special measures, because no child should be left in a school that does not have the capacity to improve. For those schools that Ofsted judges do have capacity to improve, from September 2026 our regional improvement for standards and excellence—RISE— teams will get in quickly, working with the responsible body to begin implementing interventions to drive rapid and sustainable improvements. If, for whatever reason, a school in this position has not improved sufficiently within 18 months, we will normally issue an academy order to ensure it gets the leadership and support it needs. We will also expand RISE support to those schools with very low levels of pupil attainment with a further consultation on this. Using a combination of structural and RISE mandatory interventions we will drive improvement activity with, on average, around twice as many mandatory interventions as were covered in the two years prior to the policy change.
We welcome Sinéad Mc Brearty’s independent report on the workload and wellbeing implications of the inspection reforms, which Ofsted commissioned, and which it has published today. We are committed to ensuring, in line with our principles, that our reforms take into account the context in which schools and providers operate, and the impact of our arrangements on workload and the wellbeing of leaders, teachers and staff.
The Department’s reforms have been designed to work alongside Ofsted’s renewed education inspection framework and new report cards, the details of which have been published today as part of its consultation response.
Ofsted’s new approach completes the move away from oversimplistic single headline grades to providing parents and staff with a much clearer, much broader picture of how schools are performing—that is what report cards will provide. The renewed framework strengthens accountability and will help to drive high and rising standards. This includes a stronger focus on achievement, attendance, inclusion and how the needs of disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people are being met. Enhanced monitoring will mean a swifter return from inspectors to check that progress is being made where it is needed.
Taken together, the measures announced by the Department and Ofsted today give parents the clear and reliable information they need to make informed choices about their child’s education. And they will give school leaders, staff and responsible bodies the necessary information and support to help all schools move forward towards excellence.
Copies of the Department for Education’s and Ofsted’s consultation responses will be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.
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