Best Schools - Ofsted plans overhaul of inspections to look beyond exam results

Ofsted plans overhaul of inspections to look beyond exam results

The way nurseries, schools and colleges in England are inspected is to undergo its biggest overhaul in a decade, with proposals by Ofsted aiming to address concerns that education has been too narrowly focused on exam results.

The new guidelines will be launched by Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools in England, with a consultation on revised inspection frameworks for state and independent schools as well as early years settings and further education colleges.

Under the new proposals, schools that push out less able children – a practice known as “off-rolling” – or teach a narrow curriculum designed solely to improve test results and gaming league table rankings risk being punished by Ofsted’s inspectors.

Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director of education, said the new frameworks “cover all the way from birth through to adult learning”, with an emphasis on the quality of education, a new inspection category that will replace “outcomes” as one of the four main areas under which schools will be inspected.

If adopted, the new framework will come into force in September this year, although Harford said it will take up to six years for all eligible schools to be inspected under it, while the 20% of schools and colleges rated as outstanding will be exempt from regular inspection.

The wealthiest students are going to university in England for the lowest cost, by paying their tuition fees up front, say researchers.

About 10% of students are not taking out loans and so avoid interest rates of 6.3% paid by other students, says the Intergenerational Foundation.

The think tank says it "makes a mockery" of claims that the fees system is fair for poorer students.

The government says that its review of fees will ensure value for money.

"Wealthier families have realised that they can give their children a get-out-of-jail-free-card by helping them to escape sky-high interest rates and a 30-year loan that could be sold off to the private sector in the future," said report author, Rakib Ehsan.

About 10% of undergraduates from the UK are self-funding, says the analysis of official data for 2016-17 - with higher than average rates at some Russell Group universities.

Among full-time students, there are 20% self-funding their fees at King's College London and 16% at Oxford and Cambridge.

The researchers say that universities with higher proportions of self-funding students are often those with a higher proportion of students from private school - suggesting that their families might be continuing to pay for university.

For those who can afford it, there are significant savings.