Boost Ofsted rather than scrap it, says Tories

A Conservative majority government will give schools inspectorate Ofsted greater powers and more money to improve discipline in classrooms and bolster school standards.

Under new plans, the Conservatives says that new measures will ensure Her Majesty’s Inspectorate have the resources and powers they need to ensure standards in our schools remain high.

Based around figures showing that 85 per cent of children are now in schools rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, the package of measures will include: an increase in the length of inspections in secondary schools and large primary schools from two to three days – with the extra day focused on behaviour, bullying and the school’s extra-curricular offering; no-notice inspections to ensure inspections truly reflect the day to day experience in schools; £10 million additional funding to back Ofsted; and an end of outstanding exemption, ensuring that outstanding schools are also subject to routine inspections.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “In the past decade, the hard work of teachers and our school reforms have meant record numbers of children in good or outstanding schools - more children having a good education and learning the knowledge and skills they need to go on and live a fulfilled life. Now, in the decade to come, these plans along with the additional £14 billion that we are putting into our education system will help to keep that number rising.”

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Ofsted is an independent and trusted source of information for parents and teachers and their inspections help to raise standards in our schools. But Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour want to scrap Ofsted, meaning parents won’t have reliable information about the performance of their child’s school. Without independent inspections school standards would fall and our children would be less safe.  

“A Conservative government will back Ofsted with more funding to carry out better and more focused inspections so that parents have more reliable information about their child’s school, and school standards are driven up across the country.”