Wilshaw admits to ‘disagreements' within Ofsted leadership

Appearing before the education select committee today Wilshaw conceded that there have been “disagreements” in the past over the precise approach that Ofsted takes.

He added that people who find working for Ofsted uncomfortable, "need to move on".

Wilshaw’s comments follow the high-profile departure of former social care director Debbie Jones, who resigned earlier this year.

Then in June Kath O'Dwyer, who took over from Jones as interim national director, left the organisation to become director of children's services (DCS) and deputy chief executive at Cheshire East Council.

In July Ofsted announced that Eleanor Schooling, who had led Islington’s children’s services since March 2009, had been appointed to take over as Ofsted’s national director of social care on an interim basis.

During a wide-ranging committee session, Scottish National Party MP Marion Fellows asked Wilshaw whether it was simply unfortunate that people had moved on from the role, or whether there was “anything more underlying”.

“Sometimes there are disagreements in terms of an approach. Those people who find working for Ofsted uncomfortable need to move on,” Wilshaw said.

Fellows also asked Wilshaw how he plans to address instability within Ofsted’s leadership in light of the fact the organisation is on its third director of social care in four months.

“We want to have stable leadership and I’m very pleased that the director of children’s services of an outstanding local authority has joined us as the interim national director.

“I know that Eleanor will do a fantastic job. I want to ensure that we have a stable leadership to lead our increasingly influential workforce."

Wilshaw conceded that the question of how to achieve a stable leadership is “a difficult one”.

“I know local authorities are struggling to appoint really good directors of children’s services. Ofsted struggles sometimes to appoint outstanding leaders as national directors.

“People will come, people will go, or they get promoted elsewhere. We have just got to face the facts. We want to make sure that good people are appointed to national positions and that they remain with us for a period of time.”

Wilshaw was also questioned by Conservative MP Michelle Donelan on the factors behind three quarters of local authorities inspected so far under the single inspection framework being rated as either “requires improvement” or “inadequate”.

He said the main driver behind poor judgments was the quality of leadership provided by the director of children’s services.

“If you look at any of our children’s services reports and look at the ones that have been critical, they tend to say the same thing over and over again,” Wilshaw said.

“The quality of leadership is not good enough. It’s a bit like a weak head teacher in a school who won’t know what’s happening on the ground and doesn’t monitor what’s happening in the classroom.

“They are not picking up exercise books, seeing whether they have been marked or not. It is the same on a more macro level in local authorities.

“A weak DCS doesn’t check what’s happening on the ground.”

Wilshaw said some of the responsibility lies with the chief executive in ensuring those in the DCS post are able to focus primarily on children’s services.

“The chief executive has to make sure they appoint the right person and monitor them very carefully, and make sure they are not pulled away from their central task,” he said.

“In some of the local authorities you feel the DCS has too much to do. They are given responsibility outside their main function, which is children’s services.”

The number of DCSs with responsibility above and beyond children’s services, so-called "twin-hatters", has increased rapidly in recent years. Last year the figure was 59, significantly up on 2009 when there were only 13.