The Beyond Ofsted inquiry, chaired by former schools minister Lord Jim Knight and funded by the National Education Union, finds that “Ofsted has lost the trust of the teaching profession, and increasingly of parents”.
“There is a now an opportunity for transformational change,” Knight writes in his new report.
His inquiry states that Ofsted is now viewed as "toxic" and "not fit for purpose" and is in need of major reform.
Such reform should include an end to single-word judgments like "outstanding" or "inadequate", which the inquiry said were “too simplistic to describe a whole school”.
Schools should also be responsible for their own improvement plans with Ofsted having a greater focus on governance, Knight says, adding that inspectors should not be entering classrooms to review teaching practice.
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