Should Ofsted be scrapped?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2024
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
TW: This episode includes discussions around suicide. If you need someone to talk to, Samaritans listen. Call them on 116 123.
Last week, The National Union of Education voted overwhelmingly at their conference to 'abolish Ofsted' - saying it causes more harm than good and needed urgent and fundamental reform.
They can't, of course, but today we - with your help - are asking if Ofsted is fit for purpose.
We hear from teachers and heads - our listeners - who tell us what needs to change.
We speak to Julia Waters, the sister of Ruth Perry, the Head of Caversham Primary who killed herself in the aftermath of an 'inadequate' rating and inspection, and finally we speak to Ofsted's new head - Sir Martyn Oliver.
Does he think Ofsted has made mistakes? Did he fire anyone following the coroners verdict into Ruth's death? Would he change the one word summary ruling of 'outstanding' down to 'inadequate'.
And how does he reflect upon words and actions of Amanda Spielman, his predecessor at Ofsted - criticised by many teachers for failing to find the right, compassionate tone in the face of that tragedy.
Editor: Tom Hughes
Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus
Producers: Laura FitzPatrick & Shane Fennelly
Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell
Video Production: Shane Fennelly and Arvind Badewal
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The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:08.1 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:11.6 | An Ofsted inspection blamed as a likely contributor to this head teacher's decision to end her own life. |
| 0:18.1 | Ruth Perry died in January this year. |
| 0:24.1 | Today her family listened as a coroner ruled her death could have been the result of stress caused by the inspection. In January of 2023, |
| 0:31.0 | Ruth Perry took her own life. She was a head teacher. You'll have heard of her. And she worked at |
| 0:36.4 | Kavishham Primary School in |
| 0:37.7 | Berkshire. And her death followed an Ofsted inspection that saw her school fall from an |
| 0:44.5 | outstanding ranking to inadequate. Today, we want to use Ruth Perry's death, not as the |
| 0:52.0 | culmination of what we're discussing, but as a starting point to ask |
| 0:55.8 | wider questions about Ofsted, whether it's trusted, whether it's fit for purpose, and whether |
| 1:02.5 | it is actually offering something useful to children, to parents, and for those who depend upon it. |
| 1:09.8 | So a very simple question. |
| 1:11.7 | Should Ofsted be fundamentally reformed or indeed even scrapped? |
| 1:16.5 | Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:21.3 | The Newsagents. |
| 1:24.1 | It's Lewis. |
| 1:25.2 | It's Emily. |
| 1:26.1 | And we're going to be devoting the whole show today to this question around Ostead, |
| 1:30.3 | which is really, to a great or a lesser extent, been in the headlines, as Emily was saying, |
| 1:34.5 | for about a year following the tragic death of Ruth Parry, having taken her own life, |
| 1:39.2 | following that Ofsted inspection in Kavisham Primary School. |
... |
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