The National Education Union (NEU) has strongly criticised Ofsted's planned overhaul of school inspections, fearing its “Nando’s style” grading will fail to enhance child safety, improve teaching standards, or motivate learning.
The changes, unveiled on Tuesday and set for November, will see schools in England graded across areas including attendance, behaviour, and inclusion using a five-point, colour-coded scale. Nurseries and childminders will face more frequent inspections, while schools identified for improvement will undergo extra monitoring visits.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said the system “makes things much worse”, adding: “More of the same. More pressure. More ranking and competition. More labels. We completely reject that a Nando’s style 1-5 grading scale is good for children or parents.”
Pepe Di’Iasio of the Association of School and College Leaders described the changes as “minor and cosmetic”, warning that a five-point scale across multiple areas cannot be applied reliably during a single inspection. Paul Whiteman of NAHT said Ofsted is “perpetuating a high-stakes punitive regime which risks serious harm to school leaders and teachers”.
Ofsted said it had “listened carefully to feedback” and made changes including adding an extra inspector to school inspections. An independent YouGov poll showed almost seven out of 10 parents favour the new report cards.
