Like Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Education Select Committee has called for academy chains to be inspected by Ofsted.
Report relevant passage is: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmeduc/269/26909.htm#a22
Passage:
Inspection of academy chains
88. At present, while Ofsted can inspect schools within academy chains and has recently begun inspecting local authority school improvement services, it does not have the power to inspect academy chains themselves. James O'Shaughnessy has previously argued for this development in a report published by Policy Exchange[187] and he reiterated this in his evidence to us. He told us that "chains in themselves should be inspected and evaluated to see that they are adding value as opposed to exogenous factors that have just happened because they have replaced the head or whatever it is".[188] Professor David Woods similarly argued that, just as variability is seen in other parts of the education system, variability is likely to occur in the offer from academy chains. [189] Inspection would shine a light on this and help to drive improvement. David Sims from the NfER told us that inspecting individual schools only gives a partial picture of what is going on in a partnership and argued that inspection of the partnerships would provide more evidence of the group effect.[190]
89. Sir Michael Wilshaw has previously told us that:
- We will be inspecting local authorities and we should inspect academy chains as well, if we identify underperformance. I have made that clear to the Secretary of State. It is only fair and equitable that we do that. We have not got the same powers at the moment, but I look forward to receiving the powers to do that.[191]
When questioned on this matter, the Minister told us that the Government "would rather Ofsted focused on its other activities, which are extensive."[192] He argued that such inspections would not "give us any information we do not have materially at the moment" from the inspection of the underlying schools and stated that the Government did not "feel [academy chain inspections] would be of any benefit to the Department" in assessing their activities.[193]
90. We disagree with the Minister's assessment and point out that Ofsted inspections are intended to provide information to parents, as well as the DfE. We conclude that parents should be provided with information about the performance of academy chains, as well as individual schools. We recommend that Ofsted be provided with the powers it needs to inspect academy chains.
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