The BBC reports on Sir Michael Wilshaw interview in the Sunday Times - responding to allegations in the Times that two think tanks aim to disparage its work: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25900547
In it Wilshaw said: 'If I see things going wrong in an academy chain I will say so... If people tied to the free-school movement think I will not do that, they have another think coming.'
The DfE has already published its response to similar concerns voiced by the Education Select Committee: http://newschoolfinance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/dfe-no-exit-from-academy-chains-joining.html
The committee said: 'We recommend that Ofsted be provided with the powers it needs to inspect academy chains. (Paragraph 90)'
The DfE answered: '...It is not appropriate to try to seek 'parity' with powers Ofsted already have to inspect local authorities, because academy chains and local authorities are very different bodies...'
'...Academy chains will vary enormously in their structure and approach. It is unclear what chain functions Ofsted would be inspecting and what information they would hope to glean that could not be gained from inspecting individual academies. We are not convinced that there is additional value in a "top down" approach over and above existing powers to inspect groups of academies from the "bottom up".
Policy Exchange, which is calling for evidence said: '...while we agree with Ofsted’s intentions and ambition, it is very important that we ensure they are actually going about their task in the most effective way...'
Civitas told the BBC it had had misgivings about Ofsted for years
David Green (Civitas director) said: '...we know schools that would like to innovate are scared to do so because of the misguided notions of many Ofsted inspectors.'
No comments:
Post a Comment