Hundreds of English colleges beforehand rated “outstanding” have been downgraded by Ofsted after their first inspections in years.
More than 500 have been visited within the final tutorial yr after a clause was lifted that had made them exempt from common reinspection.
Introduced in 2012, it meant excellent colleges did not want common visits except there have been particular issues – however that system ended two years in the past.
The faculty’s watchdog mentioned solely 17% of the 370 colleges it inspected in 2021-22 saved their excellent ranking.
It added that the faculties’ common hole since their earlier inspection was 13 years.
Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief, mentioned it confirmed “removing a school from scrutiny does not make it better”.
Some 62% of faculties reinspected have been demoted one stage to “good”, whereas 21% have been mentioned to both “require improvement” (the third tier) or have been “inadequate” (the underside tier).
Ofsted mentioned that whereas the falls seen within the reinspected colleges may not mirror all exempt colleges, the outcomes have been none-the-less “concerning”.
“A higher proportion now require improvement or are inadequate than is the case for all schools nationally, especially for the primary schools,” it mentioned.
The watchdog should examine all beforehand exempt colleges by the tip of July 2025.
“Regular inspection gives parents confidence in the quality of their child’s school,” Ms Spielman added.
“Exempting outstanding schools deprived parents of up-to-date information. It also left a lot of schools without the constructive challenge that regular inspection provides.
“The exemption was a coverage based on the hope that top requirements, as soon as achieved, would by no means drop, and that freedom from inspection would possibly drive them even greater.
“These outcomes show that removing a school from scrutiny does not make it better.”
Source: information.sky.com”