Speaking following announcements from the Department for Education regarding changes to the inspection and accountability system for schools, NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach said:

“The new Government has made the right decisions to immediately abandon the system of single word inspection grades. We have seen the destructive consequences of that system which did nothing to support the work of schools and was of little or no value to parents.

“Inspection and accountability should have an important role to play in supporting the delivery of world-class education. It has been abundantly clear that the high-stakes system developed under the previous government was damaging, distracting and unfairly penalised schools for the failures of the system. 

“For more than a decade, the NASUWT has called for a move towards a balanced report card system which would be informative to both parents and schools. It is welcome that the new Government has engaged with our proposals and committed to introducing this change.

“Whilst today’s announcements are an important step in the right direction, it remains the case that in the absence of root and branch reform to fix the foundations of the broken accountability system, teachers and school leaders will continue to work in a system that remains flawed.

“We will be calling on the Education Secretary to go further with legislative change to end the fallacy that academy conversion is the only route to securing the improvements our schools need. We need to see urgency of action from the government here, too.

“We look forward to working with the Government to secure a fit for purpose inspection and accountability system that properly reflects the breadth of contribution that all schools make and better supports schools on their improvement journey.”