Wellbeing and Schools Bill: Ex-Ofsted boss claims changes may 'make education worse' - what's been said

• There are currently a number of major proposed education reforms underway in England, including the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
• This has already attracted some controversy for potentially limiting the freedoms of the country’s highly successful academies
• Now a former Ofsted chief inspector has spoken out against some of the changes, claiming they may lower standards
• The Department of Education remain steadfast that the bill will deliver on its mission

A former Ofsted chief has slammed a collection of landmark Government education initiatives - warning that they may set England’s schools back.

The Government’s new Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill has made it through the House of Commons, zipping through Parliament after its introduction in December. The proposed legislation could see sweeping changes to both schools and safeguarding measures for children in the education system, taking aim at a wide array of issues from teacher pay and conditions, to councils’ powers to monitor home schooling parents. But at its heart, the Department for Education says it is about “keeping children safe”, and ensuring all children have access to a high-quality education.

But Amanda Spielman, the head inspector of government schools watchdog Ofsted until 2023, told the Telegraph over the weekend that effective reforms were at risk of being reversed. Not only by this bill, but also by an ongoing full review of the National Curriculum - and by changes to Ofsted inspections.

This isn’t the first time that the Wellbeing and Schools Bill has attracted ire either. A top headteacher has spoken out against a new requirement that academies follow the national curriculum, meaning schools like hers could lose the freedom that made them so successful. New restrictions on homeschooling and a requirement for all teachers to have qualified teacher status have also proven controversial in some circles.

But what exactly are Ms Spielman’s concerns about the new bill, and the impact it could have on education? Here’s what you need to know:

Pandering to unions

Ms Spielman claimed that Phillipson was “clearly giving a great deal of time and attention to the desires and demands of unions” - referring to teaching and education unions. Under the proposed legislation, on top of having to follow the revamped national curriculum and only being able to hire qualified teachers, academies would also have to follow national pay and conditions frameworks for staff.

The Labour Government has also recently made changes to Ofsted inspections, removing overall grades, and signalling a transition towards a new, more nuanced, report card system. But the former chief inspector said that unions’ “real beef about inspection is that it exists at all” - and that inspection information could be used to apply consequences to poorly-performing schools.

“No matter how well Ofsted does its job, the union narrative will always be negative,” she wrote. “Unions will always defend the interests of the adults in schools over those of children,” she continued. “I do hope she will think again, before the damage is done.”

Cutting back high-achieving schools’ autonomy

Ms Spielman wrote that much had been achieved in the education system over the past 25 years, “under Conservative, Coalition and also Labour governments”. England had become an academically high-performing country, she said.

The autonomy of academy schools would be stripped right back, “even though this has clearly been a contributor to system success”, she continued. “A better first step would have been a proper evaluation to see which dimensions of autonomy should be protected and which need adjusting.”

She warned that education will become “even more” centralised. “The Department for Education will have bigger budgets, bigger teams of officials and more powers to manage all interventions and improvement work in schools, despite little evidence that micro-managing individual school improvement from the centre of Government is effective.”

Lowering standards

She also raised concerns about the ongoing full review of the National Curriculum. The expert panel leading it published its first interim report on Tuesday (March 18).

Ms Spielman told the Telegraph that England already had a robust teacher training system and a well-established national curriculum, with expectations of pupils in-line with other high-achieving countries. “It is not perfect or immutable, but it has clearly contributed significantly to system improvement.”

She was concerned that the review would end up lowering these high standards to be “more motivating for the lowest attainers… Levelling down, in other words”.

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How have unions and the Government responded?

Responding to the former Ofsted head’s concerns, a Department for Education spokesperson told the BBC that the bill “delivers on our mission for every child to have a good, local school, will get high-quality teachers into every classroom, and ensure that all schools can innovate to attract and retain the best talent”.

Meanwhile, a Downing Street spokesperson told The Guardian that Ms Spielman: “should spend less time criticising the reforms this government is bringing, and more time reflecting on her failure at Ofsted and on a teaching profession that entirely lost confidence in her as chief inspector”.

National Education Union (NEU) general secretary Daniel Kebede also defended the Schools and Wellbeing Bill, telling the paper it was aspirational. “This bill is largely about setting a level playing field, and if you want my honest opinion this bill does not go far enough.”

There are currently a lot of changes underway for England’s schools and education system. What do you think about them? Let us know and make your voice heard by leaving a comment below.