Ofsted boss Sir Martyn Oliver has admitted merging the behaviour and attendance judgment areas in the watchdog’s new inspections “did bother” him “tremendously”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At BETT UK in London today, an audience member asked Oliver about the joint “attendance behaviour” judgment, warning it was particularly difficult for schools in “highly deprived” areas where attendance might be lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Responding, Oliver stressed his “original intent” was to have behaviour and attendance as separate areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ofsted’s initial plans<\/a> proposed distinct judgment areas for “attendance” and “behaviour and attitudes”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Oliver said that during Ofsted’s consultation over its planned reforms “many people, many organisations” said “very clearly there were too many areas [and they’d] want to see a number of them combined”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “And the areas that they talked about combining were curriculum and teaching, and attendance and behaviour.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ofsted’s consultation summary notes criticisms around “the increased number of evaluation areas”, but does not specifically cite any calls for those areas to be combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around 4,900 education professionals responded to Ofsted’s consultation, making up 75 per cent of the 6,500 respondents. Yet the watchdog has come under fire for only giving a broad, narrative summary <\/a>of their responses, and not providing details <\/a>of how many supported or opposed its plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the final framework<\/a> judgments were condensed<\/a>, reducing the overall minimum number of judgment areas for schools from eight to six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I have to say, it did bother me tremendously,” said Oliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “At the start…my expertise said they should be separate. But…consultations are real. It was overwhelmingly ‘combine’.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n‘I did tell you so’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n