Sir Martyn Oliver's speech at the Guildhall
Source: gov.uk (2025-03-31)

Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, spoke to educational leaders from the City of London and further afield. He talked about the importance of education and how Ofsted's inspection improvement proposals will drive ever higher standards for children.

Thank you. It’s really wonderful to be here in the City, and to be talking about education.

The square mile in which we stand has contributed so much to our nation’s history, values, and of course our economy.

The power of education

But, even that mighty influence, pales in comparison to the power of education. I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear that from a former teacher, headteacher, and the Ofsted Chief Inspector.

In a world of difficult choices, or trade-offs and compromises, education is one of those rare things that can solve so many problems whilst causing no new ones.

The journey towards any target, milestone, or mission that a government, any government, can set, will be made quicker and easier through education. There are no silver bullets however, but education is probably the closest thing we have.

It can contribute to rising growth, and falling unemployment. To reducing crime, and to increasing opportunities. To more innovation and to cutting emissions. To greater happiness and to less deprivation. To a stronger health service and less inequality. To a fairer society and a more secure nation.

I could go on for the whole speech! But you hopefully get the idea!

In short, education can help us achieve almost every goal we have for our young people, our society, and our country.

Difficult choices

But as I’ve said, we do live in a time of difficult choices. When every single penny has to be carefully considered and justified, even if there were silver bullets, there just simply isn’t enough silver.

But it’s also important to say that just throwing more money at education is not the answer. Any money needs to be carefully targeted and justified. It needs to go where it will make the biggest difference. Where it will help the most children and particularly the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Where it will make sure that the most able, whatever their background, can soar. And where those who need it the most will get that help.

So, it’s not just about more money, and it can’t be.

Ofsted’s new proposals

That’s the context in which Ofsted is proposing a whole new approach to inspection.

So, we have built a system to drive ever higher and rising standards for children. To deliver better information for parents to help inform choices and engage them in their children’s education. To help governors and boards, authorities and trusts, to support and guide improvement. To deliver better information to government so they can make choices about where they assign resources and support. And to reduce pressure on all those working in education so they can get on with their vital work.

So that’s the ambition and the context in which we have designed our proposals. We want a better system, that improves the education of all children, with all the myriad benefits that that brings.

I believe our proposals will do this in a number of ways.

Focus on what matters

Firstly, we are focusing on the things that really matters to a good education. We have proposed a number of evaluation areas, of different things that we will look at on inspection. And these are informed by what we know, what my experience informs me, will make a difference to a child’s education, and by what we heard from parents and children in our biggest ever survey last year, the Big Listen.

This includes maintaining our strong focus on curriculum, on the substance of learning. It includes the achievements and the personal development of children. It includes the leadership of the school or educational provider, and how they develop their teachers and staff.

It includes making sure children are prepared for their next step, not least for working life. Obviously, there are many purposes of education, and being ready for work is not the only one, but it is a very important part and we will not shy away from that.

So, our inspections will specifically look at careers programmes in secondary schools. We want to see impartial advice from well-trained staff, engagement with employers, colleges and universities, and opportunities for work-experience.

On that note, we recently had, in Ofsted, a year 12 student on work experience for a week in our London office. She experienced a wide range of activities in our communications team. She actually helped me write this speech, and I encouraged her to do so. She told us how exciting it was to work within a professional office, meet people and see the variety of jobs which keep Ofsted running. Opportunities like this show students the outcomes of hard work, what working life is like, while also giving them ideas for future careers. They are invaluable and it was fantastic to support it from the employer side as well as in schools.

Returning to our inspections, they will also include the vital topics of behaviour and of attendance. We’re proposing, for the first time, to look at these areas separately to really get into the detail. Obviously, a school with better behaviour is more likely to have better attendance, but there is a lot more to it than that, and we want to identify what’s working and what’s not. And we want to empower schools to tackle the problems that they have in a way that works for them. Autonomy and innovation will be recognised and supported.

We want to avoid the problem where one issue, bullying for example, causes a sort of ‘double jeopardy’ situation where it has a knock-on impact on grades in other areas. Let me give you an example, an issue about bullying could impact leadership and management, safeguarding, the quality of education, specifically the curriculum, personal development and behaviour and attitudes. But it is entirely possible that it was a behavioural management issue alone and it should be treated as such. So, as much as possible, we want to isolate our areas and shine a laser like focus on just them.

Our proposals also include a new evaluation area for inclusion. This is something I’m particularly proud of. I’ve always said that if you get it right for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children, you get it right for everyone. And we now have the data at Ofsted to back that up.

Schools that get it right for children with SEND, children who are young carers, children in poverty, children facing an educational or personal setback, they’re not doing it at the expense of the other children. That’s just not how it works. So, Ofsted will recognise schools doing great work for all children through our inclusion evaluation area and by threading inclusion through all our other areas too.

And by reporting on each individual area, not on overall effectiveness or aggregated sub judgements, we hope to paint a far clearer picture of a school. To recognise what they do well and what they could do better. Because no school is perfect, and no school is without merit. Great schools can still have weaknesses, and poor schools can still do things really well. We will recognise this complexity, and respect the intelligence of those reading our reports to understand this.

By maintaining this focus on what matters, and by reporting on it in detail, we hope to drive ever higher standards in education. And we hope to make sure that, as standards rise, no child is left behind. No child’s potential is wasted. They only get one childhood, and they deserve every chance and opportunity.

Built around existing standards

As well as making sure we focus on what really matters, to children, to parents, and to the best possible education, we want to make sure that we’re not asking schools to do anything beyond what is already expected and asked of them. We don’t want leaders or teachers to be doing anything just for us, anything ‘for Ofsted’. If you’re doing the right things for your children, then you’re already doing the right things ‘for Ofsted’. Now, Ofsted has been saying this for years, but I know some of you may still be sceptical. But with this new approach, we have done all that we can to make it as clear and unambiguous as possible.

We have built the entire toolkit, all the documents setting out clearly what we look for, on the existing professional standards teachers and leaders should be working to. On the qualified teacher standards, on the statutory and non-statutory guidance, which already set out what schools should be doing. I hope, if you take a look, you will see nothing in there that a good school, a great school leader isn’t already doing, or at least aspires to be doing.

Let me give you an example, the Qualified Teacher Professional standards currently asks teachers to:

“Demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge [and] have a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas, foster and maintain pupils’ interest in the subject, and address misunderstandings.”

That’s the qualified teacher standards that teachers in England should work to. So, Ofsted is going to ask:

“Teachers explain new content clearly, connecting new information with what pupils already know and/or introducing new content and concepts in a meaningful context. Teachers revisit important content and concepts regularly so that pupils learn them securely and remember them. Teachers check pupils’ understanding systematically, identifying and remedying any gaps or misconceptions. They give effective feedback that supports pupils to improve.”

And this is also true for any other type of educational provision. I’ve mainly talked about schools today, because I know that’s the background of many of you in the audience. But almost everything I’ve mentioned also applies to nurseries, to childminders and to further education providers and colleges. To all the education provision we inspect. About 92,000 institutions.

We have proposed toolkits for each type of provision, tailored to what they do, to the age of their children, and to the relevant existing professional standards that they work to.

Again, I hope this will drive higher standards in education. It will make it clearer than we ever have, that schools shouldn’t be doing anything just for the days that our inspectors come in. They shouldn’t be spending a single minute or penny on anything that isn’t in the best interests of their, your, children. That’s what we want to see. That’s all.

And if we get this right, it will relieve pressure on teachers and leaders. By basing our standards around everything you should already be doing, and by spelling this out clearly, I hope we can eliminate some of these myths, some of the guesswork, and some of the confusion about what you should be doing. Children aren’t best served by stressed teachers, and educational standards aren’t improved when schools can’t recruit or retain the high-quality staff they need. So Ofsted wants to do its bit to help, and to again drive higher standards.

Recognise those going above and beyond

So, we are proposing to recognise when schools are meeting the standards expected of them through our new ‘secure’ grade. And I know there are some who want us to stop there and to say, this school has met the required standard, and that’s good enough.

But I don’t want to just say ‘that’s good enough.’ I don’t think parents want to hear that. And I don’t think leaders and governors, like many of you, really want to say that either. I don’t think that sort of model benefits children, helps parents, or drives higher standards.

So, we are proposing to have two additional grades above ‘secure.’ We are proposing a ‘strong’ grade, for those not just meeting the core standards but going beyond them. Schools will achieve this in areas where they’re really excelling for their children.

And then we are proposing a new top grade of ‘exemplary.’ This will be for truly exceptional practice. For a school or other provider doing something that we believe is worthy of national recognition, that others can learn from or be inspired by.

I believe, through these grades, we will encourage schools to always seek to improve. We will give parents a far more detailed picture of a school’s strengths and the areas to work on. And we will highlight practice that schools could look to, to inform their own improvement journeys.

Once again, I believe this will drive higher standards in education, and all of the benefits that brings.

Recognise uniqueness

Of course, every school is unique. Every set of circumstances is unique. And every set of challenges is also unique. And we will recognise this too. Our proposals will do much more to recognise the context in which a school is operating.

Because it is important to recognise what a school is achieving both in spite of and because of the picture around them, the community that they are a part of, the resources and relationships that they can draw on.

Because a school does not operate in a bubble. The quality of the feeder nurseries or primary schools has an impact. The quality of the secondary school and the colleges has an impact. The support they get from the local authority or trust, the corporation or the liveries, their governors and their PTA, has an impact. The level of education, the relative incomes, and the languages spoken by their community has an impact. The engagement of the parents and carers has an impact. The amount of support available locally for pupils with SEND has an impact. The availability of high-quality teachers and staff in the area has an impact too.

We will consider all of this and more. To recognise what a school has been able to achieve in that context, to place accountability for successes and weaknesses in the right place, and to highlight examples of great practice against the toughest backdrops.

Again, through proper and proportional accountability, we hope to drive higher standards for all children, in all areas.

Help to guide government

We also want to help to guide government, to better target their support, their resources, and their interventions.

To make sure that the right people and institutions are recognised for their success. And make sure improvements are targeting the root of the problem, not the just the symptoms.

For example, think about a secondary school with poor attendance. Obviously, that might be something government wants to offer support to the school to improve. But if all of the local primaries also have poor attendance, if the school is actually doing a bit better than other local secondaries, well then the picture changes.

If a primary school has lower than desired outcomes for their children, that obviously needs rectifying. But if many of their children are arriving unprepared for school, with little or no experience reading, perhaps not even potty trained, again the picture changes.

If a school is struggling with behaviour, then government support, behaviour experts and other interventions could be the answer. But if the local area has problems with gangs, or very few activities and resources for children, or limited support from the local authority, again the picture changes.

Of course, we cannot and will not lower standards. We must and we will expect the best for all children. But I believe our proposals will allow us to follow the threads, get to the root of the problem, and help government target limited resources where they will have the biggest impact. We again hope to drive higher standards for all.

Conclusion

I hope that I have given you a flavour of the content but also the ambition of our proposals. To focus on what matters. To make sure schools are able to dedicate everything to their children. To recognise those going beyond. To recognise every unique school in their context. And to make sure, no minute, pound, or resource is spent in the wrong place or on the wrong problem.

But I hope you will also help us make these proposals that I’ve just outlined even better. There are some fantastic educators in this room, and many more who recognise the transformative power of education. So please take part in our consultation (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-the-way-ofsted-inspects-education). It’s open until 28th April and it’s available on our website.

But I hope you have also seen the ambition that we have and that I have for education in this country.

In many ways, it is already remarkable. It is already something we can be proud of as a nation. Something we should thank everyone, and I thank you, for working in education.

We are outperforming many other countries, in many ways. But we can always do better. We should never stop striving to do better. Especially for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable. That’s an area where we can and must do better.

Our children deserve that. Thank you.