Accountability plans too narrow, heads say

Government plans for reforming how schools are held accountable are too narrow and should include the roles of Ofsted, local authorities and the schools commissioner, according to headteachers.

In its submission to the Department for Education’s (DfE) consultation on school accountability, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has said that the exercise fails to address the purpose of holding schools accountable.

The consultation process, which ended last week, followed the publication of proposals that could see the benchmark of five A* to C grades, including English and maths, scrapped as the main measure of a school’s success. 

Instead, there will be a new “average point score” progress measure which includes eight subjects – English, maths, three other English Baccalaureate subjects, and three other options.