The comments made by Ed Davey, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, on Twitter on 15 June 2023.
Boris Johnson is a liar and law-breaker. He’s treated the public with utter disdain. And while these Conservatives fight among themselves again, the country suffers. People are fed up. Rishi Sunak should call a General Election and give people the chance to end this charade.
The comments made by Anna Soubry, the Conservative MP for Broxtowe from 2010 to 2019, on Twitter on 15 June 2023.
It’s official – #BorisJohnson is a liar. The man who led the campaign to take us out of the #EU who was PM during #Covid is indeed the great charlatan many of us have been calling him for years. The worst PM ever must now be consigned to the rubbish bin of history.
The comments made by Lee Anderson, the Vice-Chair of the Conservative Party, on Twitter on 7 May 2023.
Not My King? If you do not wish to live in a country that has a monarchy the solution is not to turn up with your silly boards. The solution is to emigrate.
The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on Twitter on 5 May 2023.
We’ve changed our party.
We’ve won the trust and confidence of voters.
And now we can go on to change our country: to cut the cost of living, cut waiting times and cut crime.
Let’s build a better Britain.
The comments made by Andrew Bridgen, the Independent MP for North West Leicestershire, on Twitter on 5 May 2023.
A dire night for the Conservative Party in the local elections. Ignore the will of people at your peril.
When the people are scared of the politicians that’s tyranny, when the politicians are scared of the people that’s democracy.
A lot of politicians will rightly be getting scared now.
The comments made by John Redwood, the Conservative MP for Wokingham, on Twitter on 5 May 2023.
Many former Conservative voters stayed at home in protest at high taxes, lack of control of our borders, and too much local and national government interference in their lives.
The statement made by Simon Clarke, the Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, on 5 May 2023.
The comments made by Johnny Mercer, the Conservative MP for Plymouth Moor View, on Twitter on 5 May 2023.
I’m afraid it’s been a terrible night in Plymouth as we lost every seat we stood in. We lost some outstanding friends and colleagues who have given decades of service to Plymouth.
Take it on the chin, learn and go again tomorrow. It’s going to be a fight but I like a fight.
The comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Labour Party, on 24 April 2023.
In my view, what she said was to be condemned, it was antisemitic.
Diane Abbott has suffered a lot of racial abuse over many, many years. That doesn’t take away from the fact that I condemn the words she used and we must never accept the argument that there’s some sort of hierarchy of racism.
I will never accept that, the Labour party will never accept that, and that’s why we acted as swiftly as we did yesterday.
The comments made by Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Ofsted, on 21 April 2023.
In recent weeks there has been much debate about reform of school inspections. The media has carried stories from teachers about their past Ofsted experiences and calls for change from unions and others. I want to acknowledge the continuing debate and the strength of feeling, and I want to set out some of the things we’re doing and reflect on the suggestions of more radical reform.
The Secretary of State for Education has been clear that Ofsted inspection is a vital part of the school system. As she said, our independent assessments provide important assurance to parents, the wider community and to government that pupils are receiving a high-quality education and are being kept safe. Our current inspection process was introduced in 2019 after extensive consultation with the education sector, and we have had good feedback from the vast majority who have experienced a new-style inspection.
However, Ofsted is always looking out for ways it can improve. Just as every headteacher knows there are always things that can be done better in schools, so our inspectors – mostly former heads – know that about Ofsted. We regularly discuss changes with representative groups, unions, Ministers and others – I met the Secretary of State just this week to discuss our plans. Since the tragic news about Ruth Perry first broke these conversations have intensified, and I want to bring some of that out into the open.
We are making changes. One of the most critical areas we look at on inspection is safeguarding. Keeping children safe is so important that a school can be graded inadequate if safeguarding is poor – even if everything else in a school is done well. The Secretary of State said this week that safeguarding is vital. We won’t be soft on safeguarding, but it’s an area which isn’t always well-understood. It’s sometimes mis-characterised as an exercise in paperwork, but as everyone who works in schools knows, it’s much more than that. We need to see that schools understand and manage the risks of children coming to harm. We need to know that prompt action is taken when it happens.
However, we do recognise that some gaps in schools’ knowledge or practice are easier to put right than others. We are looking at how we can return more quickly to schools who have work to do on safeguarding but are otherwise performing well. That should enable us to see fast improvements and reflect them in our judgements.
It’s also important that when school leaders disagree with our judgements there is a robust system of review. We are currently piloting changes to our complaints process which I hope will make it more responsive – so that issues can be addressed during the inspection rather than considered afterwards, which creates delay and frustration. I also want to ensure that when a complaint is made about our work, people feel that they have had a fair and thorough hearing.
We want to emphasise some of the things that can be done to support school leaders during inspections. We recognise that there is some uncertainty about who can sit-in on meetings between inspectors and school staff, to provide that support. So we want all heads and teachers to know they can have a colleague from the school or trust join discussions with inspectors if they wish. Also, while we strongly recommend provisional inspection outcomes aren’t shared with parents before the report is finalised, headteachers and responsible bodies can share that information with others in confidence. We’ve asked headteacher unions and school trust representatives to help us share this information with their members.
Now that we can routinely inspect all schools graded outstanding after government lifted the exemption, many are facing inspection having not been through one for some time. To help heads in those schools, we are arranging seminars to talk them through the process, and for those yet to be inspected we will provide additional clarity about the broad timing of their next visit. This builds on many briefings we have given about inspection over the past few years, attended by thousands of teachers and leaders. We really want to de-mystify the process and do what we can to reduce the pressure that we know headteachers feel about inspection.
However, I also want to be honest about some of the more far-reaching suggestions that have been put forward. Four weeks ago I described the debate around grading as a legitimate one. I certainly recognise that distilling all that a school is and does into a single word makes some in the sector uncomfortable, particularly when there are consequences of the grade awarded.
But as I’ve said previously, the overall grade currently plays an integral part in the wider school system. Ofsted inspects, showcases good practice and, where necessary, diagnoses if there are significant issues at a school. That’s where the role we have been given stops. School improvement is the role of schools themselves, and school trusts, facilitated and supported by government. It can take many forms, and government uses Ofsted’s overall grade to determine how best to support improvement. We also know that many parents find the grading system useful, whether that’s in choosing a school or to understand the one their child attends. So any new approach would need to meet the needs of the whole system.
I would like there to be as much attention paid to the full report and the 4 sub-judgements as the overall judgement. Taken together, the sub-judgements present a rounded picture:
These are the questions parents want answers to.
I’m grateful for the thoughtful contributions I’ve had from many people within the education world. We are not deaf to the calls for change, or insensitive to the needs of schools and their staff; we will continue to listen carefully to the experiences and views of those we inspect. I’m sure the changes described here do not go far or fast enough for some, but I’ve also tried to explain the complexities and boundaries within which we do our important work.
Education is the greatest gift any society can give its children – and teachers deserve our gratitude for the invaluable job they do. Inspection doesn’t exist to do teachers down, far from it, it exists to help children get the education they deserve and to celebrate great practice, of which there is plenty. The part we play is small in comparison to those who work in our schools – but it’s in children’s interests that we work constructively together. In that spirit, we will continue to explore ways to make our work as effective and collaborative as it can be.