Oftsed will have to undertake major reforms under a Labour government and stay out of politics, the shadow education secretary has announced.
In a reference to some of the schools in Birmingham caught up in alleged Islamist infiltration, Tristram Hunt said that Ofsted – headed by Sir Michael Wilshaw – should not allow schools without a broad curriculum to attain outstanding status.
Writing in the Observer, he also said he was concerned by the way Ofsted had become politicised. Wilshaw was regarded as a close ally of Michael Gove during much of the latter’s time as education secretary.
Hunt writes: “It is not Ofsted’s place to adjudicate on whether schools have performance-related pay, whether a good school should be converted into an academy, or to follow every ministerial fad on British values or otherwise.”
In a reference to Birmingham academies in areas where the curriculum had been stripped down, he adds: “Under a Labour government, Ofsted will inspect ‘broad and balanced curriculum’, so you cannot be outstanding if you have stripped out drama, music and sport from the school day.”
Hunt’s comments will please many teachers, who have complained that Ofsted has overstepped its remit of late. The governing bodies of schools forced to become academies have previously accused the inspectorate of prioritising the government’s academy programme at the expense of children’s education.
Hunt also confirms that he was not against giving heads more independence, but suggests that Gove had overly fragmented the system and makes a comparison to former health secretary Andrew Lansley’s reforms.
He writes: “From Norway to Singapore, successful school policies focus on quality of teaching and strength of leadership. Unfortunately, David Cameron jettisoned all that for relentless structural reform, curriculum instability and an assault on teachers as ‘enemies of promise’.
“What Andrew Lansley did to the NHS, Michael Gove attempted on our schools and we are still living with the consequences ... As the election looms, I am keener than anyone for education policy to be debated. But I am also desperate for a conversation which leaves behind the incendiary rhetoric of ‘The Blob’ [Gove’s phrase for the educational establishment] and ‘class war’.”
Hunt’s comments suggest that the competition for the teacher vote is hotting up. Last month the new education secretary, Nicky Morgan, signalled a break from the Gove administration, and said her task was “about listening to what teachers are saying, and saying to them, ‘What can we do?’”
She also criticised Gove’s language over the educational establishment. While claiming not to know who had coined the “Blob”phrase, she said: “I was busy doing other things at the time. But it doesn’t help in terms of people using that quote.”
