Ofsted: schools can provide safer environment

Released 02/09/2011

Ofsted recommendations that safeguarding enforced in the best schools can be replicated throughout all schools is met with agreement from teachers, but stress that “common sense approach” is the future

The Ofsted report has been met with met with mixed reaction from teachers and school managers

There is no reason why good practice in safeguarding and promoting children’s welfare should not be a feature of every school, Ofsted announce in a report published today.

The report Safeguarding in schools: best practice highlights the features of “exceptionally good” practice of safeguarding in schools where safeguarding was judged to be “outstanding” between September 2009 and July 2010.

The inspection was aimed to help schools focus on the need to ensure that all appropriate steps are taken to guarantee and promote children’s safety. Ofsted reported that though nearly all schools now give a high priority to getting their safeguarding procedures right – safeguarding arrangements are no better than satisfactory in 21% of schools overall, and stated that this percentage allowed room for “considerable improvement”.

Her Majesty’s chief inspector, Miriam Rosen said: “There can be no issue of greater importance to parents and carers, or to schools, than the safety of their children.

“The good practice described in this report is replicable, with a sensible awareness of the local context, in every school. I hope schools can use this report as a practical working document to help them understand the features of good practice and to make improvements where required.”

The report has been met with met with mixed reaction from teachers and school managers.

Despite schools stressing that the usage of the phrase “no better than satisfactory” by Ofsted should not be confused with “not satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory”, teachers have been in agreement of Ofsted’s recommendations, in particular with the emphasis of the “common sense” approach to safeguarding.

Response: Association of School and College Leaders

ASCL (Association of School and College Leaders) General Secretary Brian Lightman said: "It's good to see that the report stresses the importance of pragmatic approaches to safeguarding, as this is not always the message schools have received during inspection. The report acknowledges that the most common reasons for inadequate judgments on safeguarding were incomplete records and risk assessments, not reviewing policies and insufficient training. These criteria do not reflect a holistic and common sense approach to safeguarding.”

“School leaders and governors are well aware of their responsibilities for keeping young people safe. They need the flexibility and autonomy to meet all requirements in the most appropriate way, rather than a tick box approach.” He said.

However, he also stated that the phraseology of Ofsted’s report could be misconstrued, commenting that: "It is seriously misleading that Ofsted continues to interpret the term satisfactory as the opposite of its dictionary definition. If they mean unsatisfactory they should say so.

"They cannot state that 21% of schools were 'only satisfactory' and draw the conclusion that this indicates the need for 'considerable improvement'. While everyone would like all schools to be excellent or good, when a school is satisfactory it has reached the appropriate standard in terms of safeguarding."

Reinterpretation - National Association of Head Teachers

Alternately, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has welcomed Ofsted’s confirmation that 98 per cent of schools are getting safeguarding right.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT, said “Away from their family, the safest place a child can be is in school and, unfortunately, for some children, schools are the safest place full stop.

“We must never become complacent and we cannot eliminate all risk, but Ofsted’s review shows a rigorous and intelligent framework of protection in place in our schools. We know the backgrounds of people who work with children, school property is secure and school staff are on the lookout for the warning signs of danger elsewhere and ready to share that information with other agencies.”

Overall it is hard to determine exactly how the report should be interpreted and if; overall, the safeguarding measures that schools employ should be overhauled or merely altered.

It is clear that the safeguarding system schools currently have in place is satisfactory in nine out of ten cases, as Ofsted reported – however, the means by which to improve this system to a good or exceptional standard would require a transition of the school safeguarding process from a categorical system to a more pragmatic and autonomous approach to child welfare.

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