Inspections make schools improve

Released 16/02/2012

Schools that have been failed by Ofsted go on to show improvement according to study

Inspections have a positive affect on schools, according to study

According to a report by the BBC, research findings released by the London School of Economics show that inspections actually bring improvement to a school’s performance.

The study was intended to investige the true validity of Ofsted inspections in light of recent criticism.

The inspection results of 500 secondary schools were compared with data collected by the government on what pupils, teachers and parents thought of their school.

Iftikhar Hussain, researcher at the LSE said: "The critical issue is whether inspection ratings summarise information about underlying school quality that is not already available in the public sphere. My findings demonstrate that on this measure, inspectors appear to be doing a reasonable job.”

He added: "Even after controlling for things like test scores and the socio-economic background of pupils, inspection ratings appear to have substantial power in predicting underlying quality."

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