By Editor Eleanor Harding
The head of Ofsted has hinted his inspection report overhaul could affect house prices for people living near schools.
Sir Martyn Oliver said Ofsted ratings can change local house prices by tens of thousands of pounds, because parents 鈥榲alue鈥 them so much.
However, under his new system, the old overall judgements of 鈥榦utstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate鈥 will be scrapped.
Instead, from November, schools will get a more 鈥榥uanced鈥 report card, with ratings issued on a set of up to 10 different areas.
Speaking about the impact, Sir Martyn acknowledged it will stop property websites such as Rightmove selling houses using 鈥榦utstanding ratings鈥 for local schools.
He said: 鈥楬ere’s a burning question, what’s Rightmove going to do? It鈥檚 a serious point.鈥
Asked if the changes would 鈥榓ffect house prices鈥, he replied: 鈥業 don’t know.
However, the former 鈥榮uper-head鈥, who has turned around failing schools, added: 鈥業 do know, that鈥 I ended up sponsoring two special measures schools right where I live, and the house prices shot up.
鈥楾hey were both in special measures, both went outstanding, and the house prices went up 拢15,000 within a week.
鈥業t does make a difference.鈥
Sir Martyn, the chief inspector of schools, was speaking about the new report cards at the Wellington College Festival of Education in Berkshire.
The cards were unveiled in February and full guidance will be issued in the autumn following a consultation.
Currently, Rightmove includes the Ofsted ratings for local schools in its listings for houses for sale.
Parents are willing to pay a premium to be in the catchment area of a highly-rated school, pushing the costs of housing up and pricing out less wealthy families.
Last year, online estate agent Yopa released figures showing Britons are paying 拢116,000 more to live near an ‘outstanding’ school compared to an ‘inadequate’ one.
If overall ratings disappear, it could potentially reduce the clamour to live near certain schools.
Asked if it was a 鈥榞ood thing鈥, Sir Martyn said: 鈥業 think, it’s not whether I think it’s a good or bad thing. [But] parents obviously put a value on it.鈥
Sir Martyn suggested schools will no longer be able to boast about being top in the same way that they used to.
He said: 鈥榃e鈥檝e been doing something for 30-plus years in a single way.
鈥業f I look at my phone, there will be pictures of people standing in front of their schools with balloons, with an O, a U, with a T 鈥 鈥渙utstanding鈥, and local newspapers up and down the country celebrating.
鈥業t happens all of the time.
鈥楢nd we’re about to take that away and change it to something else.鈥
However, he defended his decision to keep some kind of ratings system 鈥 after some teachers lobbied for a prose-only summary.
鈥楶arents are quite clear that they do want some definition, they do want to be able to describe what their child’s school is like,鈥 he said.
鈥楾he single word judgement was crude, it doesn’t give you that nuance and complexity.
鈥楽o now I have a fine balance between providing so much complexity and so much nuance that schools find it stressful and too difficult, it increases their workload, but not enough nuance and not enough complexity that it does them a disservice for the great job that they do.鈥
Ofsted鈥檚 overhaul was triggered after Labour won the election, and was originally intended to make inspections less stressful for teachers.
The inspiration came from the tragic death of headteacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life over her school being downgraded.
However, the new system has been branded 鈥榚ven worse鈥 by teaching unions, and has been compared to a 鈥楴andos spice chart鈥.
The Tories have also said it will confuse parents.
As an interim measure, the overall judgements were scrapped last year 鈥 although those already awarded are valid until the next inspection.
Rightmove has been contacted for comment.