Member

The schools’ inspectorate, Ofsted, might seem the obvious backstop, yet its role is fundamentally misaligned with this task. Its inspectors are by profession teachers, not lawyers, and they are not equipped to make legal judgments on statutory duties. When they are challenged about rating certain schools as, say, outstanding, despite clear evidence that they are in breach of some of their legal obligations, Ofsted’s defence is that it is “not a compliance-driven inspectorate”. That may come as a shock to noble Lords, but that is how it sees itself. Any hope we might have that it is requiring schools to comply with laws from this place goes out of the window.