It is impossible to paint a picture of a school in one word, according to the Department of Education, which has scrapped this process of delivering judgement. One word was simply not working for parents and children, according to the DofE's statement. So why is the system still being used for care homes - where the most vulnerable members of society live 24 hours a day?
The Care Quality Commission's care home rating system was based on Ofsted's discredited one word process but it has, remarkably, not been abandoned.
OLM has long argued this is a useless way to rate care homes, since the single words are based on snapshot inspections which can be out of date before the ink is dry. Or, as is regularly the case, they are just completely wrong because care homes are effective at putting on a good show.
And, unlike most schools, many care homes have wealthy and powerful owners, who come armed with teams of lawyers at any hint of a poor rating from the CQC. This all goes, perhaps, to explain why so many homes are rated highly, despite evidence to the contrary.
The DofE said: "We want parents to have access to a much more complete picture of how schools are performing, well beyond a single word....We also want higher standards..."
Older and vulnerable people also deserve more - and better.
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