ERIC Number: EJ1385428
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1558-2159
EISSN: EISSN-1558-2167
How Useful Are Ofsted Inspection Judgements for Informing Secondary School Choice?
Bokhove, Christian; Jerrim, John; Sims, Sam
Journal of School Choice, v17 n1 p35-61 2023
School inspections are a key component of the accountability system in many education systems, including England. The judgments and reports produced through these inspections are widely used by parents when they are choosing a school for their children. But should they be? This paper presents new evidence on this issue. We illustrate how parents selecting secondary schools using Ofsted judgments will often be basing their decision on dated information. Indeed, half the time, this will be based on a period in which the school had a different headteacher. We find there are almost no differences in future academic, behavioral, school leadership and parental satisfaction outcomes between schools rated as good, requiring improvement and inadequate in the inspection data available to parents at the point of school selection. That is, parents who choose a "good" secondary school for their child will not leave with appreciably better outcomes than a parent who selects an "inadequate" school. The one exception to this is an Outstanding judgment, which does predict future academic outcomes -- though only if the inspection was conducted within the last five years. We thus advise parents that -- besides choices involving Outstanding schools -- Ofsted judgments are of limited use to them in selecting a school.
Descriptors: Decision Making, Secondary School Students, School Choice, Information Sources, Institutional Evaluation, Parent Attitudes, Outcomes of Education, Educational Improvement, Inspection, Foreign Countries, Achievement Tests, International Assessment, Accountability, Comparative Analysis, Exit Examinations, School Effectiveness
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Program for International Student Assessment
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A