Parents can now evaluate the performance of their child’s school on a new website produced by the Government’s education watchdog, Ofsted.
Covering more than 22,000 schools across England, Parent View invites parents to complete a 12-question online survey on how they feel their child’s school is doing across a wide range of educational, social and pastoral issues.
Parents are asked to rate their responses, from “strongly agree” through to “strongly disagree” to statements such as “My child is happy at this school”, “My child is taught well at this school”, “This school is well led and managed” and “I would recommend this school to another parent”.
Views are also sought on issues of bullying, homework, behaviour and educational progress, and on how well a school communicates with parents and responds to their concerns.
Survey results for each school are published on the website in real time. They will then be saved and made available to view at the end of the academic year to provide an ongoing year-on-year report for schools.
As well as providing parents with important information which can feed into decisions about their child’s education, Ofsted claims that website responses will also be used to inform its priorities for school inspections.
However, the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Christine Blower, has outlined serious concerns about the launch of Parent View, questioning the need for such a questionnaire and arguing that parents should engage directly with schools and teachers. She also expressed the fear that the system is open to abuse by malicious or disaffected parents, adding that “It really is time that the Government insisted everyone listened to what they themselves say should happen and start trusting teachers, and not put their faith in subjective measurements such as this.”
Parent View can be found at:
www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk
