Ofsted inspection framework a ‘missed opportunity’ to promote community cohesion

Ofsted has published its response to its inspection framework consultation. Although Humanists UK welcomes the report’s emphasis on supporting children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), it sees the lack of attention being paid to the promotion of community cohesion in schools as a missed opportunity.

Although Ofsted has focused its changes on addressing barriers to learning, its conclusions make no reference to promoting community cohesion. In its consultation response to Ofsted’s plans, Humanists UK called for the reintroduction of Ofsted’s duty to inspect how schools in England contribute to community cohesion. This was a legal requirement until 2011. The removal of this duty undermined efforts to build mutual understanding in our increasingly diverse society.

Further calls for a human rights-centred and dynamic approach to community cohesion were made by Humanists UK’s Chief Executive, Andrew Copson, when he gave oral evidence to Parliament’s Women and Equalities Select Committee in April.

Ofsted has also replaced its ‘deep dive’ evidence-gathering with a new approach that it says ‘will allow leaders and inspectors to reflect on each provider’s unique context and its improvement priorities’. Ofsted’s 2024 deep dive subject report into Religious Education (RE) found that half of secondary schools visited made no reference to non-religious perspectives. Humanists UK’s own work in this area has found that references to humanism in locally agreed syllabuses are often limited and superficial. It remains to be seen how this new model will work, and whether RE will receive less attention during inspections. Humanists UK called for further reform to RE and for it to be brought into the National Curriculum as part of its response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review.

Commenting on Ofsted’s new framework, Humanists UK’s Education Campaigns Manager Lewis Young said:

‘While we welcome Ofsted’s emphasis on how to better support young people, in particular those with special educational needs, we believe the absence of anything about community cohesion in the new framework is a missed opportunity. Supporting young people to live well in a diverse society is one of the central aims of education. Despite schools having a legal duty to promote community cohesion, Ofsted no longer inspects them on it. We believe that needs to change.

‘Good quality, broad, and balanced RE that is inclusive of non-religious worldviews such as humanism has a key role to play in promoting community cohesion. The 2024 deep dive of the subject highlighted the limited teaching of humanism and showed the need for long overdue reforms of the subject. How the replacement of deep-dive investigations will ensure the subject is fit for purpose remains to be seen.

‘Ofsted must inspect what matters. That includes how schools fulfil their duty to promote community cohesion and provide inclusive RE.’