Parent View

In 2011, Ofsted launched their Parent View website where parents and carers can answer questions about their child’s school.
They say: “Parent View asks for your opinion on 12 aspects of your child’s school, from the quality of teaching, to dealing with bullying and poor behaviour. We will use the information you provide when making decisions about which schools to inspect, and when.”

The twelve questions are:
Q1   ’My child is happy at this school’
Q2   ’My child feels safe at this school’
Q3   ’My child makes good progress at this school’
Q4   ’My child is well looked after at this school’
Q5   ’My child is taught well at this school’
Q6   ’My child receives appropriate homework for their age’
Q7   ’This school makes sure its pupils are well behaved’
Q8   ’This school deals effectively with bullying
Q9   ’This school is well led and managed’
Q10 ‘This school responds well to any concerns I raise’
Q11 ‘I receive valuable information from the school about my child’s progress’
Q12 Would you recommend this school to another parent?

Parents would need to register in order to use the website, and answer Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree or Strongly Disagree to Q1-11, and Yes or No to Question 12. The registration details (name and email) will not be passed on to the school.

Results will not be published until each school reaches a certain number or percentage.
That number is stated to be a minimum of three responses

There is no general facility for additional comments to be made, though within the consultation document A Good Education For All, it is proposed that for the duration of an inspection, parents would be able to add their comments to the Parent View pages. See Page 10, proposal 6, which says: “We have not introduced ‘no notice’ inspections in the past because we have not been able to find a way to gather parents’ views without giving warning of the inspection. We now have a solution to this. Parent View enables parents to comment on their child’s school at any time during the school year. During inspection there will be an additional facility to enable parents to ‘post’ comments about the school, as well as complete the questionnaire. Comments will not be visible to other parents, but will be sent to the lead inspector. We will adapt our inspection methodology to make sure that there is time to take account of the views of parents and to talk to governors, as in the current inspection.”

There was speculation that poor ratings from the Parent View website from a handful of parents could trigger an Ofsted inspection under the new framework, even for Outstanding schools.

Ofsted chair, Baroness Sally Morgan said, “What parents tell us through these questionnaires will be considered when making decisions about when a school should be inspected. Whilst parents’ views alone cannot trigger an inspection, they will provide a vital piece of the jigsaw. I hope everyone with an interest in education will welcome this innovation and that parents around the country will use Parent View to make their views count.”

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: “It’s not clear why parents, who may have quite legitimate questions to which they seek answers, would choose the route of a questionnaire to express their concerns, or otherwise, about a school. Apart from the obvious question as to what useful purpose the questionnaire will serve, this is a system which is open to abuse. Schools could easily be targeted by parents unfairly, or even in anger, which could result in a false impression being given of the school.”

• FAQ about Parent View (also see below)
• The new Ofsted Inspection Framework is to be implemented from January 2012
• Read Eduscope’s blog post on the implications for schools.
• Register on Parent View to give your views.
• You can search the Parent View website for the results for any school, once a “sufficient number” has been reached.
• To avoid misuse, the site will only allow one response from any email address. Further responses will overwrite the previous ones from that email address.

Link to us: You can add a picture link from Parent View to your school website by pasting in an HTML code. Various designs (square, banner etc) are available from Ofsted here.

NB The FAQ are listed in full below (as published October 2011)

Q: What is Parent View?

A: Parent View is an on-line questionnaire that gives parents and carers the chance to tell Ofsted about their child’s school. From January 2012, Ofsted will use the information to help make decisions about which schools to inspect and when. Parents’ views on-line will also be available to inspectors at the point of inspection along side the traditional paper-based school questionnaires.

Q: Why do we want the views of parents and carers?

A: Parents’ and carers’ perceptions are crucial in coming to a view about the effectiveness of a school. These views will form part of the jigsaw of information we use to form our overall assessment of a school when we inspect and when it comes to making decisions about which schools to inspect and when.

Q: Are all schools on Parent View?

A: Yes, apart from independent schools which do not currently feature on Parent View.

Q: Why do parents and carers have to register to use the site?

A: This is part of site security. The site requires parents/carers to enter an email address and a password to complete the questionnaire. If someone does fill in the questionnaire for the same school more than once using the same email address, the previous entries will be deleted. So, there will only ever be one questionnaire from one email address for a specific school in any school year. The site is also protected from automated form filling software by a ‘captcha’ that asks parents/carers to read two words from the screen and enter them into a box. Other security measures are also in place to identify abuse.

Q: What happens if a parent/carer wants to change their email address?

A: Once a parent/carer has registered they will be able to access their profile page where they can change their email address, password and the number of schools they have children at.

Q: When can parents/carers give their views to Ofsted?

A: Parents/carers will be able to submit a survey about the school/s their children attend at any time during the school year. If they submit another survey at a later time in the school year then their previous submission will be replaced if they use the same email address.

Q: Can parents/carers give views about more than one school?

A: Yes, when a parent or carer registers they are asked how many different schools they have children at. They can register and give their views for up to nine different schools.

Q: Can more than one parent/carer complete the survey for their child?

A: Yes, if a child has more than one parent/carer then each one can complete the survey. This is important as they may have different perspectives.

Q: What happens if a child changes school during the year?

A: If a child changes school during a school year and the parents/carers have already filled in a survey for the previous school they need to add another school to their profile page. This will allow them to then give their views on their new school.

Q: What information can parents and carers give to Ofsted?

A: Parent View asks parents and carers to give their opinions on 12 aspects of their child’s school from the quality of teaching to dealing with bullying and poor behaviour. The topics have been chosen to reflect what parents told us are the most important issues and include areas where our experience tells us may be indictors for concern. Parents and carers will be able to give their views using a four point scale from strongly agree, to strongly disagree.

Q: What happens if parents and carers want to write free text?

A: Parents and carers will not be able to reply using free text at present. This is because the analysis of responses will be automated and Parent View is not a method for complaining or sharing individual concerns about a school with Ofsted. We will keep this under review as part of further developing the site.

Q: What happens if parents and carers want to make a complaint about a school?

A: Parent View does not replace the current arrangements for raising a complaint or notifying the appropriate body regarding concerns about the safety or wellbeing of a child. Ofsted has some powers to investigate certain complaints about schools and a link from the Parent View introduction page will take viewers directly to the relevant information.

Q: What happens if parents and carers have a safeguarding concern about a school?

A: Ofsted does not investigate safeguarding concerns about schools. The Parent View pages explain that if parents/carers have a safeguarding concern they should make a referral through the Local Authority Designated Officer.

Q: Will parents/carers be able to view the results of an individual school?

A: Yes, results will be published in real-time and will be available on the website for schools, parents/carers and the general public. However, we will not publish the results until we have a minimum of three responses.

Q: How will Ofsted ensure that views are anonymous?

A: All submissions will remain anonymous. Schools will not have access to email addresses and neither will the risk assessment team which will receive data only.

Q: What will happen to the information a parent/carer gives?

A: Information about a school from the Parent View responses may contribute to a school’s annual risk assessment to help decide if and when the school should be inspected. The risk assessment process uses a range of information including performance and attendance data, any concerns raised with Ofsted by local authorities and any other information Ofsted holds about a school. The views of parents and carers are a part of the jigsaw of information.

In addition, if during the year the Parent View responses give rise to a significant concern about a school Ofsted may conduct a review of all the information we hold about a school. The responses from Parent View will be taken into account but will not, on their own, trigger an inspection.

Q: Will schools be able to see the results from the survey?

A: Yes, results will be published on Parent View in real-time and will be available to schools, parents/carers and the general public. This will allow the comparison of results between schools. At the end of the academic year the results will be ‘frozen’ for that year and a new set of results will begin. This will allow comparisons to be made between the results for one year with another.

Q: How can a school contact Ofsted about Parent View?

A: The headteacher/principal or the appropriate authority should write to Maria Dawes HMI, Principal Officer, Parental Engagement at Parentview@ofsted.gov.uk.

Q: Will Ofsted be publishing ‘league tables’ of results.

A: No, we will only be publishing the results for each individual school. However, as results are published on the internet in real-time it will be possible for comparisons to be made by third parties if they wish. We will publish a summary of results for all schools in the country, probably at the end of the academic year.