Kate, 

You may recall our work in 2016 when we mobilised hundreds of colleagues across the country to argue for a positive agenda for change in assessment practice and accountability - the @BeyondLevels #LearningFirst community.  We gave folk a voice, a positive agenda for change and collective agency. We believed then, and still do now, that the solutions to improve education practices come from within the profession. We didn't wait for Ofsted or the Government to make the change needed then. We did it ourselves!! We created the #LearningFirst community, many of whom, even some seven years later, maintain that their professional lives changed for the positive as a result of our movement. It was only later that Ofsted caught up when in 2018, the current HMCI announced that inspectors would not look at non-statutory internal progress and attainment data on inspections of schools.

Since the tragic death by suicide of our colleague Ruth Perry, we have been closely observing the media and Twitter over the last seven weeks or so, and yes, there have been fits and starts of coverage, lots of outrage and some useful pockets of action, but the response from Ofsted, the Government and other political parties have been woefully inadequate. If they are not going to respond to a grieving sister demanding change, over 3000 colleagues and, latterly, nearly 400 headteachers, all sharing their negative stories of Ofsted, who are they going to respond to? 

This took us back to thinking about what we learned from @BeyondLevels #LearningFirst.  We were in a similar situation back then - the profession was at its wit's end with levels, points of progress and tracking grids, and how this negatively impacted teaching and learning and that Ofsted outcomes were so heavily reliant on this internal assessment data, which was leading to perverse practices in schools, 

We responded back in 2016 for the same reason that we felt we needed to respond this time, too - the profession is desperately calling for change with no indication that either Ofsted or the Government are considering the deep change needed. Perhaps their strategy is to just wait it out; the pressure will dissipate, and the problem will disappear, and although organisations and folk are trying to keep the momentum going, the outrage is dissipating. Teachers and school leaders are very busy people, and this is a busy time for them. But where does this anger disappear to? It will be internalised and added to that day-to-day swirling mass of stress and anxiety that most of the profession carry inside them. You are very aware of the number of colleagues leaving heads leaving education because they consider the current system to 'be broken'. 

So, it is that time again - time for the profession to start taking action to change things for ourselves in our schools. We cannot afford to wait for Ofsted or the Government - we are losing too many good people! 

You can read a summary of our proposals here.

The proposals in detail, backed up by research, personal testimony and commentary, are here. 

We think there are things that the profession can literally start doing today that will start to change the culture and make a difference. We hope that, on behalf of Challenge Partners, you will be able to respond positively to our proposals and seek to do everything you can do as an organisation to support the profession in its determination to start to try to make these proposals a reality. 

With warm regards,

The #LearningFirst community