Martyn Oliver's speech to the Confederation of School Trusts
Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted's Chief Inspector, spoke at the Confederation of School Trusts 2025 annual conference in Birmingham.
Introduction
Good morning. It’s a pleasure to be here in Birmingham at the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) annual conference.
As a board member at the inception of CST all the way back in 2018, I have nothing but admiration for the sensible and professional policy advocacy that CST brings to our education system. We wholly accept and value the challenge that they – and that all of you in this room – bring.
I want to start by echoing the theme of today’s conference, which is: flourishing.
We’re all here to explore collaboration, both within our own organisations and between our organisations.
Because when we collaborate – when we speak, when we listen, when we accept challenge from one another… And particularly when we do all of this with our core mission at the heart…
That’s when we help children to achieve, belong and thrive. It’s the vision we should all be striving for. And those 3 aims – achieve, belong, thrive – not only chime with today’s theme of flourishing but are also, together, at the heart of our new approach.
The role of Ofsted
Because Ofsted’s role in collaboration and helping children to flourish is two-fold.
Yes, we are here to shine the light on where standards need to be raised.
And we also need to spotlight those examples of the very, very best provision in the country, and recognise them so that others can learn from them.
Both these roles matter equally. The former is Ofsted’s legal duty. And the latter is our moral duty to the children and learners we are ultimately here to serve – and to the professionals we inspect, to help facilitate high and rising standards.
We are encouraging trusts to make the most of their agency – to go out there and go into the schools you are responsible for and to raise those standards. Because every trust in this room today has come from good and outstanding schools. That’s why you are here: because you have the background and experience to mark you out as true system leaders who can make change happen.
The catalyst for that change is often inspection and the professional conversations at its core.
Because can you honestly, hand on heart, say that data alone gives you the full story? Does knowing the Key Stage 2 headline figure, knowing how many pupils in your school are on free school meals, or knowing that attendance is 93%, or that grades are up compared to last year, truly tell you the full story?
Can that data ever fully tell you whether every individual child is achieving, belonging, thriving and flourishing?
The answer is simply: of course not. Because school performance is far more complex. It’s about more than just data – and any individual piece of data compresses reality, losing that all-important detail.
Relying on data alone can lead to false comparisons between schools – and, worse – a lowering of expectations.
What is needed is an inspectorate that can get beneath the skin of the data and the day-to-day reality of the school. An inspectorate that can take your unique context into account and recognise when trusts are doing really good work in very difficult circumstances, and also challenge trusts when standards can and should be higher, in spite of positive data.
The role of trusts
These reforms are a direct response to the desire and demand for change.
Your realistic, positive and practical feedback has played a really important part in shaping what we’ve developed. And in return, we have been bold: our response, and these reforms, comprise one of the most significant developments in Ofsted’s history. We now need to rally behind it together.
Because while our inspections focus on individual schools, there is, of course, an expectation on you as trusts.
Trusts weren’t created to maintain the status quo.
Trusts were created to raise standards higher and higher. To be true agents of change. To make improvement happen. You all have a crucial role in setting that strategic vision and in seeing it through.
Some trusts are doing this exceptionally well. There are fantastic examples of trusts raising standards not just in places like London but across the whole country.
What we need is for all trusts to live up to that disruptive spirit and commit to tirelessly pushing standards ever higher. It means taking risks. And it means doing the right thing even though – and especially because – it’s difficult.
Addressing some myths
We are at a crucial moment between launching and landing our new approach at Ofsted.
We’ve just closed our latest recruitment round for schools HMI and we’ve had nearly 900 applications – the most ever – which is incredibly heartening.
And up and down the country, hundreds of people have been taking part in test visits and pilot inspections. I’m grateful to all of them. And I am grateful to all of you, too.
In putting schools forward for these test visits and pilots, you’ve shown how keen CST members are to be at the forefront of shaping and embedding this new approach. It’s that true system leadership we expect and need.
But some myths have emerged, and I want to address these head on, to reassure you and to speak frankly.
First is the myth of overwhelming change. Just a few weeks ago I was driving around the North East, not too far from where I live, and I was so aware of the one-word judgement banners displayed proudly outside schools, nurseries, further education providers… It really brings home the scale of the change we’re making – and the scale of what stands to be achieved.
But to achieve it, we need to do exactly what Steve said in his recent article about collective agency, and lean into this transformation rather than simply trying to map the past onto the present.
I know it can be comforting to try and find correlations with the old system. But this is not about resting on our laurels.
What we were asked for is what we are delivering: a renewed system that actively facilitates improvements to the way that schools operate. A system that resets and reframes the way schools are seen and the way you see yourselves. One that’s about more than just one word displayed on a banner and instead gives a full, rounded narrative that accounts for the experience of every child within its walls.
Second, I want to bust the myth of this false choice between inclusion and high standards. Because what we’re saying is what I’ve known throughout my career: that you can be both inclusive and high achieving.
We want to recognise the tremendous work done by the schools that take on challenging pupils rather than pushing them away: schools that are inclusive in the most multifaceted sense. Delivering inclusion for children with SEND and on free school meals, and for those looked after by the state and those who are young carers.
But as I know – and you all know – being inclusive means setting and realising high standards for these children.
Achievement in school is their passport to the future they deserve.
That is why we will demand – as you all do – high standards of academic achievement for these children. And that is why we will back you in upholding high standards of behaviour in your schools, backing headteachers to enforce rules and routines.
Because it is neither inclusive nor acceptable to acquiesce to the unacceptable behaviour of one pupil, at the expense of the other children in that classroom. The most inclusive schools have the calmest classrooms – where all children feel safe.
So I repeat: inclusion demands high standards.
And third, I also want to address the suggestion that we haven’t considered headteachers’ stress. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
This is the biggest change to how Ofsted grades in 30 years. But for some, it will never be enough because we won’t lessen accountability or remove grading altogether.
I would argue that they are losing sight of why we do what we do, and who we do it for.
We are delivering smarter accountability that raises standards for children and gives them the opportunity to achieve, belong and thrive.
We are giving parents better information so they can make informed decisions about their child’s education and care.
And we are making things fairer for teachers by giving true detail in our judgements that allows all schools to show their strengths. By sharing provisional grades as we work with you during the inspection, with early feedback that will cover all the points you can expect from the written report card. And by shouting about the positives. There are so many good examples out there, and we will celebrate the best while supporting those in greatest need.
There is a persistent, yet flawed story of a poor set of inspection grades automatically leading to headteachers being removed. And I stand here now and say that, throughout my career, I know this is not true.
Every school leader I’ve ever met – including those on the receiving end of a bad set of results or a disappointing Ofsted grade – were in the job for the right reasons.
We all exist to raise standards for children: it is why pressure exists, and we can never fully take that away. But we should all work to remove the pressure which is unnecessary.
That’s why the narrative of schools vs Ofsted and Ofsted vs schools is so unhelpful.
Because what we all do is too important to be used for political ends. We have an enormous responsibility towards children, and also towards our staff. We have to give people a chance to get better, while always ensuring the best outcomes for children.
As I said before: no one here thinks that their job is to maintain the status quo.
I am absolutely committed to building an inspectorate rooted in the profession. Inspection for the sector, by the sector, for children and their families.
So come and join the inspectorate. Embody that true system leadership and help shape this system, and ensure that it becomes self-improving, getting better and better outcomes for every individual child.
Wrap-up
Because that is the north star that guides these reforms. When I look out there, what I see are the same areas struggling today that were struggling when I was a teacher 30 years ago. Things have got to be different.
There’s no way I could stand up here and support reforms that would put the schools I used to run, that I drive past, where I live in the North of England, at a disadvantage.
But I do support and believe in reforms that will find great things in Liverpool and Leicester, in London and in Tunbridge Wells – and right here in Birmingham. A framework that recognises excellence wherever it appears.
It’s about moving our school system from good to great for everyone, not just for a few, and ensuring that trusts use their collective agency in delivering the excellence that children and learners deserve.
Because that is how we help every child to achieve, belong, thrive and flourish.
Thank you.