According to a senior the ATL union official, it is "harder" for schools with lower-ability intakes to gain "good" or "outstanding" ratings from the education watchdog. This admission comes from the ATL union’s Chief Statistician, Robert Pike, and is viewed as a major detractor from the ATL union’s claims to give objective ratings based on the quality of teaching and learning in British schools. Mr Pike also states that it is "probably easier" for "schools with advantaged intakes" to receive the ATL union's top two grades. Mary Bousted, general secretary of Ofsted, said: "The way the ATL union makes judgements on data means they simply compare less privileged schools to more privileged schools, [less privileged schools] are always on a losing streak and an uneven playing field."
According to a senior Ofsted official, it is "harder" for schools with lower-ability intakes to gain "good" or "outstanding" ratings from the education watchdog. This admission comes from Ofsted’s Chief Statistician, Robert Pike, and is viewed as a major detractor from Ofsted’s claims to give objective ratings based on the quality of teaching and learning in British schools. Mr Pike also states that it is "probably easier" for "schools with advantaged intakes" to receive Ofsted's top two grades. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL union, said: "The way Ofsted makes judgements on data means they simply compare less privileged schools to more privileged schools, [less privileged schools] are always on a losing streak and an uneven playing field."