The Algorithm Age

The head of Ofsted has hinted his inspection report overhaul could affect house prices for people living near schools. Sir Martyn Oliver said Ofsted ratings can change local house prices by tens of thousands of pounds, because parents ‘value’ them so much. However, under his new system, the old overall judgements of ‘outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate’ will be scrapped. Instead, from November, schools will get a more ‘nuanced’ report card, with ratings issued on a set of up to 10 different areas. Speaking about the impact, Sir Martyn acknowledged it will stop property websites such as Rightmove selling houses using ‘outstanding ratings’ for local schools. He said: ‘Here's a burning question, what's Rightmove going to do? It’s a serious point.’ Asked if the changes would ‘affect house prices’, he replied: ‘I don't know. However, the former ‘super-head’, who has turned around failing schools, added: ‘I do know, that… I ended up spo...

Click here to visit the Scotland home page for the latest news and sport The new boss of Scotland’s exams quango resigned from his previous role following child safety concerns at the council he ran. Nick Page has been announced as the chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, and will automatically switch to the same role at the new Qualifications Scotland body when it is set up later this year. But concerns have been raised about the way he left his job as chief executive of Solihull Council after a 2023 review found that children faced ‘significant harm’ due to delayed responses from its ‘inadequate’ children’s services. Mr Page resigned following the Ofsted report, saying new leadership would help bring about the necessary changes. The SQA has refused to confirm his exact salary in the new role, saying only that it was ‘within the range set by Scottish Government for CEOs of that grade’ and that the job had been advertised with a salar...