User needs
When reviewing the impact that joining a trust has on academies,
I need to understand Ofsted ratings before and after joining a trust,
So that I can see if any support is required.
Introduction
As of 1 September 2024, Ofsted stopped providing a Single Headline Grade (SHG) when inspecting an educational establishment. The SHGs previously used were:
- Outstanding
- Good
- Requires improvement
- Inadequate
As of September 2025, a new report card system will be introduced for educational establishments. In the interim, Ofsted will continue to make use of a series of sub-judgements, which previously sat alongside the SHG. The sub-judgements are as follows:
- Quality of education
- Behavior and attitudes
- Personal development
- Effectiveness of leadership and management
- Early years provision (where applicable)
- Sixth form provision (where applicable)
Each sub-judgement is given a grade, which corresponds with the SHGs.
A new approach to displaying Ofsted data was required within FIAT, to remove SHGs for each academy and instead, display sub-judgements.
At the same time, two new data points were to be introduced:
- Effective safeguarding
- Category of concern
What we did
Information architecture
We learnt from our Private Beta that users frequently navigated to pages with Ofsted information on, quite soon after completing a search for a Trust.
Given that we had recently reviewed the service information architecture, we took the opportunity to consider where Ofsted could be better placed. Previously, it was its own sub-page, hidden within “Academies” - quite a few levels deep.
As part of this work, we raised it up a level and included a link to it in the primary navigation. This allowed us to better restructure the information within, as we now had the flexibility through the use of sub-pages.
For a first release, we nested four pages under the overarching “Ofsted”:
- Current ratings
- Previous ratings
- Important dates
- Safeguarding and concerns
Introducing new sub-pages in this way also gave us time to consider new groups of information. For example, displaying all important dates within one table alone, rather than mixing them up with other types of data. Ultimately, this makes information easier to find, read and “portable”, should the team ever need to move it elsewhere within the product.
Consistent design choices
Consistency is key within FIAT, with most pages displaying information either using the summary card component, or within a table. Information about current and previous ratings in particular required us to display all seven sub-judgements, as well as other columns in one go.
This was a particularly challenging design task, as we needed to create a solution to meet the needs of a new policy change, whilst retaining the original solution meeting a user need to compare and contrast academy Ofsted data, all in an accessible way that is consistent with other pages within the service.
To help users ease into these changes, we made an explicit decision to continue the use of “tags” to represent ratings that were given before an academy had joined a trust, or after. Reusing familiar components in the same way helps to ease the burden and pressure put on users to learn a new UI and way of working with the product. A sense of familiarity also helps to soften any anxieties that come with change, especially for those already less confident in using technical systems.
Similarly, we made sure to include a “Download all Ofsted data” button, at the bottom of each sub-page. This acts in the same way as the button found on “Academies”, in that all data within the section is captured as a downloadable CSV for users to takeaway and manipulate for their own bespoke needs. Again, reusing the same button design (secondary with an icon) and position plays on the users’ learned behaviors and familiarity of the product.
Explaining the new data points
We heard early on during our research that users were not familiar with the new data points and would find it helpful if there was an explanation available on the page for each.
Using the details component to display the definitions allows users to review the information only as and when they need it. This is even more relevant, as the team assumes that once the new data points are used frequently by users in their daily tasks, the need for an accessible definition will reduce.
We also chose to place both definitions within one component, to reduce the number of clickable elements on the page further and group the information more appropriately. For similar reasons, we only display the component on the “Safeguarding and concerns” tab, as that’s the only table that shows relevant information.
Design thinking
Design provocations
The bulk of time for this work was spent exploring ways of displaying a lot of data on one single page. “How might we sessions” helped to create space to encourage experimentation and creativity within the wider team, where all ideas were welcomed.
Options to hide content in an expandable element (e.g. accordion, dropdown, details component etc) were explored, as a means of keeping a table simple and readable but still providing the ability to view a single academy sub-judgement, in the same place. However, none of these options were very accessible and would’ve caused issues and a poor experience for those using FIAT with screen reading software or navigating by keyboard alone.
We also reconsidered what needed to be shown in each table, revisiting the original user need for before and after joining dates. Interrogating previous work helped us to validate previous thinking or provided us with opportunity to reconsider the necessary information for each table.
Finally, we proposed to use a tabular design, as the least-worst solution for current and previous rating information. For other information like important dates, we still used a table but separated it out into its own sub-page. This meant we could create better groups of information which were easier to identify and digest. For example, displaying all numerical dates within one “Important dates” table. A final playback to the team and sense check with SMEs confirmed this was the best approach for our MvP.