I knew that the old days of teachers having to spend months preparing for an Ofsted inspection were gone, to be replaced by a ‘light touch’ inspection at short notice. That seemed very sensible - the effort required just to prepare for the inspection did seem to be rather disproportional to actually teaching.
I got a taste of this in January, when at the governors meeting at Highbury Grove Secondary School, I asked when we were expecting Ofsted again and were told it could be any time now. Within 36 hours they had rung up to say they were coming now, they came two days later, and within a week of me asking the question it was all over. (The school was graded ‘good’ - an amazing success for a school that has made huge strides forward over the last few years.)
But that was nothing to Ofsted Early Years (a different set up to Ofsted, though with the same basic purpose in life), who turned up on the doorstep at Emma’s school and nursery this morning, announcing they were going to conduct an inspection at that very minute. They seem to have spent the day looking around there, but by the early afternoon they had gone again, off to write their report. Apparently they actually get training in how to respond to nurseries’ reaction to them (ie shock!).
Since one of the major complaints of the previous system was that teachers had to spend many months worrying about and preparing for the inspection, I can see some sense in this - but which of the rest of us face a knock on the door at any minute and the announcement of an instant inspection by outsiders - leading to a report which will be taken as the judgement on us by the rest of the world for the next three years?
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:50
The whole inspection system is a very good idea but often the people who get involved as inspectors may be somewhat lacking in expertise. The OFSTED system has echoes in the CPA system for local authorities, which similarly took up an inordinate amount of time and which led to a judgement which lasts for years to come.
Peer review may be the way to go for both types of organisation, allowing neighbouring schools/authorities to share best practice on a continual basis rather than being subject to the ‘witchfinder general’ once ever few years
July 6th, 2007 at 11:09
Two facts:
1) A quality teacher is the most important thing in child’s education.
2) Ofsted inspections are not too frequent, but it would be difficult to organise more of them.
IMHO, inspections should first and foremost reveal which teachers are not up to the job. I don’t think that happens.
At home, we have two additional mechanisms which work very well that only the best teachers stay in schools:
1) There are inter-school inspections. The headmaster with another teacher teaching the same subject comes to see a lesson.
2) Pupils have a RIGHT TO CHOOSE their teacher, to an extent. Of course, in the beginning of the year we are allocated teachers. But if there is someone who we think is not good enough (and it is not someone who just demands a lot), we request to get someone else, usually of our choice.
3) That ensures that only good teachers stay in the system, which is not as stuffy as the British one (for loads of other reasons too).