It was so funny listening to a former senior ofsted member defend their idiotic one-phrase judgement of a whole school.
Their argument was that parents are too stupid and/or don’t care enough about their childrens’ education to look any deeper than a one or two word judgement. What an idiot.
They never were. I left mandatory education 15 years ago and I can still remember how awful Ofsted inspections were. Even the kindest, most good natured teachers suddenly became completely different – scared, agitated, acting like at any second a bomb might go off or something. It was horrible.
I actually don’t mind the new style ofsted, other than a deep dive I did nothing else those days different. Everything that we put into place for ofsted we would normally have done because it was good practice.
At various times over the years I’ve been a teacher, support staff and a parent governor at half a dozen different schools during Ofsted inspections and I’ve never felt the need to do anything differently from any other day. I am confident that my every day practice is consistently the best I am able make it.
School managers on the other hand have always totally lost their shit at the threat of an inspection, it’s these assholes that put the pressure on folks at the chalkface and make them miserable, not Ofsted themselves in my experience.
It’s not like judging strictly, where it’s fine to shout SEVEN!!
They create so much unnecessary paperwork and stress for teachers. None of that helps the kids or makes you better at your job, it just creates a culture of fear and becomes an unnecessary target of your job. I was lucky enough to leave teaching before an Ofsted inspection at anywhere I worked but not a week went by without someone mentioning them in some capacity because you never knew when your school was going to get the call they were coming.
Ofsted. My predictive text insists on changing this name to **ousted**. Very telling in a round-a-bout way.
I remember my psychology teacher getting marked down because our class was too well behaved. Apparently we were supposed to argue with her.
8 comments
It was so funny listening to a former senior ofsted member defend their idiotic one-phrase judgement of a whole school.
Their argument was that parents are too stupid and/or don’t care enough about their childrens’ education to look any deeper than a one or two word judgement. What an idiot.
They never were. I left mandatory education 15 years ago and I can still remember how awful Ofsted inspections were. Even the kindest, most good natured teachers suddenly became completely different – scared, agitated, acting like at any second a bomb might go off or something. It was horrible.
I actually don’t mind the new style ofsted, other than a deep dive I did nothing else those days different. Everything that we put into place for ofsted we would normally have done because it was good practice.
At various times over the years I’ve been a teacher, support staff and a parent governor at half a dozen different schools during Ofsted inspections and I’ve never felt the need to do anything differently from any other day. I am confident that my every day practice is consistently the best I am able make it.
School managers on the other hand have always totally lost their shit at the threat of an inspection, it’s these assholes that put the pressure on folks at the chalkface and make them miserable, not Ofsted themselves in my experience.
It’s not like judging strictly, where it’s fine to shout SEVEN!!
They create so much unnecessary paperwork and stress for teachers. None of that helps the kids or makes you better at your job, it just creates a culture of fear and becomes an unnecessary target of your job. I was lucky enough to leave teaching before an Ofsted inspection at anywhere I worked but not a week went by without someone mentioning them in some capacity because you never knew when your school was going to get the call they were coming.
Ofsted. My predictive text insists on changing this name to **ousted**. Very telling in a round-a-bout way.
I remember my psychology teacher getting marked down because our class was too well behaved. Apparently we were supposed to argue with her.