Ofsted cold calls in doubt
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4 average rating | Comments (4)
Last Updated:
20 August, 2008
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News
Majority of inspectors join unions in coming out against no-notice inspections
Ofsted has backtracked on its plans to carry out no-notice inspections after harsh criticism in a consultation that closed this week.
Proposals to pilot unannounced visits have been called into doubt after being rejected as impractical by inspectors, The TES can reveal.
Aspect, the union that represents the majority of inspectors, said arriving at the school gates without any notice could lead to problems securing time with senior teachers.
The idea was also dismissed by teachers’ leaders, who said it was unworkable, would increase stress, and that it displayed a lack of trust in school staff.
The criticisms were made in response to a consultation on inspection regime changes, which are due to be introduced next September.
Aspect said that the current two days’ notice allowed for “the reduction of stress and over-preparing”.
“Unannounced visits could prove problematic in terms of accessing what inspectors need, especially meetings with senior management. On balance, therefore, this possibility is not supported,” it said.
Christine Gilbert, chief inspector, first proposed no-notice inspections in December last year, saying that parents and pupils had called for “drop in” visits “in order that we see the school as it really is”.
When the consultation launched in May, it was announced that trials of zero-notice inspections would follow in the next 12 months. But this week Ofsted refused to confirm that pilots would go ahead.
A spokeswoman said: “It is not possible at this stage to give a definitive answer as to whether we will be conducting no-notice inspections. The consultation only closed on Monday and we will be considering responses before coming to a conclusion.”
John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Unannounced inspections assume that a school has something to hide. It shows a lack of trust in the professionalism of school leaders.”
The National Association of Head Teachers said it was “unacceptable” that inspections could take place on a day when headteachers were not in school.
Zero-notice visits would increase pressure on schools, the union added, causing them to be constantly checking they were ready for inspectors, rather than concentrating on high-quality teaching.
Comment (4)
send them in at no notice... I am the first to say I hate been checked over but it is time that we did away with the silly way that things are done. I propose the following; Over a three year period a school will have a “major inspection” where everything is checked over and inspectors are in for two days and things are laid on so they can have a proper check. Meetings can be set etc.. and the time is agreed with a HT not imposed so they can make sure it has a minimal impact on teaching and learning. Then during that three year period Inspectors will cold call a school three times. This is more of a walk around for the day with a couple of bodies to simply check if what was said in the SEF etc.. is actually happening. This snapshot will obviously be unprepared and teachers will be caught out if they are not doing as they should be. If so schools will have to have another full inspection within 6 months to check. You might then say this would be terrible. However, my idea is that the house of cards of what is presented in 95% of schools will come crashing down and a proper reality of schools will come out. It will not be a problem for individual schools as we will all be in the same boat. In addition to this the actual inspection criteria for lessons etc.. should be relaxed to what a “human being” can deliver in a classroom. Finally I propose the Government stick its money where its mouth is and prepare all the materials that we are supposed to produce in glossy colour form, for use on a projector and with full ICT support so we can simply do our job and deliver these resources instead of spending hours (as most of us do) reinventing the wheel! I think that all of the vested interests have actually reigned in ofsted from finding out the truth that we all know!
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16:39
21 August, 2008
Orion
I am not sure what the answer is. what i do believe is that no notice inspections will not increase teaching and learning or levels. What it will do is increase poor morale and work realated stress. The inspectors should try to work with the Local Authorities and indeed schools to ensure a suitable strategy is in place which shows what is in the SEF, is actually being done. It should not be a 'catch me out' initiative. However, i understand that the inspectors have to do their job like all of us and to be honest alot of them do it very well. Pedy-Croydon
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13:25
22 August, 2008
faithisthekey
If the issue is raising standards, why not spend time concentrating on helping failing schools rather than inspecting all schools. Regardless of whether schools have ticked the correct boxes on a bureaucratic form their achievements are inspected annually on results day anyway. As a teacher who can remember days before OfSted I do feel I spend more time now thinking about have I recorded this and fulfilled that statement in the SEF/SIP than I used to, anecdotally time spent doing that has to remove time spent on thinking about my actual job, teaching!
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15:29
22 August, 2008
alanwilliams
No-notice inspections are spectacularly unfair. Everyone knows that it is not possible for a full time teacher to include everything that we are supposed to include in every single lesson. Things happen, priorities are constantly changing, and some lessons are textbook while others are good enough for the children to learn. If inspectors drop-in, then they may catch a school on an unfortunate day when everyone has planned "getting by" lessons due to other things going on at the time, or they may happen to see everyone teaching their best lessons because they have had plenty of time that week. It isn't giving schools or teachers the opportunity to show their best. There is a reason why heads are required to give notice of formal observations. This way of inspecting will not give an accurate picture of a school, and if the school isn't performing well it should be obvious from speaking to teachers, parents and pupils and looking at pupils' work and marking. The current 2 day inspections give teachers time to prepare their best lessons and everyone is on a level playing field, rather than leaving the outcome to chance. I definitely agree that it would increase stress levels enormously, actually taking away from consistently good teaching.
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16:46
22 August, 2008
twinkle298