Lack of support from heads not Ofsted is to blame

[rollonthesummer]

For the current recruitment crisis says the head of Ofsted.

link

I think he is very wrong playing down the damaging role of Ofsted.

Perhaps yes, some heads don't give the support they should to NQTs (I've certainly seen one hounded out by a weak, exhausted head verging on a breakdown) when they should have been helped more) but I don't think this is because heads are crap and thoughtless, it's because Ofsted are on their minds all the time, threatening to remove their job if they put a foot wrong.


Ofsted have got it all wrong in my opinion and do far far more damage than good to our schools.

[IguanaTail]

I agree.

[Lowdoorinthewall]

I think the last thing he should be doing is having a go at Heads.

There is a real and imminent danger of there just not being ANYONE prepared to be a Head. There are SO many headships advertised in my area at the moment.

[lurkinginthenorth]

Education is heading for a dramatic and drastic tipping point. As said above, WHO the hell will be in their right mind to become a HT? I certainly won't. i was tipped for deputy headship a few years ago and now, personal circumstances aside (new family), I wouldn't even if I was offered a six figure sum to do it!
There will be headships, deputy headships and teacher roles unfilled in the next few years.

[Lowdoorinthewall]

No, for £50-60k there is NO WAY I would be a Primary Head. I don't know how my HT does it, god love her. Some days I don't think she does either.

[rollonthesummer]

Our weekly local schools job paper is full of head jobs-totally Jam packed-nobody wants to apply.

Last week's news featured an article saying parents should have the right to sack heads-do the government have a clue about the state of education at the moment? It's spiralling out of control!

Where the hell will it end up?

[noblegiraffe]

Wilshaw is fighting for his job, there have been many calls for Ofsted to be scrapped. Not surprised he is trying to place the blame elsewhere.

[IguanaTail]

Love the thought of Wilshaw being in a panic. Karma.

[rollonthesummer]

Will they ever abollish Ofsted?

If they did, and something reasonable replaced it, the teaching recruitment and retention crisis might disappear!

[IguanaTail]

No I don't think it will. People put too much stock in what they think.

[Lowdoorinthewall]

I would love there to be a study in which two well matched Ofsted teams could inspect the same set of schools 'blind' of one another, one team without any access to academic data.

It would be interesting to see what came out- I bet the grades wouldn't be the same!

[Lowdoorinthewall]

They don't choose to put themselves under that kind of scrutiny though do they??

[noblegiraffe]

There have been two schools (practically, same staff and teachers) that have been inspected by different teams and got different outcomes:

teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2014/05/15/are-ofsted-judgements-reliable/

[rollonthesummer]

It's. It just that Ofsted are ineffective and not fit for purpose, but they are actually detrimental to what happens in our education system. Why doesn't anyone (apart from teachers) see this?

Is auditing -like I believe they do in some other lines of work, eg dentistry,-so detrimental to what the auditors are hoping to assess?

[Lowdoorinthewall]

I think the ISI is much better. They are very rigorous about checking that Independent schools adhere to a strict set of operational regulations but beyond that they are very flexible.

Ultimately the ISI are on the schools' side and will try to be positive and constructive. They appear to set out with the mind-set that the people running the school will be a competent group of professionals and they treat them respectfully- even where they feel they need to make recommendations.

That is just not the tone of Ofsted is it? Totally Us v Them.

[IguanaTail]

The ISI is far more constructive and the aim is to assist the schools. The problem with it is that there is a little bit a sense of the ISI all looking after each other: serving headteachers are in the inspection teams.

My ideal would be somewhere in between. A light touch inspection but with recommendations and support, from independent but sympathetic inspectors/advisors.