Labour to scrap Ofsted

[noblegiraffe]

Labour have announced that they want to scrap Ofsted inspections, get rid of school gradings and replace it with a system of ‘health checks’ done by local authorities, with inspectors only being sent in if problems are found.

www.bbc.com/news/education-49785130

Given that calls for years to scrap the extremely damaging ‘outstanding’ grade have been persistently ignored because parents like it, what will parents think about all grades going?

Do we trust standards will be maintained under a much lighter system of inspections?

Every decent head should be expecting the call any time (unless outstanding!). Schools in special measures will know the rough time frame an inspection is due. As with requires improvement schools, they can probably predict the term ofsted will come. The point of them is that they shouldn't require any extra work. Yes of course you dot the Is and polish the Ts but it should be operation normal.
This. You can generally predict when you'd be due.
But then again Ofsted turned up at a number of schools that I know (all LA ones) and despite it being known they were decent schools, they all suddenly got 3/4 gradings and pushed to academy conversion. It was all very convenient.

I think there is a place for an independent inspectorate, but I think it should only grade on whether schools at providing a decent standard of education or not.

I would rather league tables went too/instead of.

I’ve seen discussions about this - the concern is that scrapping DfE league tables wouldn’t actually get rid of league tables. It would just mean the press create their own from published information (like the Telegraph do post results). The argument is that with the DfE publishing them, at least they can control the criteria (favouring progress 8 over headline results, for example).

Wales scrapped league tables and results fell by 2 GCSE grades per pupil per year, with disadvantaged pupils most affected.
www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/school-league-tables-abolishment-hitting-1883571.amp

The school my son just left was last inspected 12 years ago. It’s graded outstanding but I personally feel that so much has changed over the last 7 or so years, DS was my youngest, that it’s outstanding status is meaningless.

Yes @Atropa, there is a lot of poor leadership and ofsted fear going on - which leads to the problems as outlined by @LittleAndOften

Ofsted haven't looked for in-depth marking in years, yet so many schools still insist this is done.

That isn't correct. They stopped spring 2019 after an update saying they were stopping in summer 2018. That said I had them looking at marking in schools in both Feb and June (of course we can't make a comment but, I am not allowed to put this in the report but)

You can usually guess by when they do other schools. Plus there are "insider" tip offs. As SLT, I get those.

@Mrscog agreed - as soon as the government linked ofsted grades to enforced academisation, the fear-led toxic culture of schools we now see became inevitable.

The trend I really hate right now that has been driven by ofsted's ridiculous focus on accountability is the bloody BOOK LOOK, which has become a tyrannical tool of torture for teachers.

The old, we are looking at books but not for impact of marking and feedback or for progress.

So basically ticking off if they can see the NC coverage and if students take pride in their work- neatness indicates positive behaviour.

@endoftheworlds I admit none - but the edu-bloggers who I've read who participated in the pilot were tentatively optmistic/felt listened too etc.

By Christmas there will be more of a feel.

Why the scepticism? Sometimes it feels like teachers want everything to remain shit - I mean god forbid Ofsted actually change things for the better!?

hidden
Isn't that individual inspectors going off script then?
There are schools, like Michaela in London, who've had great Ofsted reports and they don't deep mark and lots of schools have taken a more sensible approach to feedback now.

Yeah, the pastoral care and provision and compassion for students with SEN in Michaela School is non-existent. The same as in most of the academies.

When you're giving a child a detention for smiling at a friend or helping a friend off of the floor after they fell as you're not allowed to touch other people, you're part of a concentration camp. Not a school.

When part of the staff guidelines is to "discourage a jovial relationship with students", you have to question the humanity of the place you're working. The jovial thing is a guideline in an academy local to me and thought of as one of the best schools in London if not the country.

If a school has an Outstanding OFSTED and you have a child with SEN, be very suspicious of how they are maintaining their standards. It is usually because they fuck over the SEN students in one way or the other.

Isn't that individual inspectors going off script then?

Isn't that the whole point. Inconsistencies lead to poor and inaccurate judgements.

Ofsted say 10% are wrong each year, I suspect it is much higher. There is too much personal discretion which leads to inconsistency.

@endoftheworlds I admit none - but the edu-bloggers who I've read who participated in the pilot were tentatively optmistic/felt listened too etc

The pilots didn't give grades on which your school is outwardly judged.

There have been a number of changes since the pilot. The pilots varied as many were testing different approaches.

Basically the proof is in the delivery, so lets see.

Why the scepticism? Sometimes it feels like teachers want everything to remain shit - I mean god forbid Ofsted actually change things for the better!?

Ofsted used to have a powerpoint slide (I think from inspector training) which basically showed that over 10 years of inspection there was no change in the mix Ofsted judgements of schools overall- so basically they had no impact from their work.

OMG second time I have posted on the wrong thread this morning! I'm going back to bed....

And sometimes the head announces a few months before, in a staff meeting that we will be getting Ofsted. And start preparing.

Unless you're an outstanding school you kind of know when they are due, a rough idea, a vague big window when they may be likely to turn up. I know last time we knew we were due an inspection for about a year before it happened.

However we didn't know when, not which year it would definitely be, not which term it would be. In the end we were phoned around 12:20-1pm the day before they turned up. We knew it would be at least 1 day, possibly 2. No one knew before - no one in school, no one in the LA.

I'd prefer a review of OFSTED and a better, more efficient system of inspection including ALL schools. I'd rather just 2 ratings following inspection - 'needs support at this time' or 'doesn't need support at this time' with a proper schedule of support measures ready and waiting to be implemented.

• If a school has an Outstanding OFSTED and you have a child with SEN, be very suspicious of how they are maintaining their standards. It is usually because they fuck over the SEN students in one way or the other•

This.
And ime this also applies to sen schools.
The examples I gave were all from outstanding sen schools.

@Propertyofhood I do this quite a bit. I report my post and they remove it.

I'm also suspicious of them because a good school were suddenly put into special measures and eventually closed. There was nothing wrong with the school. My children went there, I personally knew teaching staff.

At the time of going into special measures, there was also a rumour that the site would be redeveloped. Oh how we laughed at the conspiracy theory. Then the petitions started circulating. Planning was contested by residents living by the school. We know have one less school and luxury apartments in the space.

And yes the sudden poor ratings and academies.

@hiddenworlds I have worked in numerous schools since 2015 that had scrapped deep-marking and gone to assessment-only marking. Good or outstanding schools, mostly.

Inspectors look for adherence to school policy, not for a particular style of marking. So, if a school says we mark only short tests every 8 lessons and teachers do that, that's perfectly fine. On the other hand, if school policy says deep marking in five different pens is required every lesson, that, too, has to be consistently adhered to.

It's school leaders at fault, not Ofsted.

What would national Ofsted inspectors have to do with local luxury flat builders? Our most recent inspection team was a bunch of people from various places.

I’d be more suspicious of that sort of thing if the Local Authority was in charge.

@hiddenworlds I have worked in numerous schools since 2015 that had scrapped deep-marking and gone to assessment-only marking. Good or outstanding schools, mostly.

Since 2015 I have probably been present at/interviewed for over 200 Ofsted inspections.

It is highly inconsistent.

What would national Ofsted inspectors have to do with local luxury flat builders? confused Our most recent inspection team was a bunch of people from various places.I’d be more suspicious of that sort of thing if the Local Authority was in charge.

Diocese?