Ofsted needs to be abolished (Trigger warning)

[MrsMurphyIWish]

Watched this heartbreaking story today:

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001k4r9

A headteacher took her own life as her school was rated inadequate. The pressures Ofsted creates are immense. Last week Ofsted were on strike Wednesday so decided to break protocol and rang schools Friday to conduct inspections on Monday - some schools were off for snow but that wasn’t a good enough reasons and even if the messages were picked up, that meant school staff would have worries over the weekend - some even going into school. Then there were schools who complained as these schools were given “extra notice”. Ofsted has created such a toxic work environment.

How has it come to this? A teacher who dedicated their life to education feels that a one word judgement meant life wasn’t worth living?

Has there been an inquest yet?

No there hasn't - they often take 3-6 months, though some can be quicker - which is why some of us prefer to wait for the results rather than leap to weaponising the HT's sad death

The death of the headteacher sparked this outpouring, but it should be pretty clear to anyone reading that it isn't just about that.

Teachers and headteachers don't need to wait for an inquest to know that Ofsted is a huge problem.

If you think they should, you're really not listening.

Ofsted grades, if they are to have so much impact, should be both reproducible and backed up by a robust quality assurance / review system.

Reproducible - a different team of inspectors seeing the same school should give the same grade (like eg SATs writing moderators have to be trained and assessed to check that they give the same grade to the same portfolio of work and there are then some random standardisation checks). How often do Ofsted do such ‘double’ checks, where inspectors view the same evidence and the grade they would give is checked?

Reproducibility is improved if the number of grades is reduced. A simpler system of ‘meeting standards / not meeting standards’ would be much better, and there could even be a ‘second level check’ by senior inspectors for marginal cases before the result was published.

Quality assurance and review - Ofsted themselves have agreed that their complaints procedure is not fit for purpose. ‘Second level checks’, scrutiny of evidence, reviews after complaints / feedback that actually change grades, robust code of conduct for inspectors that schools can hold them to - all of these could actually improve public confidence in Ofsted, not undermine it.

@Puzzledandpissedoff I agree. Her death has unleashed all this fury. For whatever reason, the school failed safeguarding. A few years ago, MN would have been appalled at this. So perhaps a look into why this happened would be appropriate because for an experienced head, it’s an alarming oversight. With all
the training at all levels in schools, it seems reckless.

@RedToothBrush I agree. I think, when talking about pressurised jobs and health issues, it is important to consider other professions. Head Teachers are well paid when compared to the average farmer who is self employed. Farming is very tied to government policy and sadly stupid voters with Brexit. Teaching has its own issues but doesn’t seem to recognise that others have a tough time too. I also make no apology for mentioning farmer suicides. Let’s have a debate about stress at work overall. Blaming ofsted seems a stretch too far when the issue was safeguarding.

Teachers and headteachers don't need to wait for an inquest to know that Ofsted is a huge problem

I agree, and there's nothing wrong with a conversation about improving Ofsted - which even they acknowledged in their statement yesterday

So it just seems a shame that so many posts are be larded with "A Headteacher's died" and similar, as if weaponising this will help anything

Literally no end to the whataboutery though.

One of the issues with teaching vs other professions is that far more people think they know about teaching. I’m in Education. I know about it, so I comment on those threads. I don’t comment in detail on farming threads because I don’t know anything about it. I am not qualified to hold an opinion worth listening to.
However, in general, people have been to school so they think they know all
about it. People send children into school so they think they know all about it. They then put those opinions out there.

Teachers leave at 3.30.
Teachers say no we don’t. We leave at this time.
People jump on it and say “teachers are always moaning. Other people work long hours too you know.

What I tend to see is teachers trying to put people right who then accuse them of whining. Would you rather teachers didn’t correct anyone? Because it’s the children who will suffer in the end, and no one wants that.

I think anyone who has had a DC in school has observed the service. We buy British food so we consume that service. I live in the countryside, so I know something about farming. I’m the DD of a farmer. I’m a former school governor. I worked in education for decades. I also don’t believe these forums are a cross section of teachers either. Neither do I believe forums are expert only territory. It’s not a an echo chamber and neither should free speech be closed down. All opinions are of value in this debate.

I think we all know there are some issues with ofsted but some are grossly overstated. I heard a load of guff on the radio yesterday from about 30 years ago. It’s meaningless. I do think 2 grades below good is ok but only two above is too few. All need descriptors such as “Good with outstanding features” for example.

Around here, outstanding schools have big banners printed to advertise the fact. Plenty of celebration. It’s also fairly rare for a good school to not meet its legal obligation on safeguarding and the governors not to know. Maybe it would have helped if the governors had come clean to the school community immediately. They must have known this finding and their inadequacy would ensure the school was inadequate. The head knew too. So management of the situation should have been better.

I think anyone who has had a DC in school has observed the service.

🤦‍♀️

All opinions are of value in this debate.

🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️

All opinions are valid, unless they're serving teachers, school support staff, and school leaders, in which case they have to stop complaining about things.

TizerorFizz
Of course schools do that with banners. It's a problem with the culture that Ofsted in its current form has created.

I don't trust the Oftsed gradings of at least half the schools in my area. Some have outstanding that's obviously for political agendas, and other great schools have been downgraded because they're not sufficiently doing whatever was in fashion.
As a parent and a teacher, one of the last things I would use to choose a school is an Ofsted grade because I know that they're often not worth the paper they're written on.

I think anyone who has had a DC in school has observed the service. We buy British food so we consume that service

I started off by thinking this was a REALLY odd analogy. Then I decided there were in fact some similarities. Buying a single pack of chicken with a ‘British’ label on it gives me an extremely limited view of the process that led to that point for that bird and how it extrapolated to that for all British meat (from breeding to hatching; to housing, feeding and exercise; to cleanliness at every stage; to transportation, slaughter and butchery; to packaging lines and cold chain). Equally, being a parent of a child in a particular school gives me very little genuine insight into the reality of their day 9-3, let alone that of every other member of their school (adult and child) or any information at all about education elsewhere in the town, region or country.

So yes, your observation of your single child is analogous to my purchase if a single pack of chicken. What us it telling you about education in this country as a whole, any more than my purchase of chicken is telling me about farming?

Maybe it would have helped if the governors had come clean to the school community immediately. They must have known this finding and their inadequacy would ensure the school was inadequate. The head knew too. So management of the situation should have been better.

@TizerorFizz they weren't allowed to. That's part of the problem, and it's been referred to many times in these OFSTED threads. The head wasn't even allowed to tell her family. The governor's couldn't tell anyone until the report was published last week

If the head had been able to talk to someone, maybe this tragedy wouldn't have happened @TizerorFizz . But she had to bottle it all up for months die to the ridiculous OFSTED rules.

Ofsted threaten that if the news of a result is shared, the school risks being reinspected (more negatively) immediately .

So it is Ofsted’s rules’ fault, primarily , that the news and burden could not be shared. That said, the LA IS allowed to know AND should have been extremely active in supporting the head (practically and emotionally), monitoring their MH and referring them on to support services as needed. So the failing is also on the LA side.

No blame for not sharing the information should fall on the head or governors - they are not allowed to.

I think you've just proved that all opinions are not of equal value @TizerorFizz . You don't even know the basics of how OFSTED operates if you think they could/should have shared earlier.

They - the head and governing body, obviously. Not OFSTED.

@saraclara
Yes. I forgot the secrecy rules. However that doesn’t prevent anyone seeing a doctor. It’s completely confidential. This obviously was vital. I also think heads confide in family members. As she did. Maybe they didn’t see the signs as that catastrophic. However it’s important to talk about health and suicidal thoughts.

It might also be a better idea if Ofsted say immediately that safeguarding is not meeting requirements. They know immediately after all. So in effect, grade twice. One immediately for inadequate safeguarding. Then give 3 months for training and improvement. Then reinspect safeguarding. Then publish the full report with safeguarding up to scratch. That might be more sensible perhaps?

@saraclara
i forgot. As usual only experts are allowed to have ideas!

Tizer, your amended proposal is exactly what many teachers are proposing - in fact, many teachers are proposing more, with an annual safeguarding check separate from the less frequent Ofsted inspections of education and with actions and follow ups. Like a financial audit, which many schools will have annually, totally separate from Ofsted.

I also don’t believe these forums are a cross section of teachers either.

Suggesting that the teachers raising issues are somehow wrong or a minority without actually having to justify it is quite sly, really.

Anyway, if you don't think that the 'complaining' teachers are representative of the profession, perhaps you will be joining parliament in being confused about why there is a recruitment and retention crisis?

Maybe you could share your non-expert opinions about teaching, while suggesting that what the Ed Select Committee should actually be looking into is issues facing farmers?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4771037-parliament-admits-crisis-in-teacher-recruitment-and-retention-asks-for-advice

I’m rather well aware that people don’t want to work in teaching. However it’s also not helping when recruits are put off by the militant rhetoric and constant stories of how awful it is. It’s like a death wish. Also too many SLTs are poor and don’t understand how to retain staff or provide a supportive atmosphere.

I can see why safeguarding should be inspected separately, but by whom? Once a year might be ott but no one has spare capacity to inspect.

However it’s also not helping when recruits are put off by the militant rhetoric and constant stories of how awful it is.

Of course, it's teachers talking about the poor working conditions that's the real problem

You'd have thought that we'd be able to retain the recruits who make it past the 'constant stories of how dreadful it is' when they see for themselves that it's actually fine, but that doesn't appear to be the case, does it?

However it’s also not helping when recruits are put off by the militant rhetoric and constant stories of how awful it is

You say it’s ‘militant rhetoric’, I say it’s ‘the
truth’. I think it’s far better that people know exactly what the job is like before deciding to train.

I'm not sure that there's anything that Tizer won't blame teachers for.

Here we go again. No one knows how hard it is, we're the only sector struggling to recruit, teachees get blamed for everttjing etc. Your opinion is worth less is a new one though. Surprised no one has mentioned pay yet. Jesus christ.