Ofsted needs to be abolished - further details

[MrsMurphyIWish]

Have started a new thread as think it’s important this doesn’t just get lost on my previous thread

The Ofsted report for the school where the head teacher died has been published …

They are toxic and need reform immediately.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4765105-ofsted-needs-to-be-abolished-trigger-warning?page=1

God that is awful

@Maybebabyno2 definitely not fake - just sandwiched between some new teachers joining and some info on breakfast club. Oh and btw the head killed herself 🤬🤬🤬. Can’t imagine who thought that was ok 🤬.

The level of accountability is another level for schools. For example the school in question was criticised for safeguarding as they saw a child doing the floss and complained that as it was linked to fortnite which was age inappropriate.

1. The floss was a dance craze and many children just picked it up from each other.
2. It cannot be the schools responsibility to ensure that no child plays inappropriate games AT HOME! Yes they'll teach about online safety but in what universe do schools have that level of control over every aspect of pupils lives?

But that's the assumption made- since external camhs and social services have been cut, schools are the only places where children are seen by anyone in the public sector- therefore all responsibility is placed on them for everything and every poor result is viewed as 100% schools fault regardless of the context for the child.

Logically, it'd be the same as saying:
Ofsted are responsible for standards in schools.
This school is inadequate.
Therefore ofsted itself is inadequate.

Thank you @Brightbluebell

I am deeply sorry for this lady, for her family and for everyone who has been touched by this.

It is worth mentioning though that:

”The report, which is now published, found the school to be Good in every category except leadership and management, where it accused the school of poor record keeping and failings in employment checks which could have put children at risk”

I briefly worked at a school, for a period of only six weeks although it was a permanent post. I applied for it in October, was appointed and gave my various documents for identity checks and filled in the DBS forms. I started in the January. I had worked there for three weeks when I got a phone call one evening from a rather flustered deputy head telling me my DBS hadn’t been done and neither had my previous references been taken up.

I literally could have been any fucker (sorry MN poster) walking in off the street. I could have had numerous convictions for child abuse, violence, fraud, murder, sexual offences. OK, unlikely but it’s not out of the realms of probability I could have left my previous school under investigation for violence of sexual offences. (I hadn’t.)

And why did I only work there six weeks - I was forced out. I’m pretty sure the Head didn’t want that pretty major fuck up there. So that left me in a very uncomfortable and stressful position. It all came right, and I’m still teaching and it’s all fine.

But if - IF - it’s something like that then while I wish no harm to anybody I do think it is right to be highlighted by OFSTED. And I am very mindful it might not be, but I think people might be surprised at how much power HTs can have. OFSTED are one of the few who hold them to account.

Ofsted are a disgrace

As someone who has been faced with a toxic inspector determined to find fault with safeguarding (but failed to do so despite their best efforts!) the pre-employment check failures could be things like
having employed a teaching assistant and carrying out a DBS check but they were a qualified teacher so also checking the barred teachers list BUT not checking their maiden name on that list
having employed a cleaner from an overseas war-torn country, completing a DBS, thinking to check overseas records but it’s not possible according to the home office website, not writing a risk assessment
employing a teacher, getting references, speaking to the referees on the phone to confirm the references are genuine, not keeping a written record of that check

When they come determined to find fault, they will dig and dig and dig. Much easier to justify inadequate on a paperwork exercise than on the actual practice taking place in the school.

Where was the governing body? They should have had oversight of the safeguarding procedures, that were clearly ineffective. The rest of the report is extremely positive but ineffective safeguarding is an automatic inadequate, as the letter to parents explains. It’s like your brakes not working at an MOT. Everything else could be perfect but you won’t pass. It is so incredibly tragic that the HT took her own life, no one can deny that, but safeguarding guidelines are clear and the report is very detailed in how these were not met.

The fact that there was a suggestion that the screenshot is fake just goes to show how outside the realm of what would be considered 'normal' human behaviour that Ofsted report is.

No one is disputing that schools need to be inspected or that safeguarding issues need to be highlighted.

But the manner in which Ofsted inspections are conducted and reported must change.

I agree Ofsted is not fit for purpose and is over all NOT improving education and is actively hampering teacher recruitment/retainment with unrealistic pressures. But there must have been other factors, beyond her career, in this suicide surely.

But there must have been other factors, beyond her career, in this suicide surely.

The more I read about this and especially what teachers have to say I'm inclined to think that the stress of this alone could in itself have been responsible. I don't think people who aren't at the 'coal face' so to speak can really grasp just how big of a deal this is and the extent to which it can have a massive impact on someone's psyché.

That’s interesting that your first thought was to assume this was fake. It’s easily found on the school website.

I'm an outsider to all this, but it does seem like Ofsted is gratuitously cruel. The inspectors need to be brought to task for judgements like this:

"inspectors reported that a boy doing a flossing dance move, from the video game Fortnite, was evidence of the sexualisation of children at the school. She said inspectors told staff they had seen child-on-child abuse, which turned out to be a playground fight."

www.theguardian.com/education/2023/mar/17/headteacher-killed-herself-after-news-of-low-ofsted-rating-family-says

The trouble is, as the headteacher it all comes down to you in the end. What were her career prospects after this judgement? And the stress of being rated inadequate is huge... The follow up inspections, fewer children coming to the school, parental complaints...

Well, this a tragedy and it’s highly emotive. I do think there is a level of hysteria amongst some of the reactions on Twitter and I was pleased when someone tweeted the Samaritans guidance about reporting on suicide which says that is a very complex and there is rarely a single cause. However still can’t get over the report mentioning the fact that she had died in a footnote alongside bloody breakfast club. That was staggeringly crass and insensitive.

I saw it on the OFSTED website yesterday. Has it been removed now?

Giraffe - absolutely, it could have been something small. But fuck ups do happen. Some HTs are awful. Some HTs are excellent. Many fall between the two extremes. But I think the point is that HTs are answerable to few people and largely can do as they wish. Reading the TRA updates there are many HTs who have behaved in unbelievable ways for years - decades in some cases - before being called to account.

I am not saying this does apply here. But the idea of abolishing OFSTED and giving HTs even less in a sense to answer to I’m not sure about. The other point of course is that extreme cases tend to make bad laws.

Factual?

Flossing is not sexualised behaviour.

It is no longer in the OFSTED pages. It is in the school's website I believe, or was earlier, no,doubt to highlight the insensitivity of the inspectorate.

The report should never have been published. There should have been a simple statement from ofsted to state that the report was paused at this time and a new inspection date set for another time. The damage was already done by the time the report was out. What purpose would the publication of the report, with its very insensitive reference to the headteacher's death as one of its little bullet points, really have on the school now?! It was insensitive and totally unnecessary. I mean, who would really type that knowing what a]had happened and why.

And they wonder why there is a crisis in teacher numbers and retention!

OFSTED as it stands isn't for for purpose.

This school got outstanding in all but one area. The area they got inadequate in was one that then renders the whole inspection as inadequate. And it's a judgement on one day by 1-3 inspectors, who only have to spot one thing they feel is amiss. There is little scope for discussion and checking out what's really happened. In all other areas the schools was rated outstanding with parent view rating it very positively. My experience of ofsted is that the inspectors almost always make their judgement in the first few moments of being in a school, often before they've even arrived. They then go on to find evidence to support that.

Some inspectors are empathetic, professional.
Some really aren't and can cause untold pain to the schools they are inspecting.

There is a reason why many schools desperately want to remain at 'good' rather than strive for outstanding.

I know one school who was nearly failed within the first few minutes, several years ago. A member of staff let the inspector in without checking his ID in the morning. This was before any children were in the school. The staff knew the inspector was coming and his name, and had seen his photograph. The member of staff let him in and directed him to the office a few steps away from the door. This could have failed the entire inspection before it even began, it most likely would have under the new framework. As it was it meant whatever happened in the remaining two days the school would only get 'satisfactory' which is what is now required improvement.

I believe it has been removed.

Meant to say that all other areas of the report was good, rather than outstanding. Previous ofsted was outstanding. One area inadequate, rest good. The one area that was inadequate then renders whole inspection inadequate.

I believe Ofsted has removed it from their own website which is interesting.

It is still on the school website though:-

www.cavershamprimary.org/about-us/ofsted-information/

I hope there will be an enquiry and I hope Ofsted are reformed and forced to remove gradings from their reports as a result.

Those of you suggesting there may be other underlying issues, as the inspection process and reporting itself could not possibly be enough to drive a dedicated head teacher to take her own life, welcome to primary and secondary school inspections in England. I read this news this morning, and did not for a moment doubt the veracity of this tragic event, nor that her family's assertion that the stress caused by the inspection process was the cause of her anguish, was accurate.

A primary teacher and leader for 25 years, I cannot emphasise enough how overdue the system is for reform. The pressure on head teachers, school leadership, governors and teachers is immense, not just immediately prior to inspection, but constantly. It is grim.

Many, many education professionals struggle under an unsustainable workload and expectations which are entirely unrealistic and over which individual practitioners have little control, yet are deemed accountable for, and almost all of this is as a direct result of a rigid and inflexible inspection regime which is not fit for purpose in its current state.

There is a crisis in teachers' mental health, with more teachers than ever reporting having suicidal thoughts and acting on these. This is not to do with pay, despite current strike action, but everything to do with with unsustainable workload and expectations beyond individual control, and a huge amount of this workload is generated directly as a result of Ofsted.

A move away from the high-stakes inspection model currently wreaking havoc in the profession to a more constructive, collaborate process of more frequent, continuous monitoring at a local authority level, assessing efficiency and safety as part of a rolling programme of school improvement would go a long way toward preventing the haemmorhaging of dedicated and passionate teachers from the profession, both the young and more experienced.

The flossing thing is stupid - the kids in Bluey floss and that's a cartoon aimed at 4 Yr olds it isn't sexual at all!

I’ve commented on this on the other thread. I’m a headteacher and feel that ofsted can bring you to the brink of a breakdown and suicide. There don’t have to be other issues involved, believe me Ofsted is enough!