AIBU to not want ofstead abolished?

[Applepiesmum]

please bare with I don’t have a school aged child yet

however it’s the only criteria to assess schools against and as a parent the first thing I check when looking at a school if I should move to an area

i understand headteachers might be under pressure to perform but so are all public sector workers Doctors and nurses assessed and judged on performance by patients / students

am I the only person who is thinking like this

All an Ofsted report tells you is whether or not a particular school has managed to persuade the inspectors on those particular days that they jump through whatever Ofsted has as its hoops of choice at that time.
It tells you absolutely nothing about the quality of education and support a child will have at a school.
Why anyone would look at the reports is beyond me.

Ofstead reviews aren't a good indicator of the school though the parents are the best indicator

I actually put my child in a requires improvement school over an outstanding school because they had more money and more resources

YABU. School inspections have been unfit for purpose for at least a decade. There is excessive emphasis on the performance (in an acting sense) of the teachers during lessons. Some teachers have pre-written "ofsted" lessons in a drawer for when the phone call comes. It's so fake and doesn't get to the heart of what makes a school good/bad. We need a better inspection system that assesses the right things.

This. I work in an outstanding school. I didn’t even put it on my list of 5 for my now Yr 7 child. They go to a good school and in my opinion, far superior than where I teach at.

Teachers don’t want schools that aren’t inspected. They absolutely do need to be inspected but the current ofsted framework is shambolic and not at all helpful in assessing how a school runs on a day to day basic. The whole thing is toxic and trickles down to children. I think a local LA yearly inspection would be a lot better.

*basis rather

The approach Needs to be reformed, but not the idea of inspections

I’m fine with ofsted or other

We use outstanding schools and one thing it does is make parents pay to be close and results overall are better

A lot of outstanding schools were judged over 10 years ago and would potentially be downgraded after the next inspection because the expected standard is now so high that nobody can keep that level for so long. Plus turnover of teaching staff is high so I bet all the staff that were at the school have now left and they've employed new staff... potentially inexperienced ECTs. So you can never really trust an Ofsted judgement.

(I'm a teacher.)

OFSTED are toxic and not fit for purpose ( married to SEND Teacher).

Of course schools need to be open and inspected but current system is punitive and not useful to anyone- least of all kids

The best way of judging a school as a parent is walk around it, look at work, their social media, look at after school clubs, the little things that make the school special. My son goes to a "Good" school and I would so prefer him to go to that one than the one I used to work at "Good" but pushing heavily for "Outstanding". The head at my old school was also an Ofsted inspector so knows how to appear outstanding in an inspection.

Of course schools need to be inspected, but the OFSTED regime distorts the situation - a good OFSTED proves that a school is good at passing inspections, nothing more.

OFSTED needs to be replaced with a regime that inspects more frequently, in a lower key way and is focused on support and improvement for all schools. Right now it's a box ticking, hoop jumping exercise.

I did not pick my DCs' schools based on OFSTED.

I’m fine with schools being accountable, but what do you think the current framework does that? Schools not being inspected for 15 years? Leaders in primary schools who lead 4 subjects being put under same scrutiny as subject heads in large secondary schools, secondary trained inspectors judging early years. I know a reception teacher told she should be getting her class sitting at desks more.

This. Also walking past at home time was enlightening when looking at secondary schools for DS, this may be less true for primary.

Ofsted only tells you that on that one random day the school were good or outstanding at passing an inspection.

I pay little or no attention to ofsted reports but as others say - looking round, talking to other parents and seeing whether what is on offer suits you and your child/ren.

I don't necessarily disagree with inspections of some kind but ofsted could be abolished tomorrow and I wouldn't be sad about it.

YABU.
Ofsted are not effective, relevant, reflective of a school or fit for purpose and haven't been for a very long time. They want the general public to believe the narrative that they are an essentially guide to choosing a school but they absolutely aren't. They offer, at best, one inspectors personal, highly subjective opinion of one aspect of a school in one moment on one day. Schools are ever changing. No two lessons are the same. No two days are the same. Just as no two children are the same.

Picture this: inspector goes into a classroom and selects a child at random.
INSPECTOR: "How does this lesson fit with the learning you did yesterday/earlier in the week/last week?"
CHILD: "I don't know".
OFSTED REPORT: Teachers do not ensure that children understand the purpose and sequence of their learning. Children are unaware of how their current learning builds on previous learning.

What the inspector hasn't seen..

• That child is frightened when put on the spot and gives "I don't know" as a default response.
• That child hasn't had breakfast this morning and witnessed an argument at home which is playing on his mind so he wasn't able to think about the question.
• That child isn't feeling well.
• That child fell out with a friend at playtime and is still focused on that.
• That child witnessed their mum being hit before school and can't concentrate because they are worried about her.
• That child was a selective mute until last half term. Teachers have put hours and hours of support into helping them, often in their own time, to get them to this point. But strangers asking questions still worries them.

I could add hundreds more. There are so many reasons why a child, a teacher, a school, may not "perform" in any given moment on a given day but there are usually good reasons for it. Ofsted inspections don't show the teacher sat up at night worrying about a child in their class, the LSA crying at lunch because they've had an awful disclosure from a child, the headteacher sat at home whilst their family are out for the day on a Saturday because they have work to do. It also doesn't show the individuals that make up a school.

What it does do is incite fear and frustration and panic into schools. It makes schools jump through unnecessary hoops which don't benefit the children in any way at all, just to meet the ever changing whim of what OFSTED arbitrarily decide is the current "in thing" that they want to see.
It adds to teacher workloads which takes that time away from the children in their care.
It pushes amazing, caring professionals out of a job they love because it is so fundamentally flawed and unfair.
It reduces the passion, dedication, hard work, individualism, and all the 10000 things that make up the fabric of a school to one single word.
It often goes years between inspections, so actually when parents look at them, they are often so outdated as to be meaningless anyway.
It offers no chance, desire or opportunity for schools to reflect, to be supported, to work together to implement positive change for the benefit of the children. It just condemns them with a judgement for another however many years.
It is demoralising, negative, and doesn't focus on the one thing we all want - to make schools better for the benefit of the children.

No-one is suggesting that schools shouldn't be regulated in anyway at all. But there are better, fairer, more effective ways of doing it that retain good staff, motivate schools, improve outcomes for children and don't cause passionate, dedicated people to literally take their own lives due to the unbearable process.

OP, trust your instincts. You're far better at judging a school than a terrible system inspected by a bunch of suits

If you are basing your decision on what schools to consider for your child on the Ofsted rating you are going to be massively disappointed.

Ofsted haven't got the first clue and frankly, I'd take the opinions/experiences of a couple of parents with children currently at the school over an Ofsted opinion all day long.

Ofsted has been incompetent for years. I looked at a senior school for ds that they rated as good and frankly it was terrible. Dreadful marks, non-existent management. We went elsewhere. Shortly afterwards, the school was downgraded to inadequate with a narrative that younger pupils were at risk of sexual assault by older pupils (their words) and that the staff had no idea who was on site at any one time.
That didn't happen overnight. I'm glad I believed the evidence of my own eyes.

My dsis was a primary teacher and their school was rated inadequate for not having a disabled loo despite having no disabled pupils and the council not allocating budget for a loo to be adapted.

So the grading in their case was irrelevant and literally beyond their control.

If they keep ofsted they need someone with common sense and honesty to run it.

People on here love to run down "outstanding" schools and tell you how they chose their poorly rated school and it's far better than the outstanding one they teach in. Which kind of makes you wonder why they still are teaching at the outstanding one if it's so bad, and why they aren't heading down to the poor rated ones, which almost always struggle to recruit, to offer their expertise.

In real life people do take it into consideration. One local school went from being undersubscribed when they were good to having over 4x the numbers applying after they got their outstanding result. That's an awful lot of people taking it into consideration.

What people don't realise is that if they abolish OFSTED, then OFSTED will promptly reappear under another name. They'll still be inspecting the schools; still giving a grade and parents will take the grade just as seriously. It's not going to mean no inspection.

What they need to be aiming for is parents to read the report and decide on the report whether that is something that worries them. For example I'd be looking at SEN, maths provision, and that sort of thing because that's what would effect my dc most.

But also I had a relative who used to rave about her dc's wonderful school. There were several times over the first few years when I stopped her and questioned something, and said I thought it was concerning. But she'd come out with "The head/other teacher says it's totally right because..."
Then OFSTED came in. Honestly it was the worst report I've ever seen, but all the points I had questioned were raised by OFSTED. The reaction of the SLT and governors was entirely "this is just them being mean, they don't understand us, it's not fair..."
But they did have to face up to it, and it is a much better school now for having that. If Ofsted hadn't been in, they'd have continued as they were.

I would be very suspicious of any head teacher saying they'll refuse entry. For a start off they should know that they can't.
I'd suspect the head saw it as a win-win situation. If Ofsted give them a poor report, they'll claim it's vindictive. If they'd been able to hold them off a few days it gives them more time to prepare. And it might stop Ofsted giving a poor report too if they're leant on by the government because they know that would be more poor press.

Schools need to be accountable. But Ofsted is absolutely shite for everyone. It gives false pictures to parents, and tells you very little really

The Welsh Iestyn system is far more productive, helpful and supportive

An Ofsted report is the same as an MOT or a DBS check. It's just a snapshot of what is happening on that day. Most of them aren't a true reflection of what actually goes on.

OP, I thought the same as you until it came to the point where I was visiting local schools in the run up to applying for my son. Until you step foot in the schools themselves and meet the staff and children in person, the reports tell you absolutely nothing.

What people don't realise is that if they abolish OFSTED, then OFSTED will promptly reappear under another name. They'll still be inspecting the schools; still giving a grade and parents will take the grade just as seriously.

Labour have a plan to abolish the grade.

I would say yay thinking you’re the only one who wants accountability in schools. I work in one and most colleagues I know are happy to be held accountable.

However the current way it’s happening is not working.
As a parent are you happy with an outstanding grade given to a school 10-15 + years ago. Or a recently inadequate school that’s now fixed the ‘issues’ identified ?

It needs a multi collaborative approach which happens much more regularly but in a supportive atmosphere all working towards the best outcome of the child.