To try and give an Ofsted analogy, to help people understand better

[Nimbostratus100]

Imagine you run a fleet of taxis in a city called Ofstopolis.

In Ofstopolis, the rules are that MOTs are carried out by a group of Ofstopolis inspectors, without warning, on a random basis, and your taxi firm will get a grade, based on these random MOTs, which will be:

Green - ( you can carry on trading)

Amber - ( you need to make changes immediately to carry on trading)
or Red ( you lose your job and your livelihood and are banned from driving a taxi/ owning a business indefinitely)

You were last inspected 2 years ago, and got graded Green, but you are now approaching that time frame where you know that the Ofstopolis inspectors are going to descend again at some point, and MOT all your taxis.

You keep abreast with all current guidance on how to pass an MOT inspection.

Over the next 5 years, you do not get an MOT inspection, but following the guidance in order to be ready for the MOTs, you do the following:

Paint all the cars red as Ofstopolis inspectors are saying this is the safest way for children to notice cars and not get run over

Paint all the cars green, as another but of research a few months later now says red cars have more accidents

Move all the steering wheels to the left hand drive in preparation for a change of side of road you drive on. Then move them back as that plan is abandoned.

Make sure all drivers have photo ID with their name on, showing at all times

Make sure no driver has their surname showing, as this is now considered a data breach

Make sure every driver is trained never to say anyone else's name

Make sure every driver has the latest insurance documents to hand in their car.

Make sure every driver stops carrying around insurance documents, and instead copies the relevant details into a notebook kept securely in a locked glove compartment

Change every driver to a different insurance company which is currently in favour

change all the tyres to blue tyres forgotten why, but Ofstopolis inspectors are currently insisting on this

Change all tyres to green tyres...err...

Change specification of lock on glove compartment...

make sure all drivers are trained in mindfulness

Make sure all drivers carry proof they are trained in mindfulness

Make sure all drivers are change the proof they are carrying, that they are trained in mindfulness, to a certificate exactly 154 mm square, no more, no less, change the size of all glove compartments to fit this exact certificate, take previous lock off glove compartment and fix it to a strong box in the boot to keep the (recently changed again) insurance documents in there, add a lock of a different specification to the glove box to keep the mindfulness certificate in, change the tyres to yellow, and the windscreen wipers to pink

And a thousand thousand other details of procedure, or whims based on highly suspect research, or politically motivated directives

NONE OF WHICH HAVE ANY BEARING AT ALL ON DRIVING YOUR CUSTOMERS

ALL OF WHICH IMPEDES YOU IN YOUR DAILY TASK OF DRIVING CUSTOMERS

Finally the day arrives and the Ofstopolis inspector descend.

YOu are bumped down from green to red, because a driver is found to have a mindfulness certificate which Is the correct size, and IS kept in the correct size glovebox, and DOES have the correct specification of lock on it.. BUT

he had his surname on it, which is a safeguarding breach, as surnames are not allowed - and he had mistakenly thought that the mindfulness certificates were supposed to have surnames on, to prove who had been trained, so this is a management failure, as the correct procedure had not been explained to the driver, and noone had checked it was being followed.

(And my most recent experience of ofsted, a few months ago, I was reprimanded because a student handed in an exercise book with their surname one)

And I hope this explains why teachers feel ofsted has a hugely negative effect on education

I heard an interview with a headteacher explaining exactly this scenario this morning and was most shocked to hear that the head will be told the rating, at the end of the inspection, but then told not to share it until the report. For weeks and weeks bearing that burden. How bloody inhumane.

I'm in healthcare not teaching so pretty ignorant to how it works, but can see the parallels with CQC.
Is there a process where a school is supported to make changes after an inspection? Or do they inspect, send report then bugger off to the next school?

A system without headline judgement words, where inspectors list the good points and suggest areas for improvement - and than hang around to help you make the improvements. As it is, I’m not sure most inspectors could actually help a school get better. They don’t have the expertise.

Pretty much that’s @Dinneronmybfpillow
They don’t help or advise, just come back sooner to do all the stressful stuff again.

yes, it is interesting, thank you

Excuse me if I'm being stupid, but would not the best direct action be not to perform in this circus?

Strike action against inspections 2 birds 1 stone?

I agree, currently waiting for my call!

Green - ( you can carry on trading)
Amber - ( you need to make changes immediately to carry on trading)
or Red ( you lose your job and your livelihood and are banned from driving a taxi/ owning a business indefinitely)

I don’t understand the analogy - are teachers banned from the profession/schools shut down in the event of a bad Ofsted?

Prison Ofsted and HMIP inspections are equally brutal and humiliating.

managers lose their jobs and might have their careers ended, yes, and schools may "close" ie change their names, etc

I know 2 headteachers who were both such crap teachers in the classroom who were appointed as heads of large secondary schools. In both cases they were so bad as headteachers that in one case he was never seen out of his office for the entire 2 years he was there - literally never appeared in another she was so dire and laughed with pupils and mimicked teachers - these kids were her pets and untouchable - in both cases after various issues both resigned or were asked to think of alternatives by the governors.

both popped up after a couple of years hiatus as ofsted inspectors / wtf?

also with the taxi analogy / when your passenger gets in your taxi you need to map out all potential destinations and journeys with the advantages and disadvantages of each plus next steps they should take to get to a longer destination then where they actually want to go. You must do this in writing. You must constantly rank each passenger every 20 minutes grade your passenger on their effort, contribution, participation and enjoyment and communicate this to all other taxi drivers and reflect on what you can do to improve them - every 20 minutes

I'm in NI and we don't have ofsted. Have ETI (education and training inspectorate). I lived and working in schools in England so understand the stress caused with ofsted. It's awful. I have no experience of ETI directly, but work with schools and have teacher family/ friends. I've never heard anyone talk about the inspections the way they do about ofsted. Schools in NI consistently out perform the rest of uk so they must be doing something right. Ofsted needs to change.

also with the taxi analogy / when your passenger gets in your taxi you need to map out all potential destinations and journeys with the advantages and disadvantages of each plus next steps they should take to get to a longer destination then where they actually want to go. You must do this in writing. You must constantly rank each passenger every 20 minutes grade your passenger on their effort, contribution, participation and enjoyment and communicate this to all other taxi drivers and reflect on what you can do to improve them - every 20 minutes

Yep! and put it in a spread sheet. Then move it to a different spread sheet. Then change the axis around and copy it to this months special spread sheet. Then delete that and put it into a new, even more special spread sheet

@IAmTheWalrus85

Do you think another school would employ a Head who had an Inadequate school on their employment record?
If a school is assessed as Inadequate, it is taken over as an academy, the old head ( and possibly other senior leaders) " resigns" and a new Head is eventually recruited- if they can find one willing to take on an Inadequate school. The majority of staff will look elsewhere for jobs, pupils start to leave, new intakes plummet as parents look elsewhere, class sizes reduce, funding reduces and fewer staff can be employed. It then becomes a self- fulfilling prophecy.
And that's on a good day!

I knew Brain Gym was the "in" thing a few years ago, but I had no idea it was required by Ofsted!

An inadequate judgement is often career ending for heads, and sometimes for other members of SLT.

Sometimes, they are contributing to problems- I have seen heads genuinely make schools worse.

But often there are many factors outside of their control that influence the way a school is, and it's not as simple as saying the head is at fault.

There are also political aspects to Ofsted gradings as well.

I think ICT with Mr P did a good one of this and also in a coffee shop.

Brilliant analogy.

What purpose do you think Ofsted currently serves?

In the 2010s, there were schools who got outstanding judgements once, and then were not assessed for 10+ years. A lot can go wrong in that time. But most schools continued to function normally.

The current cycle is about 5 years between Ofsted inspections if you get good or outstanding. That's still a long time if things have gone drastically wrong. But the vast majority of inspections don't turn up major failings.

Even for inadequate schools, the short "monitoring" visits rarely show up anything useful and it's easy for schools to hide things during these (even moreso when they were remote).

A lot of the "major safeguarding failings" or similar that Ofsted turn up probably wouldn't happen if it wasn't for Ofsted. A big one is off rolling- but if there wasn't so much pressure on results and attendance, then off rolling wouldn't happen or wouldn't happen so much.

Equally, you can have really nasty safeguarding incidents in a school, and it still be graded good or outstanding because they were "appropriately dealt with"- a "good" rating doesn't necessarily mean the school is actually "safe".

What purpose do you want school inspection to serve?

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depends on the team you got

also with the taxi analogy / when your passenger gets in your taxi you need to map out all potential destinations and journeys with the advantages and disadvantages of each plus next steps they should take to get to a longer destination then where they actually want to go. You must do this in writing. You must constantly rank each passenger every 20 minutes grade your passenger on their effort, contribution, participation and enjoyment and communicate this to all other taxi drivers and reflect on what you can do to improve them - every 20 minutes

And all your passengers journeys should take exactly the same amount of time to reach their destination, even if one started in Ullapool and one started in Chelmsford, and they're both going to Colchester. All passengers are the same, although you must prove they are not the same. But they are the same, to the inspector.
If your passenger is grieving the death of a parent, the journey must take the same amount of time.
If your passenger is homeless, the journey must take the same amount of time.
If your passenger is late for the journey because their parents can't afford an alarm clock, or are just chaotic, the journey must take the same amount of time.

Hang on. OP seriously - you were reprimanded for having a surname on a book?
So, let's say I have two Neils and two Darrens and two Keiths.
They are meant just to put their second initial on?
Is this primary or secondary?

What’s a CQC inspection like?

That's actually crazy.

In my school we have 2 children with the same name.