18-year career as an Ofsted inspector ended by a single email

[nodramaplease]

Ofsted have decided in their wisdom to annul my accreditation as an inspector because never having been a teacher, I apparently can't judge teaching. So, hey, having done so for the past 18 years and having passed every quality assessment they threw at me apparently they were wrong all the time! An unblemished career ended by a single email. Presumably this also means that every inspection any of us non-teachers has ever done is also invalid, and also every grading, despite them having been approved by our lead inspectors and higher authorities? But never mind logic, let's just score a cheap brownie point with the teaching unions -- don't worry about whether we're actually good inspectors or not. I am sad and angry: it was a huge privilege to witness so many lessons (600+ inspections). I'd like to say a huge cheer for the many fantastic teachers this country has got, and I hope that those who didn't do quite so well found our conversations helpful.

I was being tongue in cheek seeker :)

I think someone who has never taught but who gets to sit in on lots of lessons taught by lots of different teachers can have a whole host of valid things to say - it just depends on what they are being asked to judge. Some things they can judge without a teaching qualification, others they might not be able to judge realistically. But then some of what teachers and non-teachers from Ofsted are asked to judge is unrealistic tripe, anyway, so assessing whether someone is good at that isn't much use to anyone, anyway.

The same applies with doctors - I wouldn't trust a lay person to judge the diagnostic skills of a doctor, but I would certainly listen seriously to their views on said doctor's ability to deal with patients sympathetically, question and listen appropriately and communicate advice effectively, if they happened to have lots of experience in observing doctor-patient exchanges. It is, after all, easier to put yourself in the position of a patient and how they might view your exchanges if you don't have too much medical knowledge yourself.

There is the point that it will be restful not having to defend myself for being part of Ofsted any more -- inspectors don't make their policies, they just have to carry them out, after all. It's one of those jobs which people instantly hate you for, even if they're not teachers!

But I am sad to lose it. I've done about 600 inspections: with a notional number of 4 lesson observations each time that's around 2,400 lessons. Very few people get that privilege. I've seen teaching which has been so awe-inspiringly wonderful that it was hard to hold in the emotion, where miracles of learning and discovery happened in front of my eyes. What a thing it is to be able to do that. At the other end there are lessons where Things Go Wrong (the curse of Ofsted is that all technology will stop working the moment the inspector arrives) and there are lessons where it is, sadly, clear that Things Always Go Wrong, the kids are bored stiff and there is a real need to change things. Every time you go into a classroom you don't know what you'll find, and every day is different in every classroom. It's been fantastic, and I shall miss it very much.

What a wonderful sentiment, NoDrama. Good luck with whatever you decide to do next.

xx

Wouldn't that be unfair dismissal! I don't think I would take it lying down.

You are qualified by experience surely. They must need more than a policy change to prefer ex-teachers to expel a employee of 18 years standing, who has been approved time and again.

I'm sorry, OP.

And I don't think that members of a profession are necessarily those best placed to monitor it.

In fact, I am not sure that any monitoring or quality control process which is entirely run by members of the profession that it oversees would be particularly viable or transparent. You need an independent view.

"How would you like your competence to be judged by someone who has never ever done your job?

This happens all the time in business! Some examples - I'm reviewed by my manager who has never done my job. Audited by external and internal agencies/departments.

Personally I like having a fresh pair of eyes and someone's views on my work and department who's not directly involved. They can often bring very useful suggestions, ideas and insights."

As a teacher I have never demanded that non-teachers can not view my lessons to offer insight (as per my previous post) but to actually judge and affect my career is a different thing.

I have had a career in engineering and within business administration environments and yes, people who have not done your job do review your work/appraise your progress but there is always a clear trail that can be followed and in 90% of the time a black/white answer to issues; where there is a grey area you are allowed to give your statement so to speak as to why you made the decision you did. This does not happen with an Ofsted inspection - you are judged on half the lesson with no questions asked of why you are doing x, y, z - depending on their latest craze - you are judged and this judgement remains with you the rest of your career.

As such, doesn't it make more sense that this person who is judging actually has the experience of being in a classroom?

Op - I feel for you having this news, especially via email but for once the right decisions are being made

"As a teacher I have never demanded that non-teachers can not view my lessons to offer insight (as per my previous post) but to actually judge and affect my career is a different thing"

In my profession I have been assessed and judged many times by auditors, internal and external, who have never done my job. And the results of these assessments can affect my career. It's really quite normal.

So sorry you've lost your job in such a cruel way. However, as a teacher (quite new to the profession, ex senior manager, so do have life experience before!!!) I now believe that actually you should have classroom experience (of some description) before judging/scoring somebody else. I also play tennis in my spare time. If Serena Williams wanted to offer me some coaching points, I would gladly listen. If Miss 'Never played but watched every Wimbledon for the last 18 yrs' told me that my swing was all wrong, I'd be thinking what the bloody hell would you know!

I do take on board the points some have made about being able to be objective if you're not in the teaching profession, but I would still maintain - until you've actually done it, you have nooo idea how bloody hard it can be at times! I also would value comments made by an ex teacher far more, as they can actually share their experiences (good and bad) so surely the learning aspect of Ofsted would have more value. I'm sure you're great at observing lessons but you can't actually share your own experiences with me, which would make me not value your opinion. Great teachers make it look easy. It isn't!

You could argue though that an ex teacher will just think the way they did it was right and are so entrenched in their own habits that they're not objective.

And as for the sports comment, I'm guessing that a lot of Olympic judges have't actually competed in the sports they're judging.

It's pretty normal for people to be judged (literally) by someone who has never done their job. This is exactly what happens in professional negligence court cases. A judge who has never been a cardiac specialist/oil platform engineer/financial director will evaluate the work done to see if it was negligent.

I'm sorry you have lost your job in this way, OP.

Similarly, management positions in professional jobs can be held by people who haven't done the role. Yet they judge and assess you and can decide whether or not you're doing it effectively.

I do think it says something about an organisation when they treat loyal employees so shabbily.

Another one whose is assessed annually by independent auditors, and on an ongoing basis until recently by a boss who had no experience doing what I do (it's quite specific and in small companies there are generally only one of us).

I would be concerned that a teacher inspecting a teacher would make judgements based on their own experience and their own methods of teaching - for example if they watch you handle a situation in a certain way, but that they would have handled in a different way, they may mark you down for not doing it their way.

I'm sorry OP that you have lost your job. I hope you find something you enjoy doing. I'm sure it is a decision based more on cost cutting than having any foundation in common sense.

Negligence court cases though have both sides of the argument presented to the judge, questions can be asked in order for this 'lay judge' to make a decision. This is not the case of an Ofsted lesson observation

I am so sorry you have lost your job OP. And to be told in an email like that - just awful.

To the other side of the debate I would say that Ofsted inspectors aren't just looking at teaching standards. They are looking at the school as a whole - on the reports I have read anyway - am while teaching standards are a part of that there is a whole host of other stuff like how do the students feel, how involved are the parents, are facilities safe, are anti-bullying policies in place and are they used, are the children happy and etc a million things which I see when I look at reports. So I don't see why they need to be a teacher, as long as they know their onions. In a way someone who had that in their background might be inclined to judge on how they taught and give the teaching more weight than all the other stuff that is important.

Also do they have different inspectors for all the different settings? As if not then what are they going to do about that going forward? Will the people who assess preschool settings need to have worked in a qualified capacity in that environment? And so on.

OP again I am so sorry.

An ex teacher can be objective but relate to practical experience. Also allnew a good teacher in an advisory role would hace their own experience and would have observed good practise amongst peers too. They dont get 'entrenched' in their ways as your teaching style/techniques change and adapt ti different children. They should be able to appreciate different approaches.

And as for the sports comment, I'm guessing that a lot of Olympic judges have't actually competed in the sports they're judging.

Difficult to know, but I'm willing to bet that most of them have! That's how you get into those type of things. I'm a qualified tennis umpire and referee - you can't do that unless you play tennis!

In my previous post, yes, I was regularly assessed by people who hadn't done my job, but it is a lot different to be assessed in how you are meeting KPI's (for e.g) than for how you are managing poor classroom behaviour. Having done both jobs (as in teaching, and various other careers before coming to teaching), I feel I can comment objectively on this. Those of you who are commenting saying 'well I get 'judged' by people who've never done my job', haven't done teaching - so how can you compare? (not sure this even makes sense, but even though it's the summer holidays I'm up to my eyeballs in work, so excuse my waffling on!)

Although doesn't change my own viewpoint on Ofsted - which is, that they're a load of rubbish in any case! Far too much politics and bullshit paperwork/bureaucracy in teaching. But that's another thread!

I do observations of teaching as a standards verifier and no way could I do it as well if I hadn't had personal experience of teaching the subject I am judging.

Sorry, hard on the OP - but no harder than that of a teacher who loses their job because their lesson is judged as unsatisfactory by someone with no personal knowledge or experience of what is involved in teaching that lesson.

In 18 years, the OP has had ample opportunity to undertake a PGCE and gain knowledge of what she is inspecting.

I have no more patience for 'consultants' who proliferate in many areas and pretend to know more about how to do other people's jobs than the people who do them day in, day out. Sorry, but they don't, and it's extremely patronising to suggest that some new graduate with a few months' training, has anything useful to contribute - especially when you consider that both consultants and Ofsted Inspectors usually earn far more than the professionals they are paid to criticise.

She's being doing it for 18 years.

Some of the comments on here are well harsh!

Ofsted inspectors don't or shouldn't pretend to know more about the job than the teachers themselves though, and they don't or shouldn't think they would be better at doing it themselves.

I think it is patronising to suggest that they don't have anything to add as independent observers. They aren't just picked at random from people on the street - they are trained and, in OP's case, have many years experience. OP is being treated really badly.

Breadandbutterfly she is paid to assess not criticise

Someone said upthread that an ex-teacher may well have greater fixed ideas about how the lesson ought to be done than someone like OP with many years experience and an open mind.

All seems rather absurd especially as the govt recently announced that teachers in academies (or is it free schools) don't have to have a teaching qualification!

So you can't inspect someone teaching despite having the experience and expertise because you've never been a teacher but they can teach because they have the experience/expertise

Where is the common sense in that?

Are OFSTED your employer?

Are you being made redundant because inspections are no longer happening?

Have you been offered a place they've found for you on a PGCE or teacher training via open university to bring your skills upto their new desired level and turned it down?

You cannot easily be moved on by an employer after 18 years at a job, where the job function is to continue, if you haven't had a series of warnings of competence or misconduct or retraining opportunities made to you.

I worked for a company where they had an engineer who was actually incompetent. They dismissed him as such but due to 12 years service, a series of payrises and good written annual reviews, and the three warnings being over a short spell he got a good solicitor and settled out of court for a couple of years salary.