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 think they need to know enough to make an informed judgement and even ex teachers might not have a clue when observing another Key Stage. I'm thinking here of the Ofsted inspector who was very alarmed to find nursery children weren't writing in books and another who asked a four year old who had been in school for two whole weeks what they were doing ... the child said "nowt honest" and the inspector was most unhappy they didn't know the learning objective in the role play area

No drama please-feel so sorry for you does seem harsh.
why cant they make the changes for new entrants only

or have transitional opportunity to train?

£375 per inspection
deducting expenses
just 5inspections a term

so even though my maths is crap £1925 for whole term

lets say for ease of working it out a terms as /3 as 3terms a year.

a term maybe 4months as 4 into 12.
£475 a month how do you surveive on such little income and fund annual training out own pocket -seems harsh and not great.

maybe im judging ofsted wrong.

but a ofsted visit is list of criteria /ticklist that inspector has to cover.

eldest school downgraded this year but the criteria had changed which i felt unfair as if parent looking this year vewied another schools ofsted on old criteria and ours on new one then hows that levle playing feild?

As a prospective parent I find the ofsted useful.
as a parent now i dont value it as much as i did despite downgrade in ofsted school seems same to me and felt the report was harsh and has been damaging to staff and parent morale since it was released.

but I take on board that lots of other professions are judged by someone whos not done the job.

Dont 2inspectors do visits?
could one not be non qualified and 1 qualified to balance it out?
or is that too simplistic?

As its not just value of teaching thats graded.

locally staff issues seem to because of downgrade so one school special measures lost their head and had to be replaced this took time..

is ofsted just england as wales is ested.
imagine scotland has their own just not sure about ni.

I would seek legal advice.

To the teachers- I can understand why ofsted might be enemy no 1.

but have a little heart this persons lost job after 18years due to change in legislation.

plus teachings changed so much over last 20years.
if the poster had been a teacher in prior life doesnt make them expert of challanging of teaching in 2012 as times move on and unless in the feild of teaching how can they be up to date.

Also in medical profession doctors, nurses/midwives in order to stay registered have to ensure they up to date to practice.

Of course nodrama you don't set the rates and it's still awful that you have lost your job without being given the opportunity to skill up to their required level.

Good luck with finding something new. Maybe with all your experience you should actually consider teacher training! As I said earlier, to train as a teacher in FE is very flexible these days. Not just a full time PGCE route.

Interesting how whenever there is a demand for an enquiry eg press/banks etc and the role of the governing bodies comes into question everyone says you can't have people judging their own profession, yet that is exactly what the majority of people on here are suggesting is right!

nodrama - if they are only offering you 5 days work per term then at least that's lots of free time you have to do other jobs... I do similar amounts of freelance work as a standards verifier - but I fill the time in working as a part-time teacher, Chief Examiner etc when not doing that - nothing is stopping you from working on the other days...

I suppose I'm not terribly sympathetic because in this day and age to have had a secure well-paid job, albeit not full-time, for 18 years is pretty lucky. You could have have filled in the other days of the week with other employment and/or training, and then would have more to fall back on. Unfortunately, much work in education these days is short-term or freelance - look at HE, where what used to be permanent, quite cushy academic posts are now nearly all on short-term contracts for new staff.

Still an incredible amount of money for one days work. Seriously. As bread points out above, you could do that and do another job and more than make a good living.

Well. You could always do a PGCE and transfer some of the skills you have learnt over the last 18 yrs back into the classroom? Although I warn you now, the government lie and you won't start on M3+ because of your previous experience. Schools don't give a toss, don't have the budget and start everyone on M1 these days. sigh. As I found out to my detriment. Probably this is why more mature, experienced people don't go into teaching to share their knowledge and why teaching is full of 22 year olds who haven't got a bloody clue about life never mind how to handle a class full of 6 yr olds

Regardless. Back to your original post, are you sure they can just do that via one email? I would seriously check your rights on that one. Good luck.

Sorry - just must jump in to stick up for two of my team! They are 25 and the most hard-working members of staff in the whole school - lively, enthusiastic, empathetic, creative... I can't praise them enough.... oh... and really fun for an old fogey like me to work with.
Please don't tar all young teachers with the same brush.
(Sorry - couldn't let it go.)

Fair point :)

I actually agree that £375 a day is not that much when you have to pay all your travel and accomodiation expenses out it and pay for training. If you think about it an OFSTED inspector will be paying at least £100 for a hotel room.

Self employment has high costs because there is no pension. A teacher has big fat final salary pension, up to six months sick pay and pretty much guarenteed work. If you are self employed you also have the joy of self assessment.

If a school gets in a SERCO/ SIMS or a network consultant then they are typically paying far more money.

Sorry to hear this OP. I've met plenty of inspectors (ex chair of Govs with 3 Ofsteds under my belt). I had a great deal of respect for the inspectors I met & not all were ex teachers but that's not always the necessary. I was expected to 'judge' lessons on governor visits & I'm also not a teacher. I witnessed one absolutely brilliant supply teacher who later applied for a job at the school. He did terribly at interview but because I had seen him teach a lesson, I pushed to reconsider his potential. He was offered the job & was one of the finest teachers the school ever had.

Ofsted is not the organisation it once was. Shame & maybe OP you are better off out of it?

£375 is really not that much as a daily rate for a role like this. A similar position in law would be about £700 + VAT + expenses.

Get in touch with your LEA and become a school governor - they'll bite your hand off. Not paid obviously, but will be good to see things from a different perspective and this will stand you in good stead in job-hunting. If you apply for anything in a school, governors are likely to be involved in the selection and they tend to be impressed (irrationally maybe) with fellow governors.

I think if the job is only open to people who have been teachers you are likely to end up with a whole load of people who have got tired of teaching, or maybe never really enjoyed it much. Some might be great, I bet a load will be jaded who weren't very good at their job anyway. Would you really want to be judged by people who have done your job but are shit at it?

A lot of the comments from teachers on this thread are what gets my back up about teachers, they have no idea what happens in the real world.

Also, I think with the day rate OFSTED inspectors work you are probably not rolling in it. People on salaries tend to hear a contractors day rate, times it by 5 then by 52, make assumptions and think you are rolling in it. My husband works as a contractor and I have told him not to let his day rate slip to friends because they don't get it. He probably does 2 days work for every day he charges for, a bit of extra time so he makes sure clients feel they get good value for money, time spent talking to clients discussing their needs before he even gets any work (he can spend days doing this and not even get a contract), time spent doing accounts and sending invoices, chasing invoices that are not paid, no sick or holiday pay, no pension contributions, paying for all required materials, a new computer every few years, software, repairs when it breaks down etc.

I think if a teacher gave up teaching to be an Ofsted inspector they will be taking a pay cut.

So fapl my 15 years working in industry in the private sector didn't give me any idea what happens in the real world

I was about to post s similar thing mrz! fapl please read one of my earlier posts that highlighted that I am more than aware of what happens within the private sector following my years working in engineering/business enviroments

environments sorry - too busy watching the Olympics!

No, don't you know that no teacher has ever had any experience of life outside teaching or in the private sector.

Actually, my point earlier was that this was one of the things that does happen in the private sector and I think it is equally ludicrous there. Jumped-up consultants with no experience of the area of work are a complete waste of space in the private sector too, IMO. (Not calling the OP 'jumped-up', but plenty of consultants my dh works with don't know their arse from their elbow.)

Politicians hire the type of consultants who will not look at them with a snarl of disgust.

Luckily most private sector businesses know how to haggle.

OP
Sadly you are caught in the politicisation of Ofsted that Gove is currently engineering - he wants people who will say that state schools and non sponsor academies are failing and can be handed to his profit making chums.

Sorry, should have said some teachers, I was referring to the teachers on this thread that thought £375 is an amazing day rate and they are doing the wrong job. They are probably doing the right job for them.

Ah, the real world - BINGO!

Don't you regard £375 a day good wages ?
www.careers.ofsted.gov.uk/admin/uploaded/2618_AI_Job_Spec.pdf

www.ofsted.gov.uk/vacancies/her-majestys-inspectors-of-education-childrens-services-skills-social-care

I know that when I worked in the private sector for a fairly small company we had an executive director, a managing director, a sales director, a marketing director and a financial director all of whom, in the late 80s were earning well over £80K, and were all driving Mercs, BMWs and Audis (all fuel paid, even for private use). Middle managers (i.e. personnel, distribution) also had company cars.

Together with her bursar and unpaid governors, my school's headteacher 'directs' the school: the school's budget allocation and spending, community cohesion, school data tracking, school buildings, Ofsted, government policies, personnel, stakeholders and a multitude of pastoral issues.

The bursar and headteacher earn about £80K in total - about the same as one of the 5 directors at my old company in the late 80s (without the £30k+ company cars).

No, sometimes, it's a damn sight more difficult in education than in your 'real world'.

fapl- £375/day is not that much in some sectors eg someone mentioned law above - but is a lot in others eg teaching. How hard is that to understand?

Contrary to the Torygraph, public sector workers like teachers are not well-paid for what is a graduate-only (currently, anyway) job.

Out of my social circle, those who went into jobs of eqivalent responsibility in the private sector earn double or more public sector wages.

But people who work in education on the whole don't do it for the money, they do it because they want to do a meaningful job where they are making a contribution. I have friends who sold their souls to work for Shell, tobacco companies etc. They have well-paying jobs, big houses etc but nothing would make me want to be in their shoes.

I did say I wasn't going to comment any more, but I would just like to say timidly that I went into Ofsted not for the money but because I had a horrible time at school, hated every minute, and wanted to do anything I could to help make things better for future generations. Whether I did or not others will have to decide, as in any job. I know I took it seriously and tried my best.

With any inspection, an inspector officially never knows what happened after they left: in two or three cases schools or individuals took the trouble to get in touch through Tribal (the contractor) and thank me which was an amazing thing. One of those occasions was when we'd had to put a school in special measures. That's the sort of thing that made me feel the job was worth while.

Thank you breadandbutterfly for summing it up -- people in education do want to do a meaningful job where they are making a contribution, and this does apply to ex-lay inspectors as well!