Ofsted & the Parent View questionnaire

[Saladserver]

Our school is being ofsted inspected at the moment, and we've been asked to fill out the online questionnaire with our views of the school, or speak to the inspectors in person at school.

There are 12 online Q's and for each one you answer strongly agree / agree / disagree / strongly disagree / don't know.

I love our school, yes its not perfect and yes there are a few things that have mildly irritated me over the course of the last few years, but overall I think the teachers do a bloody good job, the head is a good manager and I want the school to do well and be highly regarded, as I believe it should be.

I completed the questionnaire as honestly as I could. I've been reviewing the results as they come in (shows you how many people have completed the questionnaire and what the results are as a % of agree / disagree etc).

It doesn't take a statistician to work out that one parent has answered 'strongly disagree' to every single answer and then said 'no, I would not recommend this school to somebody else' at the end.

This parent obviously has an axe to grind about something (I can't believe they strongly disagree about EVERYTHING!), and it upsets me that someone is willing to complete a questionnaire in such a way.

There is always the cliques of mums in the playground having a moan about something or other, or reckoning they could manage the school better than the head etc. I know we are all overprotective of our kids, but I take the view that teachers have trained at university and have real life of experience of teaching & schools so we'd all be better off not slagging them off in the playground and letting them get on with doing their jobs.

So my question is, how much attention do ofsted really pay to the results of the parentview questionnaire? Particularly when one parent has answered in such an obviously negative and across the board way?

[Dinosaursareextinct]

I feel pretty cynical too. Our school is led by a widely disliked Head who wages war on parents. I know a good few people who have withdrawn their children because of her, which is something she encourages. Yet Ofsted called her "inspirational".

[firstchoice]

Well, it is the sort of thing DeWe and Dinosaur are saying really...

I am not suggesting some sort of conspiracy theory but that the questionnaires are badly worded, often poorly taken up, and that, even when parents ARE complaining (sometimes in droves), OFSTEAD rarely DO anything about it. 9 parents complaining on one form about one issue SHOULD raise questions - if not, what are the forms FOR?

Ergo, the questionnaires are rather more 'window dressing' than useful.

[ReallyTired]

My daughter's school is dire and thankfully OFSTED 100% agreed with the parents. Parents view only gives one aspect of assessing a school. If the OFSTED inspector turns up and finds the children out of control, results are terrible, teacher morale rock bottom then the school will fail its inspection whatever the parents think. In our case the report wrote that parental concerns are completely justified.

[firstchoice]

ReallyTired

That's encouraging - not that the school is so bad but that OFSTED have picked it up from Inspecting the school - which has 'backed up' the questionnaire.

This is my point really - I don't think OFSTED take the questionnaire particularly seriously but place much more emphasis on the inspection itself. If that inspection is thorough it will reveal problems (if indeed there are problems to be revealed!). But I feel the questionnaire should be given more weight so that if the inspection isn't thorough for some reason, it will also 'pick up' difficulties if they are there.

Really - are you sticking with the school in the hope of improvement?

[ReallyTired]

Really - are you sticking with the school in the hope of improvement?

In our area there is a serious shortage of school places for reception children. We literally have no choice but to either send dd to inadequate school or home educate. The only other schools in a five mile radius which have places are also dire.

[sittingathomewithacold]

Our school had an inspection last term - the inspector came in with the specific intention of giving us a level 3, as one of our progress levels had slipped.

He commented that the parent questionnaire was the most positive response he'd seen in his vast experience of inspecting schools.

Apparently, this was evidence that the school had hidden exactly how crap we were from the parents.

I think they pretty much know what they are going to say before they come in - they are really only bothered by the School Dashboard and Raiseonline figures.

[PastSellByDate]

Hi Saladserver:

I can see you really are worried about this questionnaire but I think you're making assumptions. About 25 parents answered ours last year (not an OFSTED inspection year) and 5% all the way through strongly disagree - which can look like one parent but I know (because I strongly disagreed on two questions) that all the 'strongly disagreed answers' (and they're everywhere) are not just me.

For me - appropriate homework & school management were the issues. Obviously someone felt strongly they wouldn't recommend the school and someone else felt strongly that the school doesn't handle bullying well.

The reality is that everyone experiences the school differently. Your kids may be very happy and having a smooth ride through school and your academic expectations for your children are in keeping with the schools aims - but that might not be everybody.

As Abraham Lincoln said (well to paraphrase): You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.

OFSTED aren't fools - they know this and they can actually see who responded (because parents have to register). So they can see that KS2 upper are seriously concerned about bullying and KS1 are seriously concerned about homework and KS2 lower and seriously concerned about how well their children are being taught.

I know that as someone who really loves your school you want a glowing report - but negative responses are important - and people need to feel they can freely express their displeasure. As you suggested there are parents standing around in the playground 'having a moan' (there always are I fear) - but not really communicating it effectively. Perhaps this is a way for them to complain without feeling there are repercussions for them or their children. (And don't kid yourself that teachers can and do take out issues with parents on their children).

I also think at points where your child is entering/ changing schools - things like parent view are really useful. If you see 90% of parents are pretty happy with a school -that's a good sign. If you see >50% are unhappy - your alerted to their being a problem at that school and may wisely decide to steer clear. Schools are aware of that fact - and will try hard to remedy problem areas as well - so that benefits you (someone who likes the school), complainers (people who don't like the school) and future pupils (parents who are deciding whether to chose the school).

More importantly - registering before entering your responses to parents view means that teachers at a school can't 'stack' positive responses for a school - although I don't know all the ins and outs for OFSTED's management of this this.

HTH

[Dinosaursareextinct]

I also don't think Ofsted pay much attention to Parentview. But it would be useful to prospective parents if 1)lots of parents filled it in, 2) they were honest. I suspect that many don't fill it in or praise too much because they don't want the reputation of the school to go down / fewer MC kids to attend.

[firstchoice]

Really - same for us sadly.
We are going to move though as there is bullying too.

[Frikadellen]

I found parentview quite irritating to use it is such a rigid way to deal with issues.

My dd3 have had some serious issues with learning lately School is working to get her to work harder. However due to how the questionnaire was set I had to tick " disagree" to my child makes good progress. She doesn't its that simple. it isnt as such the schools fault but that is reality she is not making good progress. However my ds who was in Y6 at the time was doing amazing but I can not tick a middle of the road box so I had to go with either disagree or agree/strongly agree. as I do know I know 1 child i s doing amazing and one not so good. it is not a " dont know"

also a question like " my child gets appropriate homework". if you disagree with homework at primary level then your answer will be strongly disagree.

When I went through it I put some disagre on the form Not because I as such feel the school is doing badly but because it was the truth for that question.

When looking at the school 32 parents had responded (I think that is about 50% so pretty good really) and only 8% would not reccommend the school to others . I know for a fact one of those is a friend of mine who feels the school is utterly failing her son and who have had some very negative experiences over issues there. She felt that overshadowed how well her dd was doing and responded very negatively. She is currently trying to move her son.

[Hulababy]

Does Parent View reset itself after a period of time?

We had OFSTED last year and we had a number of responses. However, when I just looked there are only 2. Why would this be?

[Morebiscuitsplease]

Following a recent inspection I completed it but found it quite difficult as my daughters have had very different experiences. Wanted to do one for each child as outcome would be very different.

[LadyDamerel]

Hula, you need to go to 'All' in the tabs along the top, or last 365 days, or 2012/13. They start again for each academic year which only show data once there are more than 10 results but all the previous results are there. You have to be on the desktop version to get those tabs though.

[Marmitelover55]

I am a bit sceptical about the whole thing, as you don't need to be an actual parent to comment. Anyone can go in and pretend to be a parent and really skew the results if they want to. A "troll" paradise.

[Dinosaursareextinct]

Hardly anyone bothers to complete the questionnaires though, so for several schools I've tried you can't access any results. The system is therefore not working.

[MrsCakesPremonition]

All it takes is one family using multiple email addresses to skew the results on Parent view.

[Dinosaursareextinct]

I can see that someone might do that, but haven't come across it yet, and have searched for a good few schools. Feedback tends to be positive (or non existent).

[RosesandRugby]

I know many parents who rate my childrens school very highly because they have always had positive results for their children from the education provided. At best I would describe the school as 'ok' but not excellent by any means. I compare it to the school I went to and although this was 20+ years ago this is the standard I look for at my childrens school.

My friend went to a 'mediocre' school in comparison with the school I attended and as a result she finds our childrens school excellent. Its all about personal experiences and expectations.

Its not easy to just move a child to another school either, frequently its due to rising numbers and hardly any new schools opening to help reduce the class sizes. There are many reasons people pick a school. Some are based on the distance it is to their home/work/child care, some choose exam results, some choose sports achievements some are just allocated a place because there was nowhere else for the child to go and some people just don't know that they can change schools.

Just because you personally find something excellent doesn't mean that someone else will. I hate football, my personal experiences have been on the whole dreadful when it comes to football yet thousands of people love it. Its the same with schools.

I really wouldn't worry about 1 persons reply on Parentview. It really wont make any difference to the school anyway. Im pretty sure your school will continue to be run that way it is now unless of course OFSTED uncover something terrible during their visit.

[Saladserver]

As an update, several mums I have spoken to have completed the questionnaire online but feel, as most people say above, its so generic that they couldn't express what they wanted to say in the 12 simple questions available. So they've written letters to hand to the inspectors in the playground, which seems a good solution.

PLus this morning 2 x inspectors were cruising the playground with clipboards asking parents if they were happy with the school and had any issues to raise. So I feel happy that they're getting sufficiently balanced parent feedback.

[WalkingThePlank]

It's clearly very important to you that your school is rated well. Did the 'right' people submit letters and corner the inspectors this morning?

[Saladserver]

Ha! No walkingtheplank I'm not that self-absorbed or ridiculous that I'm desperate for my school to achieve no less than outstanding, even if it doesn't deserve it. Why would anyone want that, what would be the benefit of that?

No-body 'cornered' the inspectors, and my friends who submitted letters each had their own (negative) concerns that they wanted to raise with Ofsted.

I simply want parents to be fair about the school and not completely slate it across the board potentially due to an issue concerning only one aspect of their child's education.

[007licencetospill]

I hope ofsted takes a lot of notice of all the feed back. Your experience of school is obviously going to be different to others. Great the school has been good for you. Everyone has a unique experience and for some your school has been a walking disaster. Parents shouldn't have to put up and shut up. Parents are often professionals too and many actually work in education. Parents often have valued input. School doesn't always know best and doesn't always get it right.

[007licencetospill]

I think if a child is being bullied, there can be a huge management fail in resolving the situation. And ultimately teachers/head are responsible. Bullying that isn't stopped will deeply effect a child's learning and progress. The teacher may not be managing the learning environment effectively. Their confidence will be rock bottom and they may be isolated and excluded. Heads can easily hide or sweep issues under the carpet - this happened in our 'good' school. As a result parents were unaware of the huge problems that surfaced. How do you really know that your school
Is ok? You don't.


You can't grasp that some students are failed by a school even if its considered 'good'. The parent is probably not girding an axe, more likely grading the school based on her unique experience of it. Just as you have.

[Retropear]

I thought Ofsted results were based on data so pretty much decided on before their arrival ie parent questionnaire is pretty pointless.

Happy to be told otherwise though.