Ofsted is not fit for purpose and is harming the education of our children

[nickrozanski]

(please sign my petition here: bit.ly/ofsted-petition)

I have been a school governor for 14 years (I was chair for 8) and have been through four inspections of our school, all of which led to a “Good” judgement. Two of those inspections were excellent, but two were inadequate: the inspectors arrived with a clear agenda and narrow focus, already having made their judgement based on an inadequate understanding of our data and the real strengths of our school. After one of these inspections was completed, we discovered that none of the inspectors had ever been a teacher!

I have been horrified to read of many schools which Ofsted has moved from good or outstanding to special measures in the space of a few months or even weeks. This is just not credible for a school which has not gone through a significant change. It is clear that some inspectors are acting to a political agenda and are not behaving in an objective, independent and professional manner.

High-quality inspections are vital to ensure that a school is doing the best possible job of educating our children. An inspection should celebrate the areas where a school is doing well, and provide clear guidance, help and support for the areas where it needs to improve. In my experience Ofsted is carrying out this job to an inconsistent and sometimes very poor standard. It is antagonistic and aggressive rather than supportive, which has led to a climate of fear and intimidation amongst staff, and wastes large amounts of staff and governor time which could be spent on teaching and learning.

Ofsted is broken beyond repair. It needs a comprehensive reform to bring it up to the high standard that our children deserve. Please sign my petition here: bit.ly/ofsted-petition

I completely agree. We went from Outstanding to Special Measures with no staff changes. Bizarre!

I don't think anybody, including sir michael wilshaw the boss of Ofsted, would disagree with you that there is too much inconsistency in the inspection process, that is why Ofsted are taking back all inspections from being carried by three companies across England and they will all be run by Ofsted themselves. There is also no doubt that there are times when the inspectors are antagonistic and aggressive and there is no need for that at all.
However in the majority of inspections the school head teacher and governing body do agree and accept that the outcome of the inspection was a fair reflection of the school.
I question your statement that many schools that Ofsted said were good or outstanding turned into special measures when inspected a few weeks or months later, because in normal circumstances there would simply not be an inspection a few weeks or months later. The only instances that I am aware of is the situation in Birmingham when Ofsted were clearly looking at different things in the two inspections and a few other isolated situations where behaviour issues have been identified.
If a school goes from outstanding to special measures there is normally a reason for that. Schools that were considered outstanding 3 to 6 years ago are now being re-visited and they simply in some cases have not been keeping up with the latest Ofsted criteria. So there is now a significant emphasis on progress as well as actual attainment and many high achieving schools actually have only average or less levels of progress for instance. The other key issue is that Governance is now a key parameter as part of the leadership and management part of the inspection and some schools have gone into a category simply on the basis of poor governance.

What you describe is certainly how Ofsted should work, but in my experience (14 years a school governor) they often fall short of the high standards of professionalism we deserve, and this appears to be getting worse, not better.
At our last inspection (in which we we awarded Good) the inspector had an obvious agenda to downgrade us to Requires Improvement (how demotivating is that?). He focussed entirely on last year's results, and ignored our previous 4-5 years' results which were very good. He had no understanding of the fact that in a London school with relatively high mobility you get more variation year-on-year than a provincial school with a more stable cohort.
I disagree that there is more emphasis on progress than there used to be - we have focussed strongly on this ever since I started being a governor.
If I was grading Ofsted I would give them a Requires Improvement, even with the recent changes. Our children deserve better!

But it's up to the inspectors to spot if you as a school may be on the skids with those results, and up to you as a school to prove it's a blip and not a trend.

admissions you are missing the point.

The governors/ school have to accept it for two reasons, Firstly, because it is the framework they are assessed by. The statements are true, it doesn't mean that where issues have already been identified and work is underway to put them right it is helpful to slap the school into special measures. Secondly if they don't accept it then they will be removed from post.

I agree OP and what alarms me most is the idea that there is an agenda when inspecting schools. I have heard of many schools being downgraded and then suddenly changing to academies. I think parents and schools need to look closer at this.
That schools are being inspected by people with no teaching experience is ridiculous. How can someone who has never taught themselves judge the effectiveness of a teacher or understand the complexities of how children learn. How can these inspectors offer advice on improvements in this situation?
My main issue is that teachers are teaching to satisfy OFSTED and not the needs of the children. Teachers are leaving in droves because of the pressure of paperwork and inspections. Has anyone measured if education has improved as a result of OFSTED or is it just making things worse?