How do people become inspectors?

[qwert9876]

Genuinely released I don't know the answer to this. They're not all ex-Heads, so at some point in their teaching career they must have applied. Does ofsted advertise for inspectors in the TES?! Who are they all?! What's their career path normally? I don't know anyone who's made this leap despite being a teacher for over ten years...

Nor me.

Not something I would ever want to be.

I only know one Ofsted Inspector who was a rubbish primary head. Left to join temporarily but is still inspecting nearly a decade later.

Our headteacher is leaving at Christmas to join Ofsted.

I’ve expressed an interest several times - I genuinely want to see what it’s like and if you can be an inspector and maintain integrity.
Either never need inspectors in my area or my credentials don’t fit.
You can express an interest through the ofsted site.

Admittedly this was a while ago but seems Ofsted aren't too picky as they employed this teacher from my old school....

All the ones I've met are ex heads

I once asked an inspector if he'd go in to teaching nowadays. He couldn't leave the room fast enough!

Well if they were once teachers I suspect that they have no memory at all of the day to day reality of classroom life. 😞

I think a lot of non teaching heads also lose sight of the classroom dynamics too

Quite a few of our LA subject or primary advisers became Ofsted inspectors. All had been very good teachers, or primary head teachers, and were very up to date in their subjects or area of expertise, as it was their job to advise others. I would say they knew the time of day. The primary advisers would have been paid more than heads of small or medium primary schools so they were seeing these jobs as a better income than being a head and probably less work!

It’s very different now. Inspectors have to have a record of good management at middle level at least. I have a colleague who does it and she is actually a good practitioner. Having had children has made her expectations of staff slightly more realistic...

And the training is INTENSE.

All the HMIs I have worked with have been very good indeed. The common or garden Ofsted inspectors have been highly variable, with some completely failing to understand different school contexts. The most recent Head I know who’s now doing Ofsted inspections (not HMI, just day release) runs a “successful” school through social exclusion and by location in an extremely well heeled village.

They were advertising on TES and Civil Service jobs last week.

My mum is an ofsted inspector. She has been doing it for about 6 years now. I seem to remember she was recruited by another inspector who felt she was suitable for the role. She did it alongside a headship at a challenging school. She retired this year from being a head and now does 1 or 2 inspections a month and is a lead inspector (involved lots of training). She is also doing one or two days supply a week as a teacher to keep up to date that way. My mum loved teaching. Her life was and is all about education.