Surprise Ofsted - Tories

[Blossie0]

Will any teachers vote Conservative on the back of the comments that Tories will introduce surprise inspections in a shake up to Ofsted?

They are justifying changes by saying standards in education need to improve.

It seems that those making changes to the education system have never stepped foot in a school and have no real idea of the pressures on teachers.

“Never set foot in a school”

I agree with you but I would never vote Conservative anyway.

They proposed this a few years ago and I completed the government feedback form at the time saying school staff need notice to mentally prepare. They only give half a day notice as it is.

'Whoops 'set'

Just wondering if they've completely alienated teachers now.

It seems that those making changes to the education system have never stepped foot in a school and have no real idea of the pressures on teachers.

Hands up those who are surprised? And god no. The tories have raped, pillaged and destroyed the education system. Raw sewage has been dripping into my classroom. Again. That’s the problem - crumbling buildings and academy chains that misuse their funds. Not what the students are learning.

Of course the politicians making the decisions wont ever be personally affected by them...

I just came on here to post that but you beat me to it!

£10 million for Ofsted.
Longer inspections.
No notice inspections.

Just wondering if there were any current state school teachers out there who are voting Conservative? What do you think of this idea?

I think most teachers are already well aware of why they should never vote tory. They've been living with the consequences for long enough.

Have just read some of the comments on that BBC article-it’s just sad.

Most of the comments are people saying things like

Schools SHOULD be given no notice inspections-what’s the point in having inspections if teachers have weeks to prepare for them?!!!

Or

The school near me was in special measures and now it’s out, which shows Ofsted are great!

I am a retired teacher and would never, ever vote Tory but I think inspections should be no-notice. There would be less pressure on teachers to 'prepare' before hand, you would turn up for work as normal (hopefully after a good night's sleep instead of staying late to titivate the classroom poring over your planning until the small hours) and there they would be. Also it would be impossible for an Academy to fly in extra staff from elsewhere to give a good impression, I know a school where this happened although they still got Requires Improvement (tee hee).

That was no reflection on the teachers, by the way, my scorn is reserved entirely for the Academy management.

think inspections should be no-notice

The probably with that is key members of staff not being present. My son’s school had Ofsted last year-the head was supporting on the Y6 residential. He jumped straight in the car when they got the call at 12.30 and drove (what should have been 3 hours) 5.5 hours straight back to school. Had he not known till 8.30 when they showed up, that would have been pointless. The deputy teaches full time and it would have been a nightmare for her try to find and support a supply for her class (one willing to come in for Ofsted!) whilst speaking to the inspectors and supporting stressed staff.

It’s not like the hideous 3 month notice of years gone by, but notice the lunchtime the day before is sensible.

Sam Freedman (former advisor to Gove) posted about this a while back. He says every time they want a headline about schools they roll out ‘no notice inspections’ and hope for headlines of ‘dawn raids’ in schools. It’s bollocks, they know it won’t happen but it’s popular in the papers.

It’s come out because Labour and the Lib Dems have scrapping Ofsted in their manifestos which Johnson was slating yesterday and this is showing that the Tories, in contrast, will be ‘tough on standards’.

Dom Cummings is behind it.

It’s come out because Labour and the Lib Dems have scrapping Ofsted in their manifestos which Johnson was slating yesterday and this is showing that the Tories, in contrast, will be ‘tough on standards’.

Now it all makes sense. What doesn't make sense is the way they have cut funding to the bone in schools and still expect miracles.

That’s not actually going to do anything to bring standards up though is it?

It's not about raising standards, it's about appealing to the right wing ex UKIP type voter that despises 'experts', and categorises teachers as such.

Just seems bizarre to me that schools are so grossly under funded, the workload is piled on, experienced teachers are leaving in large numbers....and yet they think the solution is to spring surprise inspections on schools? If they want to raise the standard in teaching fix the other problems first!?!??!?

It's not about raising standards, it's about appealing to the right wing ex UKIP type voter that despises 'experts', and categorises teachers as such
This.

It's to appeal to the types of people who sit on Question Time claiming they earn £80,000 a year but aren't in the top 5% of earners, who think all doctors earn a fortune, who think "my taxes pay their wages" to anyone in the public sector, who look at the past with rose tinted glasses and probably think the world has gone too far on SEND support because "all these issue didn't exist when I was a lad".

Actually I don't mind no notice inspections. Call on the morning and then come in after lunch would be good, then stay long enough to actually see the school, but with that there needs to be clarity on expectations and an awareness they are seeing real schools so shouldn't be pulling staff up for having a piece of work unmarked for a week.

Dom Cummings is behind it.

I thought he’d gone?

I agree though-this sort of shite appeals to a certain type of people who think all the leftie teachers have it easy and don’t work hard enough!

They are probably also the first to moan about the ‘standard and quality’ of teachers falling, not realising the people teaching their children probably aren’t actually qualified teacher anyway.

This is the tweet I’m talking about. No-notice inspections keeps coming up but logistically it just isn’t going to happen. Can’t pitch up to a school and ask to meet the head if they haven’t had a chance to clear their diary and call the governors in.

I heard that Dom C resigned when the election was called, but that this was because if he kept his job he’d be in purdah and unable to interfere.

I reckon the ‘Johnson will do Andrew Marr instead of Andrew Neil’ offer was Cummings.

I don't think they care what teachers think. We aren't their core voters so they can fuck us over.

Does he really think that the half day notice that we get at the moment, is too much?

A no notice inspection risks the head being elsewhere for a meeting or something, which seems counter productive if they don't want to waste money

I'm in Wales so it doesn't affect me, but I heard on the news that part of the agenda for the extra day would be to focus on extra- curricular activities? If this goes ahead, I wonder how many staff will be expected and pressured in to giving up more lunch times or time after school to put these on.

I’m a governor. How do they expect governors just to appear with no notice. Most governors have jobs, and give up a lot of their personal time to help govern schools for free.

I expect they no longer care what you think. They will just want to see minutes.

Tory government has ruined the state education system! Gove's legacy!