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.

[takeittogo]

That is what rape is, piggy, which is why as a metaphor it is absolutely wrong. I have reported the post and I said in my report that I did understand what the poster meant. It is still totally inappropriate.

[takeittogo]

Don’t be ridiculous, I’ve been teaching for 17 years. I must say I’ve never worked anywhere with raw sewage or rats (had mice once though; that was fun. That was in 2008.)

I said that some areas will have pest control come out for free for rats

[Piggywaspushed]

I agree it is inappropriate but rape comes in many forms and there is no need to provide your definition.

You have been lucky in your schools then.

I work in one of the underfunded areas which the Tories claim they are going to put right by underfunding everyone equally EVERY school in this area , apart from some free schools, is a shithole. Sure, some heads and finance /site managers manage this better than others but our school does not prioritise site expenditure (and also does not seem to care much about it).

Boris and co only ever seem to visit shiny, tarted up schools and I have never read an Ofsted report which focuses on site issues.

Poison was put down re the rats (another reason why I can't use my cupboard) A dead one was then found by a student in the toilets.

[noblegiraffe]

I’ve never worked anywhere with raw sewage

Lucky you, I have.

[takeittogo]

I think a lot of schools just weren’t fit for purpose. A lot I’ve worked in have now been demolished and are shiny new buildings (or were 8-5 years ago: some have started to lose the gloss.)

No very seriously regarding the rats, I’m shocked your HT hasn’t been on that. They are really dangerous re disease and gnawing through wires. We had rats in our house once () and apart from terrifying me, I was worried about the implications for structural damage.

Are you near a recycling centre or anything like that? I know the kids I teach can be absolute swines for stiffing half eaten food in places like cupboards and radiators too.

[ineedaholidaynow]

Some schools can’t even afford site managers. I know of heads who have had to get their hands dirty, literally, sorting out sewage problems. It’s not great when you are given the choice; you can afford to have a Y5 teacher or a site manager. What do you think most schools will choose?

[noblegiraffe]

The school was supposed to be demolished and rebuilt in 2010 but one of the first things the Tories did when they got into power was scrap the Building Schools for the Future programme. Didn’t affect their kids, I bet.

[fedup21]

It's as if the Tories got together and thought 'Ooh, how can we REALLY piss off the education sector even more? Bingo!!'

They clearly don’t care about the teacher vote as they know they don’t have it anyway.

What’s more of a concern is that rather than say nothing about education, they think (and are probably right) that this policy actually appeals to a sector of society and will be a vote winner.

People out there who think teachers don’t work very hard and want £10m to go into reforming Ofsted to make it more ‘rigorous’ rather than crumbling school buildings, resources, SEN or staffing. I find that logic rather difficult to understand.

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

This extra curricular thing pisses me off no end. Don’t they realise that a lot of secondary schools have really cut down the lengths of breaks and lunchtimes? Our morning break is now frantic at 15 min long. Lunchtimes are only 50 mins and in some other local schools it’s even less than that. There are over 1100 pupils in my school and one dining hall. If Ofsted inspectors will be expecting extra curricular stuff to happen at lunchtimes, when do they think teachers willl have the chance to have a chance to go the toilet and eat their own lunch, after speaking to individuals at the end of the lesson before lunch, and making sure they are back at their desk fully calm and prepared to welcome in their class starting AFTER lunch? Most staff have to do break and lunch duties, so to put the added pressure to run extra curricular stuff on top, in such a short space of time, is unreasonable. School staff are not robots. We need proper breaks. We need be given a lunch break to check our phones for messages from our children’s School or be able to make dental appointments etc, or phone solicitors during office hours or to call the garage about a car problem. Estate agent when moving house etc etc

I remember my own secondary school day being 8.45 till 4.15. In a lot of schools now it’s 8.45 till 3.30 or 3.10. A lot of kids who don’t like school don’t want to stay onsite for after school activities. The minute the bell goes they are out of there. It’s the ones who are successful and happy at school who will be staying behind for clubs. The disengaged ones who you really want to grab are the ones who won’t stay outside of compulsory school hours.

Schools will either have to extend lunch breaks or extend the school day so that the extra curricular stuff is taking part during compulsory school hours. But if they extend the school day that eats into the time that staff are using to sort out behavioural issues, phoning parents, helping kids with mental health problems. Before they even start marking or attending staff meetings. All of which has increased since I was at school in the 80s.

[ineedaholidaynow]

Problem is most people really don't know/understand the financial constraints schools are under. It was certainly an eye opener for me when I became a governor.

And the whole governor thing is strange, where the people holding the headteacher to account and monitoring the running of the school are volunteers.

[Piggywaspushed]

That's another thing the Tories said they were going to change (at least as far as parent governors) and didn't....

[Esker]

Surprise inspections won't improve standards. Instead of terrorising schools they need to look hard at the system as a whole and examine where specific problems start so they can begin to be addressed in a targeted way.
A drop in inspection on a lesson of year 10s with low literacy - even if it is a good lesson and the students are engaged and learning - doesn't do anything to address the fact that these young people have reached the age of 15 without being able to read and write properly.
I'm a secondary English teacher. We have an open doors policy in our school on lesson observations, so any member of SLT can bring in a visitor at any time (and they do), plus lots of trainee teachers coming to observe.
Our school is outstanding, but even though we may do well in an inspection, that does nothing to address the fact that we are trying to stick plasters on years and years of low attainment. So if they think standards are low they need to fix the root problem. Which won't be cheap or easy hence they won't bother.

[Piggywaspushed]

curly : 50 minutes is luxury!! Ours is 30mins...

[Piggywaspushed]

I have rats in my back garden so I do know they are everywhere. My cats let me know this!

The place we have most rats at our school is the kitchens. My room has a switch cupboard so the rats nest there. It's horrific really.

[takeittogo]

I didn’t mean they are everywhere as in we should accept it, I’m horrified and disgusted for you!

Ours is 30 minutes too, it’s awful.

[Piggywaspushed]

takeit, where did the money come from to demolish and rebuild these schools?

We have one school near us that was a PFI school from Blair era : no other schools got this funding. We have a local builder who built home son adjoining land so gave us money for a hall which is not big enough and some classrooms but in both cases it's fur coat and no knickers.

[takeittogo]

Love that - the heads office and the foyer immaculate and then the rest of the building in decay and squalor.

[ineedaholidaynow]

Piggy most of our governors are parents, even if technically not parent governors. We really struggle to retain governors, it’s a huge commitment of time and responsibility. There aren’t many people willing to give up their day off from work to be harangued by an Ofsted Inspector.

[Piggywaspushed]

I know... I am a governor!

[bob1234bob]

Well DW is a teacher, in an Independent School, so that is one teacher's vote and one spouse vote that will not be going to Labour.

For anyone who knows, how do schools ensure that Ofsted inspectors have been DBS checked? Would a "no notice" same day inspection prevent important safeguarding steps from being completed?

[fedup21]

For anyone who knows, how do schools ensure that Ofsted inspectors have been DBS checked?

Our office staff would ask to see their DBS certificates.

[fedup21]

Well DW is a teacher, in an Independent School, so that is one teacher's vote and one spouse vote that will not be going to Labour.

How do you feel about the conservative education plans?

[Piggywaspushed]

Eh? I am confused by the leap here?

Why does working in an independent school mean you don't have views on no notice Ofsted inspections or that this would prevent you voting Labour? I presume you are attempting to hijack by deflecting on to plans to allegedly 'close' private schools.

FWIW my DH and his two colleagues vote Labour and work in private schools.