Ofsted 2011

They didn't arrive before half term as promised by the head. Never mind.

The only problem being that people are now a bit hacked off and almost certainly won't make the effort they would normally have done when they do actually arrive. Staff feel that they have already done their bit. We'll see I suppose. Personally I have little/no time for the people and will do little different from what I normally do. Although, having said that I don;t want to let the side down or look an idiot.

What fun awaits us...

Social Networking for Mathematicians

We've Had The Call (Sort Of)

Staff meeting first thing on Monday morning and the Head tells us that Ofsted have written to them informing us that our school will be inspected this term ( summer term – wind down time) under the “new Ofsted criteria”. We are fortunate enough to one of just 150 schools to be trialling this new criteria, which means the following: the judgement will either be phenomenally good or phenomenally bad because the inspectors don’t understand how the new criteria work.

Apparently this new criteria focuses on the teaching and marking rather than just going to the senior management and asking them what going on. You’d think that this was a good thing, and in theory it is, but you have to remember that Ofsted inspectors are made up of the following people:

• Due to Ofsted having so many different “hats”, many Ofsted inspectors have never actually been a teacher. Bear in mind that Ofsted check up on social workers too. Funny how schools and social work are lumped into the same bracket isn’t it.
• Those who have been teachers haven’t been full-time teachers for a long time, and probably weren’t much good at it since they have “moved upstairs”, a policy common to public sector work where if you’re not very good, you go up the pay scale. 
• A very small minority have recently been teachers.

If you were to hand-pick your inspectors you’d clearly go for the final grouping, due to the fact that they might know what they are talking about. Unfortunately, you can’t do that.

There has been a mild amount of panic since the announcement of course, with whole staff meetings being called to discuss the predicted inspection and how it will work. How false is that? If you are going to do these inspections, don’t bother giving schools any warning, as many school use funds that they can ill afford to use, redecorating the lobby and buying pot plants (no, not that type!) to put in strategic places around the building. I’m not kidding people, it really does happen.

We will be expected to produce fully typed up lesson plans for all our lessons, something that never usually happens I hasten to add and is a total waste of time for teachers who have been doing the jobs for more than 5 minutes. We will be forced to assess each child’s learning every 20 minutes or so, something that normally happens organically but when the inspectors are in, we will have to make a big show of it.

You do feel like a performing animal during these things, and ultimately the teachers are. The inspectors are not seeing how the school works from day to day, they are seeing a show, making their judgement of the school totally false.

Teachers' Pensions and Strike Action

It looks very much like the entire teaching profession in the state sector is going to strike. All the unions, including the one for headteachers, are balloting their members to see whether they want to walk out for a day (or however long it takes). I have to say that I am personally not in favour of strike action, although I do agree that the British government is clobbering teachers in many different ways by ploughing on with their policy of cuts to public services.

Why don't I agree with strike action? I think that there are pros and cons with it and the cons outweigh the pros.

Pros:
1. People notice that you are actually quite annoyed, rather than nodding and grinning in the right places.
2. Since all the unions appear to be behind the action that shows an unusual amount of solidarity between the various parts of the profession.

Cons:
1. You lose a day's wages, which in times of economic hardship is hardly desirable.
2. It annoys the general public because they then have to look after their children instead of the state doing it.
3. It can therefore make the public unsympathetic to your cause and ultimately defeat it.
4. If a march is organised it will almost certainly be taken over by idiots who like smashing stuff up, and your cause will be tainted by their actions.

Instead of strike action, in my view, working to rule would be far more effective because it means that you take home a full pay packet, you don't annoy the general public and the general public might notice that teachers do a lot more than turn up at 8.30am and leave at 3pm, looking after their offspring in the meantime.

Working to rule would highlight the fact that teachers work a lot harder than many give them credit for as many of the extra, "outstanding" lessons are planned in a teacher's own time. The free time given as part of the timetable for planning (PPA time) is only enough to cover the curriculum at a basic level, not produce resources that make Ofsted inspectors dribble. You would also find that teachers would be less tired because they will get the opportunity to rest properly, and no-one can tell you that you're not doing your job because you are actually working the hours that you are paid for.

Just a thought...