Woodhead's At It Again

Chris Woodhead, the deeply unpopular former Head of Ofsted has been sticking his oar in again. He has been giving advice on how parents should use Ofsted reports to decide which secondary school to send their children to.

He makes some very valid points such as:

• Go in and see the school at work - if the lessons appear boring in the short time you are there, imagine how your child will feel?
• "Satisfactory" really means "not quite good enough" in Ofsted speak - surely they should come up with another word/classification.
• Talk to as many current parents and students as possible because they know best. He doesn't mention this, but it should have been said, that talking to teachers at the school helps as most will be brutally honest about the place, but Woodhead's clear hatred of teachers is well documented, so one shouldn't have expected him to say that.

All the above are good points and should be explored by parents, but he also makes the following statements:

• Talk to the headteacher and find out about the management of the place from the Ofsted report. This is a silly comment, and he should know better. The headteacher essentially "puts on a show" for Open Evening/mornings and in such a short time a parent will only have the ability to make a first impression, and that is likely to be favourable. Therefore the parent only has the Ofsted report to go on. I have gone on about how totally false Ofsted reports are in previous posts and a two day visit, plus a couple of questionnaires, are the inspectors really going to have any idea about how affective management are? Of course not.
• Looking at results and/or league tables is also suggested, although he doesn't say not to take them at face value. These are of no use whatsoever. Results are so easily manipulated now with the introduction of vocational courses, diplomas and BTECs where a child with limited ability can walk out of school with 4 C grade equivalent grades if they just pass one. The qualifications are barely worth the paper they are printed on unless a top grade/distinction is achieved, but it's these sorts of qualifications that are making it appear as though the new academies are making giant strides to improve. The schools at the top of the league tables play the system and only enter students they know will pass. They are not supposed to do it, but it happens.

Ofsted reports should have no influence on parental decisions on where to send their children to school. The things that should be used for informing parents are these:

Visiting the school on both an Open Evening, but just as importantly, during a normal school day. Whilst doing this talk to staff, who will have more time when they don't have a class in front of them. Talk also to current pupils and parents as you and your child will potentially have the same experiences.

You can ignore everything else, as most children will do well in whatever institution if they want to do well and put the work in.