No Notice Inspections - Who Cares?

Everyone thinks that teachers/schools/headteachers are scared of no notice Ofsted inspections, and the cowardly Michael Gove back-tracked on those in front of an audience of headteaches in Harrogate.

Let's get one thing straight, most teachers have absolutely no problem with no notice Ofsted inspections at all, as long as ridiculously detailed lesson plans aren't required, as they currently are. The lesson plans apparently required by Ofsted inspectors are of no use to teachers, and if the inspectors themselves can't tell what the teacher is teaching then either that teacher deserves an inadequate grade or the inspector shouldn't be observing or judging lessons - my guess is that the latter is almost always the case.

The only people who don't want no notice inspections are poor teachers and headteachers - I have said for years that inspections should be like "drop-ins" so that the inspectors see what usually happens rather than to souped up, one-off lesson as a show.

The problem is, and this is the real problem that teachers have with Ofsted, many inspectors have little or no recent classroom experience, if any at all, and often have no knowledge of the subject they are observing. Their judgements can make or break schools as well as teachers and are ill-informed and generally pre-judged.

Add to that the negative rhetoric of new Chief Inspector of Schools Sir Michael Wilshaw and Ofsted are now totally unfit for purpose, doing the exact opposite of their apparent mission to "aid the improvement of schools". Their new mission seems to be the demoralisation and destruction of the teaching profession, with Wilshaw himself saying that teacher morale is "unimportant".

Ofsted reports are good for nothing other than toilet paper, and they are not even very good for that.

Michael "Braveheart" Gove

I was on duty on our school field recently when there was a small commotion by some gates overlooking the road that runs past the school. Around 4 kids who should have been in school were requesting an audience with a well-known fool on our role. The fool's mates all came over and started shouting abuse at these 4 "undesirables" safe in the knowledge that they were going to be in no trouble whatsoever due to the 3 metre high metal fence and a bunch of adults (us teachers) there to protect them. I said to one student "Ooh, aren't you brave calling the boy some nasty names when he can't get you. Now go away and stop being pathetic."

Had I been a member of the Association of School and College Leaders and attended their conference I would have said pretty much the same thing to Michael Gove. He gave a speech at the conference in Birmingham which is reported on the BBC News website (click here to read it) where we saw the man's true colours. Gove is trying to paint a picture of himself as a reformer. In fact he could do a passable impression (pun intended) of Van Gogh had the Dutchman cut both ears off rather than just 50% due to Gove's lack of listening skills. He, the Secretary of State rather than the painter, promised the conference that reforms were to keep coming thick and fast, which was quite brave I suppose as almost everyone in education is in agreement that he's rushing policy through without due care and attention. So a home run for Michael.

He then went on to back-track about no notice Ofsted inspections, saying that there may be a bit of notice, but palmed that decision off onto the "independent" Sir Michael of Wilshaw - which got a laugh. Not very brave from the Secretary of State - strike one Michael, and don't forget that you are out on the third strike.

Now if you're reading this blog, you are almost certainly involved in education in some way, and would have read or heard the constant slating of the teaching profession in the UK, headteachers, classroom practitioners - you name it, they've all felt the sharp end of the Gove tongue, metaphorically fortunately. But I quote from Gove's speech, and see if you can hear the distant sound of the reversing beeps: "We have the best generation of young teachers ever in our schools. We have the best generation of heads ever in our schools. And our whole school system is good, with many outstanding features." That's a huge turnaround from what we've been reading in the newspapers and hearing on the news bulletins where there's been rarely a good word said about educators and many of us could be facing the sack for being rubbish. Ironic that it was said in front a large audience of educators, don't you think? Not very brave Michael - strike two.

The speech finished only for the Secretary of State to be caught in the lobby by a group of handily placed reporters, whereupon he is quoted as saying: "If people say 'It's all just a bit too much', my view is 'man up!'". Michael, that's strike three I'm afraid - you're out.

Pathetic - I can kind of accept it from a 14 year old, but from a fully grown and well-educated man, it's frankly sad. I wonder what he'd say if I threatened him with a Chinese burn? I'd probably get all his dinner money.