Ofsted inspections: some thoughts

I recently presented a conference paper on the history of teacher training (a version of which can be found here). The paper dealt with the abolition of the colleges of education – specialist teacher training institutions, once some 160 strong across England and Wales, which were effectively eradicated during the 1970s and 1980s.

There were various questions at the end but the discussion soon got onto inspection regimes, and the role of Ofsted in schools and colleges, in particular. 

In some ways, I have quite conservative views on this subject. I do, for example, believe that inspections are a valid and legitimate process (notwithstanding issues raised by Dr James Reid, Towards a (more) ethical school inspection process). Billions of pounds of public funding are spent on education and inspection is, at least in theory, one way of ensuring that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely and sensibly. I also think that lazy, incompetent or incapable teachers should be dismissed – just like poorly-performing accountants, plumbers, police officers or anybody else who can’t or won’t do their job properly.

Some of the teachers who worked at the (stuffy, overrated) grammar school I attended in my youth were poor and, frankly, a few of them shouldn’t have been employed in a school in any capacity. Either way, the institution and especially the pupils who attended it would, in my opinion, have benefitted from an inspection process which questioned not only its methods of teaching and learning but the way the school was lead and managed, and its prevailing culture and ethos (which aped an oppressive Edwardian boarding school). At least in theory, Ofsted would do just these things, but the state’s heavy-handed focus on education in general and teachers in particular is actually counter-productive in various ways.

Colleagues at the conference talked about ‘policy hysteria’ and ‘policy chaos’, and of Ofsted driving capable and hard-working teachers out of their jobs. Similar concerns were expressed by a commission lead by the National Association of Head Teachers last year (League tables and Ofsted 'driving teachers out'). 

It is also somewhat ironic that teachers are effectively being asked to dance on the head of a pin whilst policymakers often seem incapable of carrying out the basic functions of their role. One also wonders if the vast resources currently spent on inspections could be better used. There is now a vast industry of consultants and mock inspections, and teachers and school leaders use up masses of resources, time and energy preparing for and dealing with Ofsted.

But what would an alternative inspection regime look like?

Well, there’s no simple answer, but essentially we need to create a much more open and honest dialogue between teachers, schools, politicians and the general public (something also alluded to by Dr David Powell, Dear Ofsted ... feedback on the draft education inspection framework). This, I admit, is no easy task as it would require not just an overhaul of the inspection process but also a much broader re-assessment of the role and remit of education in contemporary society.

Numerous quite unrealistic expectations have, over time, been placed upon schools, colleges and universities, whereby they have been made responsible for a whole range of social and economic questions over which they have little or no control.

Educational institutions have also been made to compete against each other in a bizarre quasi-market which pits school against school and sometimes teacher against teacher – all of which diverts schools and teachers from their right and proper purpose: equipping children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive and prosper not only in the world of work but as critically-informed consumers, voters and members of civil society.

Only when such deep-rooted problems are resolved can we begin to create – or think about creating - an inspection system that is fair and reasonable, and helpful for those who teach and learn in our schools and colleges.