Michael Edwards

Today, Ofsted were inspecting the school I chair and I was to visit the dentists to have 2 fillings replaced.  What a prospect. 

Which was going to be the more painful?   No contest.  I even had the fillings replaced without an anaesthetic to give the Ofsted inspectors chance (and not, I stress, to compete with Gordon Brown - how could I? - he’s made of girders).   

Of course, I’m being unfair.  Ofsted has changed and for the better.  They now test a school’s assessment of its own strengths and weaknesses and do so within 2 days. 

I still don’t think Ofsted can say enough in their conclusions about the social factors that schools like mine have to tackle and the system still marks a school down to its minimum scores.  But the mood of the inspection, building on a much better understanding these days of what makes a good school, is so much more positive.  Today we reached a constructive and agreed set of recommendations on what to work on next.   

It is a tragedy we’ve had to wait so long for this approach.  Years of raw league tables, failing schools for deigning to help the children most in need of help.  Expectations that for any issue a school still has to face, it must be because they hadn’t searched or tested every possible solution.  I’ve seen valuable senior members of staff breakdown and leave teaching or quit leading schools because of the inspection system. 

A focus on standards has done some good, but (by the current systems of awarding only the minimum of scores for a public service) at too much human cost.   

Reformers have been right to seek that schools are accountable to the wider public for what they do.  The challenge is to find a way of informing the public so that they know what to look for in educational terms.  Yes - standards, personal development, teaching & learning, curriculum, leadership & management.  And perhaps now an extra space for a school to proclaim their achievements - such as for my school, being in the top 20% in the country for progress in key stage 4.