Testing related to work (ex. OFSTED, interviews, etc.)

[dowie]

I saw these tweets by some American Conservative commentator yesterday and I'm not sure to what extent I agree that this is necessarily gendered behaviour but it does seem quite plausible that it's more common among females than males... this different approach to rules, objectivity etc. and then thought of it when I saw this news story re: a head teacher taking a stand against OFSTED today:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1637487501500637184

https://twitter.com/x/status/1637500167715782657

Now obviously this teacher suicide is a very sad story but I don't really see this as anything more than a bit of grandstanding, I certainly don't think that OFSTED is really to blame, we don't know that the same person wouldn't have sadly taken her life as a result of some other incident occurring.

If a pupil committed suicide because of exam stress I presume, if they worked in a secondary, they'd not seek to cancel or obstruct the taking of GCSE exams, lots of jobs have some stressful aspects, I've got relatives who work in healthcare and they get stressed around inspections, salespeople get stressed when they don't meet targets, software developers get stressed when their code fails etc.

I saw similar grievances during the tech recruitment boom only a few years ago, "women in tech" influencers rallying against objective testing during interview processes, their education certificates/degree(s) should be sufficient and the interview just a friendly chat in their mind.. how dare an interviewer ask them for some variant of FizzBuzz on a whiteboard or anything else that may bring out some insecurities or reveal weaknesses.

Anyway here is the story, interested to hear what your thoughts are GD:

Headteacher withdraws request for public support to help stop Ofsted inspection

Initial call for protest came after family of headteacher Ruth Perry said she took her own life after news of lowest rating

www.theguardian.com

A Berkshire headteacher who is expecting a visit from the schools watchdog Ofsted has said she will refuse inspectors entry after the death of Ruth Perry, who took her own life after a negative inspection, according to her family.

Flora Cooper, the executive headteacher at the John Rankin federation of nursery, infant and junior schools in Newbury, said Ofsted inspectors were due to visit on Tuesday morning, but wrote on Twitter that she would not allow them to enter the premises, adding that she was doing it “for #RuthPerry”.

[...]

Cooper wrote on Twitter: “I’ve just had the call. I’ve refused entry. Doing this for everyone for our school staff everywhere!” She called for outside support: “Can I please get everyone here tomorrow? Would you show up? John Rankin School, Newbury.” She added: “Please! We have to do this! I’m taking the stand!”

Labour is proposing to make some reforms to testing but it's not clear what the "report card" is going to be, if it's going to provide some feedback and receiving negative feedback can cause stress for some people then I don't see how that changes much.

 

[dowie]

The current head teacher doesn't exactly inspire confidence, some vague sentimental stuff in the bio:



Taking a stand against OFSTED (doesn't seem like a good idea as a head to refuse entry to government inspectors)

Then some vague pleading for people to show up at the school... I'm sure the government inspectors would love to be faced with a crowd at the gates/quite possibly an angry mob:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1637777163771363329

And now some backtracking when reality sinks in that that may not be a good idea:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1637872076198670336

 

[dowie]

My issue with Ofsted is that they always come with a preset agenda in my experience and then look for "evidence" to back up their assumptions. You can easily make any school Outstanding or Inadequate if you wanted to, very easily. They are often also only in for 2 days so how can you understand the school and the pupils and staff in that time?

It's not a one off though like they come back periodically. Is it practical for them to spend 2 weeks instead of 2 days and are they really going to gain much from that if it's already clear on day 1 that there are serious issues?

I think the report card idea potentially sounds good, rather than having a single rating.

Whether or not Ofsted are inspecting the right things, they should be polite, professional and fair.

This does not seem to have been the case with the inspection that Ruth Perry was connected to.

What are you basing that on?

 

[dowie]

Probably personal and friend/family experience like most would in this example.
It's where my experience with them arrives from.

I wasn't asking about personal experience with them but rather about how they were in the case of the former head teacher.

@dowie

I'm seeing a strange OP with some stuff about females in the legal profession followed by an Ofsted related thread. Is that a mis-post?

No, perhaps read it again, I'm referring to the comments re: objectivity, rules etc.. and the subsequent story of a head teacher who wanted to refuse permission to Ofsted.

 

[dowie]

How do you judge teaching quality if you're in 5 lessons (often first day is only for observations of teaching). You won't be able to see all subjects, all teachers so the snapshot will be inaccurate. In our last Ofsted we had 3 inspectors that observed teaching on a Monday lesson 1 to 4. To maximise the amount of teachers they saw (we have over 80 teachers) they spent 20 minutes in a lesson.

Do you think they can get a fair assessment of the quality of teaching in 20 minutes? Staff in schools will have bad lessons, kids will misbehave; if that is seen in that 20 minute snapshot then that might be the school finished.

So should they come for say 2 weeks rather than 2 days? How long should they come for and if they stayed for longer would that address your concerns about OFSTED having a preset agenda they then look for evidence to support?

In this case though it isn't the teaching that was the issue:

https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50211729

They note issues with attendance, supervision during break times and safeguarding which seems to be a failure of both the school management and the governors:

Leaders have a weak understanding of safeguarding requirements and procedures. They have not exercised sufficient leadership or oversight of this important work. As a result, records of safeguarding concerns and the tracking of subsequent actions are poor. Leaders have not ensured that all required employment checks are complete for some staff employed at the school. These weaknesses pose potential risks to pupils. Some staff have not had the necessary training to be able to record concerns accurately using the school’s online system.

I'm not sure that necessarily tallies with claims they're finding evidence to meet some present agenda, they've been complimentary of other aspects of the school and surely some of these concerns would be based on objective facts like are the records there, are these issues being reported and tracked as they should be etc. This seems to be someone who has failed in some aspect of their statutory responsibilities and sadly has ended up taking their life.

Anyway, it seems the current head teacher, after all the stunning and brave posturing on Twitter, relented and did let the inspectors in after all.

 

[dowie]

On the flip side if they get Outstanding they often aren't rechecked for absolutely yonks. So there is work to be done in not just focusing on the underperforming, as lots of outstanding schools could be train wrecks by now.

That appears to be basically what has happened in this case... school was outstanding in 2009 and then not inspected for ages.

 

[dowie]

I don't think a 2 week inspection would make things better for the students and teachers but it might actually provide a better idea of how the school operates. You didn't answer my question though, do you think you could make a sufficient judgment to a teachers quality within a 20 minute window?

I've got no opinion on that tbh.

I also think you have got your wires crossed. The head that was refusing to let Ofsted in was from a completely different school. The school where the lady took her life does not currently have a head teacher, there are 2 acting heads in place, and Ofsted would not revisit a school this quickly.

Yes, I have muddled that and that's even more bizarre, it's just some grandstanding in general then re: Ofsted. Though I understand a school deemed inadequate, as that other one was, is liable to be inspected more frequently.

 

[dowie]

You didn't answer my question though, do you think you could make a sufficient judgment to a teachers quality within a 20 minute window?

Just to come back to this, given @Pottsey 's post above I'm now updating my opinion from neutral/no opinion to suspecting that there is probably some element of diminishing returns here; if they're looking at multiple teachers then one being unlucky and the inspectors catching them at a bad moment shouldn't be too much of a drama and there seems to be plenty more they look at than just observing the teaching.

what happens if the headteachers just refuse to speak to ofsted anymore?

They'd be breaking the law and can be fined or possibly imprisoned for up to 6 months AFAIK.

That would suggest that the downgrading was justified to me, so I'm struggling to understand why the general public are being asked to protest against Ofsted when they've seemingly done the "right" thing here.

Well, it seems to be an example of what the tweeter shown in the OP believes is a female trait, this sort of emotive/posturing stuff, lack of respect for the rules... I guess perhaps she fancies herself as some noble campaigner for justice... she's a "survivor & warrior" etc.

Seems to be criticising curriculums being narrowed for the sake of league tables, but if she's the head then surely she's got some influence there... unless she's against league tables too.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1639177100535148544