Ofsted inspections can not only mean stomach cramps and sleepless nights for many teachers, but also long hours spent preparing for the event. Guidelines released today by the government body hope to clarify what exactly is expected from teachers to ease the pain of scrutiny.
The ‘what not to do’ guide sets out to “confirm facts about the requirements of Ofsted and to dispel myths that can result in unnecessary workloads in schools.” According to the document, Ofsted does not require teachers to show current or previous lesson plans to inspectors, nor will it award a grade for the quality of teaching individual lessons.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has welcomed the clarifications about what teachers should expect during an inspection. In a statement, ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said these guidelines should help reduce the workload which teachers and heads often struggle to cope with.
However, she adds that Ofsted now needs to clarify what it does expect schools to do to meet its inspection criteria.
“This is needed to ensure consistency of Ofsted inspections, as much as to help schools, because the elephant in the room is still the unreliability of Ofsted inspections themselves,” Bousted says.
“Frankly, it is a lottery whether the Ofsted inspectors sent to a school have the ability to make sound judgements on the quality of education provided there. And Ofsted is buckling under the volume of complaints about inspection findings that cannot be justified against the weight of contrary evidence.”
ATL’s sentiments are echoed by teachers online who feel Ofsted’s clarifications haven’t gone far enough:
What are your thoughts? Do you welcome Ofsted’s new clarifications? Share your views in the comment thread below.
