I once joined an Ofsted inspection, back in Sir Michael Wilshaw’s day. Previously rated ‘Good’, data suggested this one-form entry, central-London primary remained so. The head was serene, and it retained its grade.
I followed the inspectors, seeing what they saw. What I saw was stress incarnate. The teachers were anything but serene.
One newly-qualified teacher drew a circle on the board. Her stress levels were so high, her hand shook. Her circle required improvement. When asked what shape it was, a child suggested a flower. That was a good answer, to be honest.
Leaving the classroom, one examiner smiled at the other and said “bless”. They saw her stress and felt sympathy, having observed a well-planned lesson and engaged children.
I gave my handlers the slip at breaktime, returning to that classroom. I learned that the teacher was newly qualified, and this was her first inspection. She had not slept a wink the night before. She was worried that her inadequate circle would drag the school down from ‘Good’. She was particularly ashamed (that is the right word) because art was her specialism.
An experienced teacher then entered the classroom. She told me she’d slept for less than an hour, and that this was typical before an Ofsted visit.
The inspectors were good, sympathetic people. The teachers’ fears were misguided, but teachers are human, and humans worry. They always will.
Lessons haven’t been graded individually for some time, and now overall one-word school judgments are out too. But unless Ofsted reports become so vague as to be useless to parents, a bad lesson must be able to have meaningful consequences for the school.
Good, well-prepared teachers will still be stressed, and they will still lose sleep. How can they not? An inspectorate without consequential judgments is pointless.
Teacher stress is one of the reasons I don’t think inspectors should go into classrooms. Doing so gives an inaccurate view for four reasons.
Ofsted should focus on what results don’t tell us
First, observing a stress teacher will always be inaccurate. The poorly-drawn circle proves that.
Second, other adults in the room distract children, changing the classroom dynamic.
Third, too few lessons are observed to be representative.
Fourth, as Professor Rob Coe has argued persuasively, observation cannot assess learning. You can tell if a class is disruptive, but little else. Is the lesson well-targeted to the students’ understanding? Is the child who is watching the teacher actually listening? Observation cannot answer these questions.
Results tell us most of what we need to know about the quality of provision. But there are some things that cannot be judged by results. Ofsted should focus on these.
For example, do the children feel safe? Are they worried about name-calling, racism and so on? These things are, of course, precursors to poor results, but a qualitative inspection might identify challenges in a more timely way.
Inspection should also look at pupils leaving. Are they off-rolled? Do parents think the school is rubbish? Were they bullied? Listening to those who quit would be worthwhile.
Conversely, what about newcomers? Is the school as good as they hoped? A 14-year-old at Feltham Reach told me that he could mess around at his previous school: “It was fun, but it wasn’t going to get me a future. So I asked my mum if she could get me in here. I need help to behave, and it’s working out”.
Inspectors should talk to staff who have joined and left too. Does the school support them and their careers? What do staff who quit say, especially those who left the profession? Was the school unsupportive? Did it burn them out?
Inspectors should have lots of conversations with those who have experienced more than one school and follow-up discussions with the senior leadership team. That might be stressful for them, but leadership must always involve accountability.
I want teachers to sleep at night. I want them to stay in the profession. If stepping inside a classroom is all pain and no gain, then we haven’t arrived at the right approach.
This won’t be a serene time for him, but hopefully Sir Martyn is still listening.
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