Dear Assessment Commissioners…
Today we found out who would be on the new Assessment Commission to support schools, and I’ll confess to being slightly disappointed. Not just because I wanted to be on it (any opportunity to make...
View ArticleYou can have too much of an Outstanding thing
I’ve never been a fan of the “Outstanding” label. I’m generally of the view that Ofsted would be much better focusing its energies on simply whether or not schools meet a required standard. But in...
View ArticleThe danger of the ‘expert’
Back in 1998, Andrew Wakefield caused a stir when he produced a long-since discredited article suggesting a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. What resulted included a long-running debate, the...
View ArticleTop dog? No, thanks!
This morning, Sean Harford posted a fascinating question on Twitter: And so I wrote this: When I was looking for a deputy post, I couldn’t help but notice how few there were compared to the number of...
View ArticleHerding cats would be easier.
When I posted yesterday, I genuinely wanted my post to be about the important aspects of feedback as opposed to marking. I only made a mention of the challenges of Ofsted because I knew that otherwise...
View ArticleThe guide to preparing for Ofsted
So we’ve got a new handbook, but it’s a lot to wade through, so how’s this for a shortlist? Things to do to prepare for Ofsted: Steal a British Values policy from someone else’s website. Change the...
View ArticleFor whom do we toil?
When I was a young(er) teacher, I learnt a few tricks of observations. As an NQT, I knew that my mentor wanted to see a calm environment; she saw it as an indicator of the all-important behaviour...
View ArticleIs it time to bring Ofsted in from the cold?
There’s been a clear rehabilitation process over many months now, and both Mike Cladingbowl and Sean Harford have done a great deal to try to win over the support of the profession. But there is still...
View ArticleOur Ofsted experience
I’m reliably assured that mentioning Ofsted is bound to get a spike in visits to one’s blog page, so let’s see. About a month ago, we were thrilled to receive that lunchtime phone call that meant the...
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