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No-one of otherwise sound mind takes their own life over a bad work review. It’s likely that such a thing was the tipping point for the unfortunate teacher, but it cannot have been the only factor.
I think that's possibly right - the entire sector has been under-resourced and over-worked for a long time.
Edit just to add that characterising Ruth Perry's suicide as a response to "a bad work review" feels a little tasteless.
this is only on the reported examples. Many leave the profession or signed off due to mental health issues. The industry does not support staff. If you are good then they make you do more of it, as you become a commodity they cannot afford to lose or replace within the 5 year life span. Have more lessons, do more marking, have some more CPD just incase the call from ofsted comes.
Its fear from top down, small wonder no one wants to do the job and its not about the holidays or the money.
I believe there is a fixed ceiling based the outcomes on certain areas of the report so no matter how good you are in some areas its not reflected in the final judgement.
Oftsed does what the politicians want from it, to provide soundbites on them appearing to raise standards, not settle for mediocrity blah blah blah, but it doesn't actually improve standards within schools in a sustainable way. They are make or break moments for heads and other stakeholders based upon a small snapshot.
The system needs to be supportive where collaboration between schools is encouraged and not just between MATs or teaching school alliances, but for that to happen you need to free up time in a profession where they simply don't have the time or staff.
I spent 10 years as a HoD and went through a number of different inspections and actually relished the challenge, but it takes its toll. I now also work with schools looking at targeted school improvement to help with ofsted.
I did come across one very good inspector though on my first visit as an NQT. A young girl got stuck in a chair in one of my lessons by sitting sideways on it through the arm. Cue 20 mins trying to get the thing off and the caretaker coming in with a hacksaw. Chair off....inspector suddenly appears. Lesson was awful after that point. Luckily I found her and spoke to her about what had happened and she said she wished she'd seen it. She gave a really good report saying the learning wasn't great basically but the teaching was good considering what had happened.
but it cannot have been the only factor.
It surely can't, but at the same time, if I was head of Ofsted , and I thought for a second that an inspection was even 'just' a contributory factor in a suicide, I'd at least have the balls to publicly suggest that some reflection of how my organisation goes about it's business may be appropriate
you'd like to believe that people have compassion somewhere and are reflective of the impact of their actions. Alas the classic trope is one must think of the children
Not following a procedure is nit-picking now? The rules are there for a purpose, whether you agree with it or not. And not following it while being assessed would indicate things would be even more lax during normal operation.
For some reason I've got a vision of you in a reflective jacket with a clipboard.
Seriously, read my post again, I acknowledged that rules is rules but my point was the wider context of zero praise and criticism of every tiny thing, that's not a healthy culture.
Cougar
After all, who watches the watchers?
The least fit-for-purpose, most overtly corrupt government we've had in living memory.
Trying to do valuable work as a regulatory body is impossible due to one simple fact; they ultimately report to a government that is anti-regulation.
And people here are surprised OFSTED and CQC don't function?
We're at the end of a 13 year program of systematic underfunding in all aspects of public services. I suspect the complaints around ofsted's approach are reaching a crescendo now because next year schools are going to be under even more financial pressure as a result of unfunded pay rises. My partner's large primary is going from running a surplus of 1/2 a million per year to a deficit of 1/4 despite the fact they couldn't attract LSAs and other staff due to their hands being tied on wages so were understaffed. They're going to have to lose staff. About 10% if my sums are correct, and lose the minibus and a load of other stuff they did to make school a good experience. They're being set up to fail. My partner got the school from required improvement when she went in there to good. There's little chance of it getting to outstanding now. I keep telling her to leave and get a management role in the private sector.
There was a HT suicide in Plymouth a few years ago after inspection. My partner knows the HMI.
Undoubtedly.
No-one of otherwise sound mind takes their own life over a bad work review. It’s likely that such a thing was the tipping point for the unfortunate teacher, but it cannot have been the only factor.
It's not just a bad work review is it? It's a very public negative review. Probably criticising everything you've spent your entire career working towards and, since the alleged issues were with management, directly pointing the blame at the head. In another environment, you might disappear into a different business and learn from the experience. In teaching there's a near state monopoly on teachers and it would be difficult for a head teacher to leave and find another job in their profession without this very public review following them. Now obviously lots of people get and deal with that sort of issue, but I'll bet nobody has ever run any training for HTs on how to cope professionally and personally with bad Ofsted reports. If schools round here are anything to go by there would be mental health first aiders around - but they will all be subordinate to the HT so its not really a realistic expectation for them to turn to there. A supportive employer would probably have MHFAs within a cohort from of HTs from other schools and indeed a support infrastructure for neighbouring heads to support each other. And I would certainly not hold the governers harmless if their HT commits suicide as a result of work related issues. BUT ofsted's job is to go and find the schools where there are problems which means schools with poor LA (or other employer) support and unsuportive governors should be exactly the sort of problem school they expect to have to give negative feedback to. Its therefore totally foreseeable that they could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. If head teachers published the report cards for all pupils on the web with no opportunity to challenge the content I'd imagine Ofsted might be making negative comments about the potential impact on pupil welfare.
I acknowledged that rules is rules but my point was the wider context of zero praise and criticism of every tiny thing
You don't go into work day in and day out for the compliments. If that was the case teachers wouldn't be striking for more pay, they'd be begging for someone to say their hair looked nice.
"Criticism of a tiny thing" in your mind is an auditors "symptom of widespread non-conformity"
It's like the stories above about being at work til midnight getting things ready for the inspection. It should be right, all the time.
My daughters school has recently gone from outstanding to inadequate. The teaching is still 'good' so not about them. It's about built-in, systematic failure in safeguarding and reporting.
It was so bad, the local authority had to be informed about some incidents that the school had barely recorded, not investigated and was allowed to go on for years without any improvement.
Without Ofsted it would still be like that, rather than being dragged into compliance. Doesn't make the scandal sheets though.
Haven't read the thread (not a good idea as I'm just about to leave school on a Friday afternoon...) but having skimmed the OP.
A team come in an rightly try and find out where they are not hitting standards and produce a report which is then shared with the HT, with items that need improvement?
Should read...
A team come in with a preconceived idea about the school based only on numbers, reputation and a single conversation with the Headteacher/Principal. They then look for evidence which confirms this preconception before issuing a judgement that they had already decided on.
And that is why a large proportion of the teaching profession take issue with the process (such as it is). There is NOTHING supportive or developmental about the process.
FWIW, I'd prefer a system of continuous assessment, where each inspector has a number of schools they are assigned to and they contact/visit them on a regular basis and feedback on what they see working well as well as those things needing improvement. If we must have grades then I really do think just an 'Effective' and 'Not Yet Effective' is all we need.
And, to the OP. No idea whether you've ever worked in schools in the UK (I'd guess not), but the obvious troll is obvious. I've made a point of working (for 25 years or so) in schools in some of the most deprived areas of the UK, with some of the most troubled and neediest students you can imagine. Still doing that and still loving it. I'm not sure 'Snowflake' is a term I appreciate being used to describe myself and my colleagues, and the fact that you choose to do so shows that you have absolutely bugger all idea what the job actually entails and what we have to deal with.
I dont understand why schools arent therefore allowed to fix the problems without judgement. The focus is on the bad and then 30months later they come back to do another Ofsted. Meanwhile they are happy to make monitoring visits to ensure things are ok but you still have the crappy judgement hanging over you until the next ofsetd report. Recruitment is impacted and also the intake of students which doesnt really help schools get out of the hole. Its a vicious circle that doesnt really close fast enough even when things are fixed.
Scrutiny happens all the time and teachers are observed by someone with a checklist every term to see if they are doing their job right every year of their teaching career.
You don’t go into work day in and day out for the compliments. If that was the case teachers wouldn’t be striking for more pay, they’d be begging for someone to say their hair looked nice.
Name checks out.
That's exactly what our inspectors do. How else do you identify best practice to disseminate amongst the wider industry?
“Criticism of a tiny thing” in your mind is an auditors “symptom of widespread non-conformity”
I think you've hit the nail on the head with that. A big part of the issue is inspectors conflation of those 2 things.
If there wasn’t such a bloody bun-fight to get their precious babies into ‘good’ schools the Ofsted grades would hold less importance.
Stop giving parents so much choice too – go back to sending kids to the local school by default.
our kids were in the catchment area for a school with an Outstanding OFSTED rating. It’s a shockingly shite school and thankfully we got in at another (that’s actually closer) has a much better atmosphere and is fantastic. Its last rating was Good but it seems to be meaningless in reality.
From my experience inspections are not done well. I was marked down for having no or little ICT in my lesson. WiFi has been down for 13months.
That sounds like the inspection picked up something noteworthy (an absence of ICT in teaching) and the school should look into the cause (the ICT not working).
(and when I’m in charge they’ll have random unannounced spot checks).
Random checks are a bad idea - you spend most of your time on the majority of schools that are fine. You need to prioritise the schools most at risk.
Unannounced seems to be more sensible. A lot of complaining here about both last minute checks and long-foreshadowed ones.
And the ironic thing is that Ofsted themselves do unannounced visits, just in social care not schools!
I’m a regional manager responsible for 6 childrens homes - been through an unannounced inspection for the last 2 days (just got outstanding in all areas so very chuffed with that). In my world inspections have always been unannounced- they just knock on the door one day and you always have to be ready. And they are every year without fail. How schools can go 13 years without an inspection is hard to understand when Ofsted themselves don’t allow that in social care!
Random checks are a bad idea – you spend most of your time on the majority of schools that are fine. You need to prioritise the schools most at risk.
They already do, which is why Outstanding schools can go years - a decade or more - between inspections.
Unannounced seems to be more sensible. A lot of complaining here about both last minute checks and long-foreshadowed ones.
The issue is more with the expectation and HMIs arriving with preconceived ideas and agendas.
Every indicator can be excellent but if one is below average you get inadequate. That could include the state of the buildings or something that is out of the schools hands and is controlled by councils.
It's like throwing a bunch of auditors into a business to audit something that doesn't conform to a tick box. If the box can't be ticked, it's inadequate. I see the stress in my colleagues who teach in our Ofsted inspected courses in a University, never mind a School at risk.
It's now near on impossible to get Outstanding. You are lucky to get Good. The next mark is, well you know !
If all the ticks don't line up the School is done for !
Edit just to add that characterising Ruth Perry’s suicide as a response to “a bad work review” feels a little tasteless.
Apologies if so. I know nothing of the case other than what's on here. It just seems unlikely to me that it was the sole cause and before that everything was just peachy.
if I was head of Ofsted , and I thought for a second that an inspection was even ‘just’ a contributory factor in a suicide, I’d at least have the balls to publicly suggest that some reflection of how my organisation goes about it’s business may be appropriate
I think I'd want an independent review conducting before stating anything publicly beyond "we're conducting an independent review."
They already do, which is why Outstanding schools can go years – a decade or more – between inspections
Yes, I know, there is one of those near us. It's silly.
If there wasn’t such a bloody bun-fight to get their precious babies into ‘good’ schools the Ofsted grades would hold less importance.
Stop giving parents so much choice too – go back to sending kids to the local school by default.
This, too, is silly. The solution is to ensure that all schools are good. It's not to stop assessing whether schools are good, and just force kids to go to whichever school is closest regardless of whether it is right for them.
Edit: are you the Chief Marketing Officer for a private school?
Large secondary school, wife works there as support staff, son is there as a pupil and I know the head little bit outside of the school.
I'm pretty sure I know you the school you are referring to.
Absolute travesty of an inspection which has resulted in being forced to join a multi academy trust and reduction in curriculum options and insane/pointless changes like 6th form uniform.
And don't get me started on top slicing school funding to pay for mat leadership.
and just force kids to go to whichever school is closest regardless of whether it is right for them.
Works pretty well in Scotland I think. It makes for more social mixing which can only be a good thing imo.
As a society we've got obsessed with the idea that more choice is better. The reality is often that removing choice removes the anxiety of choosing and after a while no one misses the choice.
And as far as choosing a school goes that's only a choice for those with the necessary means so it sets up further inequality.
When a close family member used to visit lots of schools she would often ask what benefits teachers got from being in an academy and she always got a blank. Baker's 1988 Education Act aimed specifically to introduce competition between schools, gain hold of the curricum and create Ofsted as a punitive system for keeping teachers and schools in line. The idea was that 'improvements' would come without any increased expenditure. Private schools were assumed to be superior and had light touch inspections where they would basically inspect each other. The academies can be seen as a form of privatising the system and further reducing teacher/school autonomy.
With that background, decreasing funding, recruitment and retention crises, it's no surprise that people have a dim view of Ofsted. When ILEA existed, before it was abolished by Thatcher, Inspectors were subject specific and they would visit schools to observe, share advice and resources and would lead INSET sessions. They could also act in disputes with management and could be called up on to write references. They inspected but they were respected and seen as allies.
Absolute travesty of an inspection which has resulted in being forced to join a multi academy trust
I have no idea how the MAT structure benefits education - from the outside looking in, it looks like it imposes a very expensive structure over schools without adding anything useful by way of management. Mrs Pondo's MAT CEO drives very shiny new Mercedes SUVs whilst teachers have to buy their own stationary and the school canteen serves the cheapest shit they can legally serve up.
It should be right, all the time.
of course. define 'right'. what's 'right' changes on a regular basis with little communication of what's required. my partner goes to work at 7:30 and leaves at 6 if she's lucky. then fields calls and emails from staff and parents at all hours, responds to sickness calls starting at 6 am, and has everyone and their dog critiquing her and her staff's performance all day every day. i earn 8/10 of what she earns and have 0.001 of the level of responsibility. why she bothers is beyond me. she describes herself as a year 6 teacher. guess how much training she's had in budgets, personnel management, contract negotiation etc.
It just seems unlikely to me that it was the sole cause and before that everything was just peachy.
this is the thing. before that it wasn't peachy. 13 years of F you, effective budget reductions, and a revolving door of education ministers. all of whom went to school once and know exactly what's needed. picking up all the social issues that non-existent public services used to respond to. the whole system is about to shit itself. it's almost like the party in charge couldn't give two shits about joe public's children's education beyond a few soundbites isn't it?
I've been fortunate(?) enough to count two teachers and a TA amongst my partners over the years, from first to current. None of that is new, maybe swap the 1 and the 3 around.
What do they think of Ofsted?
Well, the only one I'm in regular contact with is asleep. I'll get back to you tomorrow.
Huh. You didn't ask already?
Works pretty well in Scotland I think. It makes for more social mixing which can only be a good thing imo.
indeed. There’s some house price inflation from good catchment areas but that happens in England too. There’s also some people who remember their catholic roots when it gets you into a better school - which falsely inflates the apparent demand for segregated schools, but ask people who’ve been through the Scottish Education system if they would rather have a mad fight, with selection, and opaque entrance criteria etc and the answer will almost always be no. Even in some of the roughest areas of Scotlands big cities the schools are not generally as “ghetto-ized” as in disadvantaged areas in England and I believe a significant factor in that is the normality of going to the nearest school (which is often walking distance).
You’ve got someone working with children who hasn’t completed safeguarding training
A PARENT GOVERNOR. Not someone who is in contact with the children at all. Only attends school for meetings, most of which are now on zoom.
I was pointing out that the school could have a low grade based on that. The Headteacher has little control over the Governing body and one individual could undo the great work of the whole staff. Truly unjust!
Having read Stumpy's post again I fully suspect that the school he's talking about is my daughters school. Would it be in the North West and be well known by 4 letters? My wife worked there, too.
If so, it's funny how our views of the inspection are so different given the same result. SJ is saying it's 'the attitude of some kids' and not a built in culture of the school.
My daughter has complained many times how the staff are blaming the kids for all the changes in school and that they should have kept quiet. How is that a healthy environment for learning?
My son goes to a different local school who have been Ofsted'd in the same time frame and found to be 'good'. As a parent I can tell you that one school treats kids and parents shabbily and one does not. One has counted on it's reputation to sneer at parents and one has worked constructively with them. (Cancelling options with no notice, anyone?)
One will have my kids in 6th form, and one will leave asap to get away from the place.
Huh. You didn’t ask already?
No, she's ill (and up until the question being posed on here I had no reason to).
A PARENT GOVERNOR. Not someone who is in contact with the children at all. Only attends school for meetings, most of which are now on zoom.
I was pointing out that the school could have a low grade based on that.
Well why is it mandatory training for them, then?
Great swathes of regulatory compliance in my field boil down to "are you doing what you said you were going to do?" and you'd fail an inspection if the answer is no. If your parent governor there hasn't sat training that they don't actually need to sit then the policy needs revising. And that absolutely needs flagging up, does it not? Otherwise anyone could just cherry-pick which bits of regulation they feel do or don't apply to them.
I appreciate that this sounds pedantic, but it's the whole point of having policies (and inspections) in the first place.
But do you think that an entire inspection should be compromised because of that one error that, actually, appears to be outwith the control of the school?
Or do you think it should result in proper constructive feedback and an objective overall assessment?
@Cougar, that’s why I questioned what I’d overheard while cooking.
To me, knowing how much commitment and hard work many of the staff put in for the children, that one individual, who has no connection to the teaching staff could influence a decision which could result in the school getting a lower grade at inspection.
It just seemed crazy to me???
@tjagain:
Little note is taken of the starting point of the pupils only the end point. So an excellent set up in a sink estate scores lower than a mediocre set up in a leafy suburb
It's a results business, no? If your kid comes out with better grades, that's all parents need to know...
That's not what TJ's point suggests.
"Little note is taken of the starting point of the pupils only the end point"
Might be an excellently run school - but if the grades are pap, then parents want to know?
No because an excellently run school might give mainly middle class kids the grades to study computer science and business management.
OR
It might give kids from a more difficult background a safe space and allow them to develop as functioning members of society positively contributing at various levels.
Education isn't about grades. No matter what the gov/press want you to think.
It’s a results business, no?
Thats not whats being said though. To strawman it if I get a bunch of straight A students (showing how old I am since I think its a+ or 10 or something nowadays) a year before the exam and almost all get straight As then I dont think it is unreasonable for people to think "well yes".
Whereas if I had a bunch of kids predicted to fail but got them to Cs it would be a rather more impressive achievement.
A PARENT GOVERNOR. Not someone who is in contact with the children at all.
Safeguarding training isn't just about preventing the person being trained from abusing kids (in fact, it's probably 0% about that). It's also about what harm kids can face, what the legal framework is, and how concerns can be reported and escalated.
A governor would be expected to exercise oversight of the school's safeguarding approach (not individual cases, but how generally it is done). How can they do that effectively if they don't have a verifiable basic awareness?
I am having trouble believing that an otherwise fine school was torpedoed by one parent governor not doing one e-learning...
I am having trouble believing that an otherwise fine school was torpedoed by one parent governor not doing one e-learning…
Yet that's exactly the point - I don't know if this example is real or hypothetical, but it's exactly this kind of individual issue causing the entire school to be downgraded that typifies why Ofsted is not fit for purpose.