An inspector calls: is it time for a rethink on Ofsted visits?

For primary teacher Sophie Wilson*, a recent Ofsted inspection was the worst experience of her career so far.

“The lead inspector was rude and didn’t do what we’d been told to expect. Instead of observing the lesson for 20 minutes and interacting with the children, he stayed in my classroom for an hour-and-a-half and didn’t talk to any children,” she says. “We had good feedback, but it was a really horrid experience. If I didn’t love being in the classroom I would’ve left teaching there and then.”

Inspectors have the power to make a school sink or swim. With little notice, their fleeting visit could revolutionise the school’s prospects, making it the top choice for parents and delaying future inspections – or put it into special measures.A 2014 survey suggested that a combination of inspections and strict targets were having a detrimental effect on teachers’ mental health. Teachers have frequently condemned Ofsted for being bullish, and one even described inspections as a “life-altering, career-defining Armageddon”. So does the relationship between teachers and inspectors need a rethink?

The NUT has called for Ofsted to be abolished. “What is needed is a new model of school accountability, one that involves school self-evaluation and is designed in discussion with the profession,” said general secretary Christine Blower at the union’s annual conference in Brighton last year.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, believes the accountability framework, of which Oftsed is a key part, is one of the factors that creates fear and stress among teachers.

“There’s no doubt that Ofsted has been a major driver of fear in the profession,” she says. “The inspection is scary enough. But the scariest thing is that if you get a set of poor results, or if the inspection goes wrong, the results are so dramatic and catastrophic.”

If the accountability framework is driving teachers from the profession, she says, and an education system is only as good as the quality of the teachers it can attract, “we’re engaging in something destructive in this country”.

“Teachers don’t have any place to say: ‘I don’t agree with that inspection judgement’, so it’s difficult to say how they should cope.”

However, Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director of education, thinks a more positive relationship is emerging with greater engagement. “I think we’re getting there, but we need to be aware of concerns, respond to them, and hopefully make a difference to people’s anxiety,” he says.

“As an inspectorate, we will never be loved and I don’t think we should be. It’s about a professional relationship. Teachers want to engage with the whole profession and all that goes with it, including Ofsted and the Department for Education.”

Over the years, Ofsted has tried to focus more on outcomes than methods. Teachers don’t need to worry about having files full of lesson plans and statistics, it says, as long as they can demonstrate coherent and effective education.

Ofsted has also tried to recruit more inspectors with active or recent experience in the classroom. One such recruit is Julie Smith*, who inspects alongside her role as a senior leader at a primary school.

“I wanted to make a positive difference,” she explains. “If you don’t agree with something, you try to change it. You can’t keep complaining and judging something unless you know about it.”

Having experienced inspections from both perspectives, Smith says she’s seen a shift in style and approach over the years. “The biggest difference is that inspections are now done with the school, not to the school. Before, inspectors would do observations on their own but now they’re done jointly with the headteacher or deputy. It’s about having a conversation with the school.”

If teachers are wary of Smith when she walks into a classroom, they might be reassured to know that she is just as scared herself. “At the start of training they say: ‘Don’t let them see that you’re more scared than they are’,” she explains. “It’s horrible knowing that you’re putting pressure on that person. You almost want to apologise and say: ‘I’m sorry I’ve got to observe your lesson’.”But the experience is not always bad. Robert Mills*, a department head at a school in London, says his school viewed its recent inspection as “an opportunity to show off”. Its previous inspection had poor results and the staff wanted to demonstrate how things had improved. “There was a feeling of camaraderie that made the two days feel quite positive,” he says.

In fact, says Harford, “quite a few teachers say they’re dissatisfied when they’re not seen during an inspection. They’re professionals and they want to be seen to be doing their job well.”

Mills, however, is not without his reservations. “An NQT I manage was seen teaching three lessons and a tutor session, which I felt exerted unnecessary pressure on him,” he says. “Also, the feedback sessions were a one-way conversation. Judgments had already been made; it wasn’t a discussion about what had happened in the lesson.”

Criticisms of Ofsted, and the rising pressure on teachers, certainly leaves the government with important questions to answer – about inspections and the wider accountability framework. But no matter how stressful an inspection may be, the key question is: do they work?

“We build far too much on the inspection system, which cannot reasonably come to the conclusions it does about schools,” Bousted says. “The quality of teaching within a school varies far more greatly than the quality of teaching between schools. To say that a school is routinely outstanding, good or requires improvement is nonsense. If we could even out the quality of teaching within schools, that would be the biggest force for improving school standards.”

*Names have been changed

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