2016 accountability measures: the next battle for CEIAG in schools
“…the inclusion (or not) of destination data in these new accountability measures …will have a greater impact on school leaders consideration of CEIAG in their planning.” Russell George examines the Government’s proposed changes to school accountability measures - and the implications for those involved in careers education and guidance.
Al-Madinah inadequacies highlight wider weaknesses
“The Ofsted report into the Al-Madinah school in Derby is damning. Extremely damning. Inspectors highlighted a catalogue of shortcomings that have resulted in the school being taken into special measures.” Toby Blume argues that the Al-Madinah school highlights the inadequacies of the current free schools process.
Is Michael Gove lying to us all?
“You mentioned before, your intention to give teachers more freedom and autonomy. It’s certainly getting no better for me, no matter what you say.” Cazzypots wonders why teaching is increasingly dictated by ‘improvement’ fads - and where is Michael Gove in all this.
Keanu Williams - some reflections on the Serious Case Review
“Improvement will come not from kicking people out or revising the rulebook. It will come from an increasing awareness of how human factors interact with organisational safety.” Chris Mills reflects on what we can learn from another failure in child protection.
Who’s afraid of lesson observations?
“Ask any teacher for their experience of summative observations, and it’s likely their answer will involve various expletives.” Joe Kirby collates what teachers across the education blogosphere are saying about the current system of lesson observations and outlines four problems with it.
The case against Michael Gove
“Where I think Gove is fundamentally wrong is on workplace issues. I do not see any appreciation of the difference between management and frontline staff.” Andrew Old pinpoints the problem with Michael Gove’s approach to education.
What effect do OFSTED have on the way schools are run?
“Tessa, you simply can’t have children reading in silence when Ofsted come in; you can’t show progress that way.” It was a bright, cold day in November and the clocks were striking 11. An urgent meeting was called at lunchtime; it could only mean one thing. Coded messages were passed between teachers in the corridors: […]
Accountability, assessment and the new National Curriculum (a work in progress)
Interim introduction This post is something of an experiment, since I am publishing it initially as a ‘work in progress’, while waiting for outstanding documentation to be produced by the Government. It will eventually examine whether three major reforms – the revised proposals for the new National Curriculum, its assessment from 2016 when National Curriculum […]
My blog manifesto
“Reforming our Qualifications and Assessment Framework to provide a unifying, inclusive umbrella for the achievements of all learners [and] reforming our accountability system so that schools and teachers are known, not measured by narrow data sets and inadequate drop-in inspections.” Tom Sherrington presents a manifesto for change in education.
Ugh!! More from Ofsted
How depressing it is to read yet another glib document from Ofsted! I don’t know how many people will be fooled with this one, but it cuts no ice with me. I shall certainly be responding to the consultation and leaving them in no doubt what I think. The headlines speak of plans for “tougher” child protection inspections. But […]
The anatomy of high expectations
A lot has been written in the last week about the experience of able learners in state schools. The OfSTED report published last week was widely reported in terms of failure, despite using a small evidence base of 41 schools and subsequent articles and posts have focused on the issues in different ways: David Didau, @LearningSpy captures […]
What restricts teachers?
“We live in fear of the boxes; we are worried about what might happen if we simply refuse to keep ticking them.” Tessa Matthews argues that most teachers have little faith that the ‘boxes’ they are forced to tick are helping young people - and wonders what might happen instead if teachers challenged the ‘restrictive powers’ that cast a shadow over education.
I felt a great disturbance in the internet yesterday
[For context, this post from Andrew Old is best read with his previous post - Why I Blog Anonymously] There was an interesting response to my blogpost yesterday. It may have been a side effect of the bank holiday but it got the level of hits usually reserved for posts about OFSTED, most coming from Twitter where there was […]
Seven things all politicians should know about education
I find much of the contribution from politicians to the education debate in this country utterly pointless. So many political types simply do not realise how the system works or what is going on. Here are the key points I want politicians to take on board. 1) Education is an ideological battleground. There are fundamental differences […]
The ‘OFSTED Uncertainty Principle’ and holding steady
My school is awaiting the imminent visit of OFSTED. No matter how sensible everyone wants to be regarding the matter, and I would like to think our school is definitely not responding with the hysteria I have heard attending other schools, there is always a sense of palpable unease. This springs from many matters, but […]
Why does London outperform England?
“For decades, London schools had some of the worst exam results in the country. Recently, though, education in London has been hailed as a triumph. …So I began asking: what changed?”Joe Kirby looks at the reasons for the improvements in London’s schools - and draws out the surprisingly simple implications for education policy generally.
Accountability we can trust
I’m convinced that our existing accountability framework is preventing schools from improving at the pace that they could be or in the way that they should be. OfSTED and Performance Tables dominate the thinking of too many Heads and teachers to a degree that is unhealthy, unnecessary and counterproductive. I have written about these issues […]