It's been ages since I had a rant about education. This has been driven more by worry that my views could be unpopular with the people who have the power over me in a work environment than by having nothing to say. You hear so much about people who have blogged unwisely.
This, then, isn't a rant. It is, as it says on the label, more a sigh of despair. What it also isn't is about my college because the things making me sigh are true of every college and every school in the country. Probably. It's possible that there are some that take a more rational approach, but I seriously doubt it.
What the hell, you are asking, is he rambling about. The answer is Ofsted inspections. We are a week into the three week countdown to a bunch of people turning up with clipboards and telling us whether we are inadequate, satisfactory, good or outstanding. That's fine. Inspections don't bother me. I know I can do my job. What does bother me is the preparation for inspections. New forms, new versions of old forms, new instructions on how to fill in old forms, new instructions on how to fill in new forms, instructions on how to check that the old forms we already filled in are updated to match the new forms and so on, are what bother me. They come daily, hourly even. Everything is being checked, double checked and revamped. Classrooms are being tidied, cleaned and decorated. Posters are being put up. Student work is being hung around the place. Coloured paper edging is appearing on notice boards.
More than that though there are the meetings. We are getting briefings on every aspect of the job, every aspect of the paperwork, every aspect of everything and it's all stuff we know and do already. Every day.
The college will be fine. Everybody in it already does a good job. All that the meetings and the procedural changes do is make doing a good job that little bit harder. The meetings take away time that would be better spent doing the job. The procedural changes force people who have already done a job to do it again.
I'm doing it. We're all doing it. In every school everywhere in the country teachers always do it. And in my opinion it's all so unnecessary. My view of what special preparations should be made for an inspection is, none. None whatsoever. Either your college or school is already doing what it should or it isn't. I think we are. There is no need for us to go into a tail spin trying to do more.
There is a good case to made for random, zero-notice inspections. Of course the inspection criteria would need to be changed because as it stands there probably isn't an education establishment anywhere that would pass. That's a flaw in what the Government says makes a good college though. It's a flaw in Government thinking rather than in college practice. What really needs to be done is the complete redesign of the inspection process (and while we're on the funding model).
A lot of the unnecessary stuff that the Government likes to have needs to be consigned to the dustbin. The things an inspection is looking for need to be streamlined and better thought out. Inspections need to be done at random intervals and without prior notice. Colleges that fail inspections need to be helped rather than punished. Colleges shouldn't be forced to close or merge on the basis of inspection grades. Inspection grades should not have any influence on funding.
I can't write any more though because right now I have to get back to rewriting my group profiles on the new forms, and checking that my Individual Learning Plan targets are all "SMART".
Sigh. Turned out a bit like a rant after all.
This, then, isn't a rant. It is, as it says on the label, more a sigh of despair. What it also isn't is about my college because the things making me sigh are true of every college and every school in the country. Probably. It's possible that there are some that take a more rational approach, but I seriously doubt it.
What the hell, you are asking, is he rambling about. The answer is Ofsted inspections. We are a week into the three week countdown to a bunch of people turning up with clipboards and telling us whether we are inadequate, satisfactory, good or outstanding. That's fine. Inspections don't bother me. I know I can do my job. What does bother me is the preparation for inspections. New forms, new versions of old forms, new instructions on how to fill in old forms, new instructions on how to fill in new forms, instructions on how to check that the old forms we already filled in are updated to match the new forms and so on, are what bother me. They come daily, hourly even. Everything is being checked, double checked and revamped. Classrooms are being tidied, cleaned and decorated. Posters are being put up. Student work is being hung around the place. Coloured paper edging is appearing on notice boards.
More than that though there are the meetings. We are getting briefings on every aspect of the job, every aspect of the paperwork, every aspect of everything and it's all stuff we know and do already. Every day.
The college will be fine. Everybody in it already does a good job. All that the meetings and the procedural changes do is make doing a good job that little bit harder. The meetings take away time that would be better spent doing the job. The procedural changes force people who have already done a job to do it again.
I'm doing it. We're all doing it. In every school everywhere in the country teachers always do it. And in my opinion it's all so unnecessary. My view of what special preparations should be made for an inspection is, none. None whatsoever. Either your college or school is already doing what it should or it isn't. I think we are. There is no need for us to go into a tail spin trying to do more.
There is a good case to made for random, zero-notice inspections. Of course the inspection criteria would need to be changed because as it stands there probably isn't an education establishment anywhere that would pass. That's a flaw in what the Government says makes a good college though. It's a flaw in Government thinking rather than in college practice. What really needs to be done is the complete redesign of the inspection process (and while we're on the funding model).
A lot of the unnecessary stuff that the Government likes to have needs to be consigned to the dustbin. The things an inspection is looking for need to be streamlined and better thought out. Inspections need to be done at random intervals and without prior notice. Colleges that fail inspections need to be helped rather than punished. Colleges shouldn't be forced to close or merge on the basis of inspection grades. Inspection grades should not have any influence on funding.
I can't write any more though because right now I have to get back to rewriting my group profiles on the new forms, and checking that my Individual Learning Plan targets are all "SMART".
Sigh. Turned out a bit like a rant after all.
2 comments:
Hence the conversation we had the other day on the tram.
Sigh
Hello.
Good to see you stopping by.
Post a Comment