Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.04
Julie Price Grimshaw
The inspectorate's complex relationship with schools has been fraught with various difficulties over recent years, as shown through the ongoing formal and informal dialogue between the two. Prior to the Covid pandemic, there was a call from some quarters for a pause in inspection and a re-evaluation of Ofsted's core purpose. Following suspension of inspections during the pandemic, Ofsted's approach to recommencing routine inspections led to a marked deterioration in its relationship with schools. This piece uses evidence from extensive discussions with school leaders and staff, together with articles from the press and government publications over a four-year period, to show how Ofsted's decision to ignore the impact of Covid in pursuit of normality has led to the current crisis.
{"title":"Denial and disregard: Ofsted's post-pandemic fall","authors":"Julie Price Grimshaw","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.04","url":null,"abstract":"The inspectorate's complex relationship with schools has been fraught with various difficulties over recent years, as shown through the ongoing formal and informal dialogue between the two. Prior to the Covid pandemic, there was a call from some quarters for a pause in inspection and a re-evaluation of Ofsted's core purpose. Following suspension of inspections during the pandemic, Ofsted's approach to recommencing routine inspections led to a marked deterioration in its relationship with schools. This piece uses evidence from extensive discussions with school leaders and staff, together with articles from the press and government publications over a four-year period, to show how Ofsted's decision to ignore the impact of Covid in pursuit of normality has led to the current crisis.","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139303881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.15
Wendy Scott
In this article I consider changes in the remit and interpretation of the role of Ofsted since its inception in 1992, with particular reference to early years inspections.
{"title":"Ofsted - requires improvement","authors":"Wendy Scott","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.15","url":null,"abstract":"In this article I consider changes in the remit and interpretation of the role of Ofsted since its inception in 1992, with particular reference to early years inspections.","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139299384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.05
Adrian Lyons
While never a loved organisation, Ofsted's reputation has perhaps never been so low. Amid a myriad of calls for reform or abolition, former HMI Adrian Lyons reflects on his 20 years of inspection with over 16 years employed by Ofsted as an HMI. He concludes that one of the biggest problems with Ofsted is its frequent change in policy, activity and direction. He argues that while an accountability measure created for the 1990s needs to change to reflect the contemporary landscape, a return to some of the things it did well in the past would actually be a positive move forward.
{"title":"Can an understanding of the past help Ofsted find a better future?","authors":"Adrian Lyons","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.05","url":null,"abstract":"While never a loved organisation, Ofsted's reputation has perhaps never been so low. Amid a myriad of calls for reform or abolition, former HMI Adrian Lyons reflects on his 20 years of inspection with over 16 years employed by Ofsted as an HMI. He concludes that one of the biggest problems with Ofsted is its frequent change in policy, activity and direction. He argues that while an accountability measure created for the 1990s needs to change to reflect the contemporary landscape, a return to some of the things it did well in the past would actually be a positive move forward.","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"116 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139297105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.16
Frank Norris
Following his departure from Ofsted in 2012, Frank Norris was appointed as CEO of Co-op Academies Trust. He reflects on the positive nature of induction he had for both roles, and considers how newly appointed HMI now receive a much less effective induction experience.
{"title":"An open letter to all HM inspectors who supported my induction","authors":"Frank Norris","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.16","url":null,"abstract":"Following his departure from Ofsted in 2012, Frank Norris was appointed as CEO of Co-op Academies Trust. He reflects on the positive nature of induction he had for both roles, and considers how newly appointed HMI now receive a much less effective induction experience.","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139291734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.19
Julia Snell, Ian Cushing
In this article, we show how Ofsted operates as institutional language police, and how the inspectorate's attitudes about language maintain race-class inequalities under a guise of social justice, equality and evidence-based practice. Our research has repeatedly demonstrated how Ofsted reproduces long-standing, deficit-based and colonial logics that marginalised children lack adequate language, and that school is a place where they can be compensated for these supposed shortcomings. We outline three key areas of this work. First, we trace the kind of research about language that Ofsted draws on to build the so-called evidence-base which underpins its contemporary policies. Second, we reveal the language ideologies that circulate in school inspection reports and how the inspectorate evaluates the language of teachers and pupils. Finally, we show how these stances on language have direct impact on the lives of teachers and children in schools. We argue that the extent of the language policing and discrimination we have uncovered in Ofsted's policies and reporting demonstrates that these are not simply individual mistakes but an institutionalised, systemic and normalised feature of the inspectorate's practice.
{"title":"Institutional language policing and the maintenance of race-class inequalities","authors":"Julia Snell, Ian Cushing","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.19","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we show how Ofsted operates as institutional language police, and how the inspectorate's attitudes about language maintain race-class inequalities under a guise of social justice, equality and evidence-based practice. Our research has repeatedly demonstrated how Ofsted reproduces long-standing, deficit-based and colonial logics that marginalised children lack adequate language, and that school is a place where they can be compensated for these supposed shortcomings. We outline three key areas of this work. First, we trace the kind of research about language that Ofsted draws on to build the so-called evidence-base which underpins its contemporary policies. Second, we reveal the language ideologies that circulate in school inspection reports and how the inspectorate evaluates the language of teachers and pupils. Finally, we show how these stances on language have direct impact on the lives of teachers and children in schools. We argue that the extent of the language policing and discrimination we have uncovered in Ofsted's policies and reporting demonstrates that these are not simply individual mistakes but an institutionalised, systemic and normalised feature of the inspectorate's practice.","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139293156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.21
Derek Gillard
{"title":"Beyond the Malting House School Susan Isaacs: a life freeing the minds of children","authors":"Derek Gillard","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.21","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.21","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139298272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.07
Harmer Parr
This article is personal and rather anecdotal as it is an attempt to sum up my experience of 30 years of Ofsted inspections. The key questions remain what they always were. How do you deal with the sometimes conflicting requirements of support and accountability, objectivity and impartiality, styles of inspection, reporting and grading? Perhaps most importantly, how do you try to ensure that inspection leads to improvement?
{"title":"In defence of Ofsted: An insider's perspective","authors":"Harmer Parr","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.07","url":null,"abstract":"This article is personal and rather anecdotal as it is an attempt to sum up my experience of 30 years of Ofsted inspections. The key questions remain what they always were. How do you deal with the sometimes conflicting requirements of support and accountability, objectivity and impartiality, styles of inspection, reporting and grading? Perhaps most importantly, how do you try to ensure that inspection leads to improvement?","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139304392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.14
Megan Pacey
Children's early education experiences are rarely high quality when changes to policy and practice are knee jerk and made in response to politicised anger and frustration. Changes to education inspection systems deliver when they are grounded in evidence – informed practice. What matters is that the inspection process supports practitioners in schools and settings to find sustainable, safe and effective ways to meet the needs of the children and families that they work with.
{"title":"Don't let the tail wag the dog: Inspection in early childhood education and care","authors":"Megan Pacey","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.14","url":null,"abstract":"Children's early education experiences are rarely high quality when changes to policy and practice are knee jerk and made in response to politicised anger and frustration. Changes to education inspection systems deliver when they are grounded in evidence – informed practice. What matters is that the inspection process supports practitioners in schools and settings to find sustainable, safe and effective ways to meet the needs of the children and families that they work with.","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"75 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139297857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.09
Terry Pearson
Ofsted has frequently defended the judgements made during inspections by claiming that inspection ratings are reliable, as shown by the results from the collection of studies the inspectorate has conducted. I outline the inspectorate's view of reliability and problematise the studies that it has carried out, noting that these provide insufficient evidence to support Ofsted's claims. I describe a recent study, which utilised an alternative approach to studying the reliability of inspection outcomes, by way of introducing a short discussion of why the inspectorate needs to develop a more productive view of reliability that reflects better the inherent variability of inspectors' decision-making and judgements.
{"title":"Chasing rainbows? Ofsted's quest for inter-inspector reliability","authors":"Terry Pearson","doi":"10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2023.65.3.09","url":null,"abstract":"Ofsted has frequently defended the judgements made during inspections by claiming that inspection ratings are reliable, as shown by the results from the collection of studies the inspectorate has conducted. I outline the inspectorate's view of reliability and problematise the studies that it has carried out, noting that these provide insufficient evidence to support Ofsted's claims. I describe a recent study, which utilised an alternative approach to studying the reliability of inspection outcomes, by way of introducing a short discussion of why the inspectorate needs to develop a more productive view of reliability that reflects better the inherent variability of inspectors' decision-making and judgements.","PeriodicalId":509128,"journal":{"name":"Forum","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139303832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：