Moderating the Discourse of Large Organisations With Power Over the Welfare of Others.

I remember in the early 1980's, the only time I ever invigilated O levels. The subject was metalwork; the noise was excruciating with 20 pupils wielded hammers, hack saws, and metal files as they produced the required right angle brackets.

 

The teacher who had to stay outside the class was pleading for some latitude in the time part of the test, referring to some in the class as "wee inadequates." At the time I thought it was what we might call inappropriate stereotyping - nowadays it would be considered a much more serious breach, discriminatory and even derogatory.

 

So why on earth is it acceptable for Ofsted to use a one word summary of a school as "inadequate"? And that without further qualification. I know the gradings are shorthand. But that in itself is a concession to the brutalisation of public discourse and organisational evaluative terminology.

The word now is that the one word bottom line will be reviewed. Two very important considerations have to be balanced:

 

1. The concerns and responsibilities of Ofsted who:

Provide independent, up-to-date evaluations on the quality of education, safeguarding and leadership, which parents greatly rely on to give them confidence in choosing the right school for their child." (Dept. of Education)

 

2. The wellbeing and welfare of School, Staff.

"Many head teachers are getting 'very ill, stressed and having breakdowns' as a result of inspections and 'that's not acceptable under any framework'. Ms Price-Grimshaw, who used to be an Ofsted inspector, said it was "impossible for teachers and head teachers to raise standards if they're feeling broken, demoralised, stressed and anxious". (Julie Price-Grimshaw, School Improvement Adviser).

 

Those responsible for enhancing the quality of education are obliged, by their own educational claims of excellence, to take a lead in creating a culture of co-operative and supportive collaboration in the evaluative process. That starts by ensuring the language used in final reports values, respects, supports, enables and empowers school leaders and teachers.

 

Ofsted are given significant powers to do their job well. The job is not done well when those powers crush instead of nurture the very people who can implement recommendations for improvement. Or so it seems to me.

 

The back story to this can be found here, on the BBC website