The new OFSTED inspection framework has landed, and Teaching and Learning (or even Learning and Teaching!) has been relegated. While the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) will paddle its own canoe it will not want to be too detached from the mother ship and this new direction of travel.
OFSTED’s rationale is to wind back the “workload falling on the shoulders of classroom teachers” and to “reduce the weight on test and exam results”. The broad intention is to place greater emphasis on the curriculum.
While curricular impact and innovation are of obvious importance I regret anything which takes the spotlight away from assessing and improving the quality of T&L. As headmaster in 1997 of a five hundred year old school going through its first ever inspection I knew that the fundamental importance of concentrating on T&L was central to what I was wanting to achieve for the benefit of current and future pupils. Yes, this did place pressure on every teacher and brought about a sharp upturn in professional accountability. In some cases weaker or archaic teachers were shaken out of the system.
At its best subject based inspectors struck up close and fertile rapport with those they were inspecting. But all our minds were focused on what made for great learning, and that was great teaching. It is great teachers, not bureaucracy befuddled heads encased in nebulous frameworks, who make a great school!
Anthony Millard
