Monday 22 April 2013

A new role for schools : getting ready for OFSTED

Now that I'm ancient and to an extent befuddled, the only real recreation I have is enjoying conversations with people. In the days, months and years  before I became a shirker living on my gold plated public service pension I was a teacher and a social worker. I have kept in touch with many teachers. A number are still prepared to hold conversations with me.

Naturally I want to know how things are going on for them as teachers.  I don't know about you, perhaps you've asked a teacher about this too recently, but every time I ask a teacher how things are going on at school they don't talk about the kids they are teaching or about a great lesson they had the other day when the children discovered exciting things about  the link between energy on earth and the sun's rays. No, each one invariably answers, "It's a bit stressful just now, I'm getting ready for  OFSTED".

Forgive my naivety but I always thought that a school was a place where children could discover and learn things but now I find it is a venue for teachers who constantly have a need to prepare for  OFSTED.

Please accept my apologies. Things move so quickly these days. I just can't keep up with these new fangled ideas. I hope the kids approve of it all. 

1 comment:

John Burton said...

Very few schools are - or ever were - truly educational. I know there are always teachers, like you Charles, who somehow manage to be stimulating, educational, and inspirational, but pushing children through exams was never going to educate. OFSTED is after all just an exam for the school, so no wonder the school makes getting good results the be all and end all.
It's just the same in Social Care. Residential places for people of all ages gear their work to passing inspections. Bloody nonsense! It's just part of our "do as you're told"/compliance culture, but if you want work you do as you're told.