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Heads say school inspections are "too tough"

Story.

And, of course, they would say that, wouldn't they? A school is now classed as failing is 10% of the lessons are "unsatisfactory", when it used to be 20%. I ask one question- how is a 10% leeway on crap teaching "too harsh" or unfair. If anything it is too lenient, if 10% of a school's lessons are of appalling quality then those teachers should be learning how to teach properly, ratehr than bleating about how unfair it is that their bad teaching makes a school "fail" its inspection. 10% is very lenient, really; if teachers are unwilling or unable to do the job that they are paid to do, then they should consider taking up a new job.

Not that any of this surprises me; pay peanuts and you get monkeys. Pay a decent wage to teachers and hey, suddenly more able applicants will start wanting to take up the job. If I was to go into teaching I would start on £18,000 pa- I could make £11,000 pa more if I went on to Matalan's graduate scheme, for God's sake- that is never going to attract the most able graduates, unless suddenly everybody comes over all altruistic. Which ain't gonna happen.
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i might be wrong but aren't a lot of school inspection criteria based on how teachers handle the class - and we all know what little shits schoolkids are . Maybe they should stop blaming the schools and look at the bastard kids and their lack of discipline - mainly cause their parents have brought them up to be twats.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    School inspections must be tough, I just read a story of a woman who faked having cancer to get out of the ofstead inspection.
    Is the inspection too mainly based on teachers? Ok, it might not be the most though out solution to trace every child background and how they've been raised and penalise their parents for bringing them up as 'twats'. However it isn't unrealistic to believe that the students may be the problem; I remember what a little sh*t i was at school!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Generally the main objection to OFSTED & co is the pressure that the teachers are put under. How many teachers do you think make lesson plans for every lesson? Very few - children aren't exactly predictable, so it's impossible to tell exactly how a lesson will pan out. But when the inspectors come in, everything's got to be perfect, otherwise the school gets a big fat fail. And the stress the inspections generate means that the picture the inspectors generate of the school and teaching standards is completly false.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the atmosphere to learn in when ofsted are in is horrible. Normally in college we have a relatively relaxed lesson which is open to deviate slightly to follow ideas and topics of interest yes sometimes off the sylabus but it does generate interest for example in physics we did some extra work on black holes which was incredibly interesting. When OFSTED are in the teacher is so nervous they cannot concentrate on just teaching their class.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ofsted inspections are the reason I have abandoned any hopes of a teaching career after Uni.

    Its a shame that we find it necessary to recruit teachers from Canada, Austrailia and the rest of the Commonwealth, when British students are looking at the pressure their teachers are under and choosing to work in call centres instead.

    When I was at school in the 70s and 80s, teachers were respected and most were inspirational, now they are blamed and castigated by the parents, the media, the politicians and anyone else who wants to cover up their own part in the failings of British youth.

    We've just had the Ofsted Inspectors at my college and I've never seen my lecturers as angry as they were in the last couple of weeks. One was told he needed a lesson plan for a subject and syllabus he's been teaching for 25 years and told to mark himself after the lectures to see how it went. Ridiculous! what gets us interested is the obvious depth of knowledge and passion for the subject that he brings into the classroom, the way he challenges you to think about something and discover an understanding you didn't know you were capable of.

    Yes, there are teachers out there, who need extra training or a kick up the arse but too many of the good ones are left demoralized by the whole process.

    Why :confused:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The way the OFSTED inspections are carried out is a bit cold and heartless sometimes, but it's a very difficult balance to strike. Does one allow teachers to do their own thing, allowing bad teachers to slip through the net, or does one make it hard for all teachers, in order to catch the bad ones? It's very difficult to choose, and I can see the pros and cons of both sides- teaching something for a long time does not make a person adept at it. At GCSE I had a technology teacher who had been teaching for 20 years, but he still taught us the wrong syllabus- that can't be allowed to go unchecked.

    Though as I said in my original post, a lot of teaching problems can be overcome by making it a rewarding job to be in. Unless one is very altruistic then one is not going to be interested in teaching- it doesn't pay well enough. Those who can't teach because those who can can make a lot more money not in the teaching sector- if teachers are going to improve, then pay packets must improve. A teachjer will start on £18,000 pa- that is quite clearly not enough when I could earn £27,000 pa working for Matalan, of all people, as an administrator.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its not the need to have a system of external inspection and moderation thats the problem. The impression I get from people within education is that the current system seems to work against them rather than with them.

    Teachers and lecturers on the whole would welcome assistance on improvement but first of all we would need to look at the resources and funding available to them to do so.

    Regarding bad teaching, education has a system where problems are highlighted, the exam results. Also the management system of departmental heads and headmasters. Schools achieving below average results should be concentrated on but I don't mean wading in with jackboots as there can be many factors and reasons why this is happening.

    The whole testing culture is going too far, we are looking more for problems than we are for solutions and this is only making things worse.

    I personally never considered pay as being a big factor when I was considering a teaching career, I have and can still potentially earn more if I stayed in my previous career, sales and marketing. To get people like myself interested in teaching, the job has to become attractive for reasons other than financial and thats not happening at the moment.
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