It would be easy to knee-jerk in response to the news that Ofsted are proposing no-notice inspections. But much as I may want to disagree with everything Michael Gove says, I actually welcome these words: “No-notice inspections, especially where behaviour and teaching standards are of concern, will provide parents and others a true picture of schools' performance.”
I’m assuming here that the no-notice inspection would be triggered by a few parents having a (very possibly justified) whinge on the Parent View website. But really, does anyone expect anything except a few negative comments appearing on that service? It’s always the same in our society of media-driven tales of doom and gloom. The negative minority is given a voice far in excess of that of the positive majority.
So isn’t this an opportunity for schools and teachers to show off what terrific work they genuinely do on a day to day basis? Isn’t this an opportunity to silence that nagging doubt that says “ah well anyone can deliver a good or outstanding lesson when they know they’re under the spotlight”? Isn’t this an opportunity to give lie to those negative few who insist that all young people today are feral and that all behaviour in all our schools is atrocious?
And isn’t to suggest otherwise a tacit admission of failure even before the process begins?
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