Inspection system for state schools has significant problems, Ofsted to be told [feedly]

Inspection system for state schools has significant problems, Ofsted to be told
http://feedly.com/e/O6p2FDwr

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ASCL to propose Ofsted stops using inspectors contracted from the private sector and adopt a lower key approach to inspections

Ofsted has significant problems with its system of inspection for state schools in England and should stop using inspectors contracted from the private sector because the quality of their training is not up to standard, an influential group of school leaders is to claim.

The Association of School and College Leaders – which represents headteachers and senior management, many at state secondary schools – is circulating a discussion paper setting out the framework of its proposals, which it plans to finalise at its annual conference later this month.

The paper, written by the ASCL's general secretary, Brian Lightman, a former school head, says the school inspections system has significant problems, including confusion about what Ofsted's inspectors are looking for, as well as "a culture of fear around inspection which hampers innovation and sensible risk-taking".

The ASCL proposals are the first of many that Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted's head and HM chief inspector, is likely to receive in the coming weeks. Two thinktanks, Civitas and Policy Exchange, are about to publish reports likely to criticise the current regime of school inspection, a source of tension between Ofsted and the Department for Education.

Ofsted has come in for sustained criticism from teachers and school leaders, in part for inconsistency in how it rates classroom teaching. Despite efforts by Wilshaw to stop it, inspections still include references to so-called approved styles of teaching.

But unlike the proposals expected from the two right-leaning thinktanks, the ASCL paper wants to retain Ofsted as an independent inspectorate, with some significant changes.