Revealed: Common pitfalls for schools during Ofsted inspection From radicalisation to Pupil Premium reports, websites and pupil medicines – SecEd's Pupil Premium and Ofsted conference hears warning about some of the most common inspection faults School leaders have been urged to “take control” and “drive” their Ofsted inspections, without being afraid to challenge inspectors when appropriate. The message was given to delegates at SecEd’s Fourth National Pupil Premium and Ofsted Conference, which took place in Birmingham on Friday (October 2). The event – attended by 180 teachers and school leaders – hosted a range of school-led workshops discussing Pupil Premium best practice and Ofsted inspection. With the new Common Inspection Framework being introduced by Ofsted this term, the keynote sessions were led by Elaine Long, an inspections specialist. Ms Long’s key message to schools was that it is for them to “take control” of their inspections: “This business of Ofsted-readiness is about you taking control and you driving the inspection. Safeguarding Data
Monitoring and enforcement This page provides information about the Commission’s monitoring and enforcement work on the equality duty. Our regulatory work The Commission is responsible for regulating the public sector equality duty. This guide summarises our approach to our regulatory role. It aims to set out for public authorities and other interested parties how, in any particular situation, we promote compliance with the duty. Read the guide here (Word | PDF) Monitoring Public authorities in England (and non-devolved bodies in Scotland and Wales) which are subject to the specific duties had until 31 January 2012 to publish information to demonstrate compliance with the general equality duty. The Commission undertook an assessment of the information published by public authorities (not including schools) between February and April 2012. Equality information A report, Publishing equality information: Commitment, engagement and transparency sets out the findings of the assessment. Equality objectives Enforcement
Evaluating your teaching, OLI The primary focus of this page is individual teacher-led evaluation and self-evaluation; it seeks to answer the question of why you as a teacher should be evaluating your own teaching. In Ideas and tools we offer suggestions for focusing on desired outcomes and designing means of collecting feedback to enable you to diagnose obstacles and take appropriate action to achieve those outcomes. We also provide examples of evaluation/ feedback tools to try out in your own teaching context or adapt to meet your needs and interests. In Oxford information we set the scene with information about evaluation that goes on around you at Oxford, the results of which you can use to inform your own evaluative efforts. Oxford information Teaching evaluation takes place at Oxford at different levels: from National surveys, e.g. National and international datasets like the NSS and ISB can be of value for assisting you to improve your teaching, even though they use a broad-brush to depict students’ views. A.
Ofsted: Common pitfalls and key advice The Common Inspection Framework is now in its second term of operation. Inspections expert Elaine Long gives a useful overview of the key requirements and duties that schools and their leadership teams should be on top of Is there such a thing as a school satellite navigation system? If there was, who would choose to use it? Could one system suit everyone? I am sure that there are many out there, involved in education, who would think it really is this simple and that regardless of type of school, area, particular circumstance and need, you couldn’t really lose your way if you followed the instructions. As we all know, however, if we are following such a system and enter an area with which we are really familiar then we sometimes question whether the route we have been given is actually the most suited or effective? I believe there is much to be gained for leaders who take control of the evidence they present, the discussions they initiate and the shape of the overall inspection. Websites
The interplay between leading and learning - OpenLearn - Open University - E855_1 Leadership in learning settings, from formal schooling and training to informal voluntary organisations, has several dimensions. There is the leadership defined by the role of a person such as a headteacher, director or co-ordinator – positional leadership. Positional leadership in this sense does not imply being in any specific part of the hierarchy. Then there is the leadership of the teacher, youth worker, trainer or adult in charge that comes from the way they work with others, rather than through their formal role – what might be termed as opportunistic leadership – taking on leadership opportunistically. As a consequence of this interplay of leadership and learning, there is a complex set of interactions between those involved – for example, teachers and pupils, trainers and trainees, youth workers and young people.
Becoming a tutor Ofsted inspections: myths The purpose of this document is to confirm facts about the requirements of Ofsted and to dispel myths that can result in unnecessary workloads in schools. It should be read alongside the School inspection handbook. This document is intended to highlight specific practices that are not required by Ofsted. It is up to schools themselves to determine their practices and for leadership teams to justify these on their own merits rather than by reference to the inspection handbook. 1. Ofsted does not require schools to provide individual lesson plans to inspectors. Ofsted does not specify how planning should be set out, the length of time it should take or the amount of detail it should contain. 2. Ofsted does not require self-evaluation to be provided in a specific format. 3. Ofsted does not award a grade for the quality of teaching or outcomes in the individual lessons visited. 4. Ofsted does not require schools to undertake a specified amount of lesson observation. 5. 6. 7.
Sutton Trust - What makes great teaching? Summary This report reviews over 200 pieces of research to identify the elements of teaching with the strongest evidence of improving attainment. It finds some common practices can be harmful to learning and have no grounding in research. Specific practices which are supported by good evidence of their effectiveness are also examined and six key factors that contribute to great teaching are identified. The report also analyses different methods of evaluating teaching including: using ‘value-added’ results from student test scores; observing classroom teaching; and getting students to rate the quality of their teaching. Key findings The two factors with the strongest evidence of improving pupil attainment are: teachers’ content knowledge, including their ability to understand how students think about a subject and identify common misconceptionsquality of instruction, which includes using strategies like effective questioning and the use of assessment
The warning signs Ofsted is looking for Every school strives to be “outstanding”. Yet the road to outstanding or indeed maintaining an Ofsted grading, is dependent on your ability to show clear evidence that improvement is ongoing across the school. Here, we pinpoint a few areas which highlight to inspectors that all might not be as it should and what you can do about them. Students not making expected levels of progress We all know that ahead of an inspection, the lead Ofsted inspector will take a thorough look at all available data to pinpoint any areas of weakness at your school. The focus of an inspection will then be to support or disprove any conclusions they have drawn. You will need to be able to counter any conclusions you feel are not valid and prove to inspectors why. The ability to have this sort of dialogue with an inspection team will require both leadership staff and teachers to understand exactly what progress is being made and by whom, which calls for a good understanding of student data.