In January, a terrible tragedy occurred when headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life following a school inspection that delivered an “inadequate” verdict.
Just recently, Mark Wallis, another headteacher, went on long-term sick leave following a similar verdict. In both cases these were headteachers who had been highly successful, hailed by parents of their schools as inspirational and putting the interests of the children at the heart of everything they did.
Were the verdicts on the schools wrong? Could they indeed have dropped so far from what they had once been?
I am not a fan of inspections though I accept that they are always going to be with us. They cause huge stress on teaching staff and school leaders. Of course there is no intention to do this but it is an unfortunate reality.
I truly believe that where schools are successful it is where the teachers are allowed to have joy and passion in what they do. The pupils pick up on their teachers’ energy and enthusiasm and in turn they are inspired and draw upon that enthusiasm to build their own curiosity for the subject.
For the teachers, they draw their own enthusiasm from the senior leadership of their school who need to be there to offer support, encouragement and to empower their staff to believe in what they are doing.
“Schools do well if teachers are allowed to have joy and passion in what they do.”
Our fixation on inspections is one that undoubtedly creates a distraction within schools. They cannot but impact upon the quality of what can be achieved in schools because the preparation they require and inevitable anxiety that they cause is all consuming.
The work done to prepare for inspections is all time lost focusing on the education itself and for months schools will work to prepare for an inspection that is done in just a few days. The inspection itself is often just a snapshot of life in the school. Is it an entirely accurate reflection of what always happens? Possibly, but possibly not. Should a school be judged on a “possibly not”?
Many inspections are triggered by a parent with their own agenda. Forget the fact that 99 per cent of parents are happy with the school, if even one makes a complaint, especially one relating to a perceived safeguarding issue, schools can be on a hiding to nothing. It is like putting a school in front of a jury that has already been told that there is a problem and as much as one hopes for absolute objectivity, let’s not kid ourselves that the jury (in this case a group of inspectors) will step onto the school grounds where they are already looking for fault.
“Work done to prepare for inspections is all time lost focusing on the education itself.”
For a long time, it was perceived that the independent sector, inspected by the Independent Schools’ Inspectorate (ISI), was less exacting in its assessment of schools. The sector was seen to be like a club where the members looked out for each other. I wouldn’t disagree with this observation but surely this is a much more positive approach?
Having other headteachers and deputy headteachers coming into your school to observe and identify areas that were going well and, where appropriate, identifying areas that could be better, was nevertheless a less stressful experience and one where there was felt to be the sharing of good practice.
In more recent years, that feeling of collegiality has sadly dwindled with much stricter guidance given by the inspectorate to their inspectors. The worry that the independent sector was seen to be looking after its own needed to be addressed. Subsequently, the inspections became much more invasive and looking for fault rather than focusing on success.
“That feeling of collegiality during ISI inspections has sadly dwindled.”
If you want to find fault, it will always be found and in some cases the inspections became very subjective and less objective. It felt as if there had to be a quota of schools that had to fail and there have been some significant casualties. I think ISI have pulled back a bit from this approach but it seems such a shame that the culture of support, encouragement and effort to identify and recognise success was ever frowned upon. Instead, it should have been an opportunity for the sector to showcase how it could work to enhance our educational system and instil in it greater self-belief and confidence.
“If you want to find fault, it will always be found.”
The education system is at a low ebb at the moment. Teachers feel undervalued and discouraged.
Inspections create a level of anxiety that is fuelled by a culture of blame and seeking to find fault in others rather than looking more closely at societal issues that often have nothing to do with schools but undoubtedly impact upon them.
The focus of inspections needs to be re-evaluated; where there is excellence, by all means shout about it and let us herald schools’ achievements but where there are areas for improvement let’s say that rather than say they are “inadequate”.
Let us partner up schools where those that are excellent can provide support to those needing a bit of help and support to get them through a challenging patch. I suspect both schools would learn a lot about themselves through such a partnership.
“Inspections create anxiety that is fuelled by a culture of blame and seeking to find fault.”
It would be great if schools could be allowed to submit more in the way of honest self-evaluations where they need to identify their successes but also the areas where they can improve – even the very best schools should have areas for improvement. These can be backed up by parental evaluations and the reality of academic outcomes. Such an approach would be so much more positive and would reduce the levels of anxiety that are caused by inspections.
When you tell a school community that they are “inadequate” you are destroying the confidence of all within it. That should never happen. Failure is absolute but the recognition that a school has areas for improvement is a challenge that a community can rise to and still retain its dignity, especially when it proves it can respond.