NUT on school accountability

26 April 2011

Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers' union, said;

“Schools should clearly be accountable to the local communities that they serve. What we need to see, however, is a system of assessment which is fair and of value to parents and pupils.

“The current methods by which schools are held accountable do not accurately reflect the work that schools are doing.

“While the NUT would have preferred for Ofsted to be abolished altogether, it is pleasing to see that the Select Committee recently agreed with many of the NUT's suggestions for its reform. In particular separating the inspection of education and children's services and agreeing that the longer-term aim should be to move to a system of self-improvement by schools, where the Education Inspectorate's role would be much reduced.

“This would go some way to alleviating the stress and anxiety that the Education Committee recognised is being generated by Ofsted. It is entirely unacceptable that heads and teachers are often driven to despair by an inspection system that many feel is there to catch them out, rather than praise them for what they are doing well.

“More emphasis on pupil progression rather than absolute measures such as 'five good GCSEs' or the English Baccalaureate when considering schools' performance should help to ensure that schools serving the most challenging communities are not unfairly penalised.

“Similarly, having senior practitioners, such as local authority advisors and head teachers on inspection teams, would at least ensure that inspection teams have more relevant practical experience. The Education Select Committee recognised that the quality of inspectors is not always what it should be. Too often Ofsted inspectors appear to have a woeful lack of knowledge about life in the modern classroom or indeed any classroom at all.

“Teaching is one of the most accountable professions there is, from initial teacher training through to daily classroom practice. Excessive scrutiny drives many excellent teachers out of the profession altogether. It is time for a change to punitive inspection arrangements.”

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