How reliable are Ofsted gradings

How reliable are Ofsted gradings?

Ofsted has recently announced that they are going to reinspect the schools that were previously graded outstanding. This is significant since many of these schools have not been inspected for more than a decade.

Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector, aims to halve the number of outstanding schools which is not unrealistic considering that schools may be under a new framework and standards since they were last inspected.

The issue is that many people within education do not trust the reliability of Ofsted findings and are calling into question whether the inspections have any real value in determining whether a school is effective.

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Balance Between Curriculum and Assessment

Striking the Right Balance Between Curriculum and Assessment

The changes and uncertainty of the past 12 months have put an incredible strain on everyone, not least teachers. From delivering lessons remotely to supporting pupils with both their studies and their mental health, it’s been an enduring challenge that continues to this day.

In order to help teachers cope with constantly moving goalposts alongside their usual workload, a number of solutions have been designed and implemented with varying degrees of effectiveness.

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Ofsted

What questions do Ofsted ask parents?

As you’re probably already aware, whenever an Ofsted inspection is triggered, the head teacher of a school has to notify parents about the inspection and invite them to complete Parent View – an online survey that gives parents and carers the opportunity to tell Ofsted what they think about their child’s school.

At this moment in time, anyone can log in to the system and complete the survey as many times as they want. Some have argued that this could result in unreliable outcomes, as several questions were considered ‘dangerous’, such as: Read More

Ofsted Inspection Myths

7 Ofsted Inspection Myths

Despite the fact that every teacher should have read Ofsted’s school inspection handbook, which goes into detail about things like the evaluation schedule and grade descriptors, several inspection myths still exist.

So, to provide clarification over the facts once and for all, here are 7 Ofsted inspection myths you should pay no attention to whatsoever.

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ofsted

How Do Ofsted Select A School For Inspection?

Every week, Ofsted carries out hundreds of inspections and regulatory visits of services providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

For many years, it has used statistical models to ensure proportionate inspection of maintained schools and academies as well as independent educational institutions and programmes.

But in March 2018, Ofsted released a publication outlining the risk assessment process for good and outstanding maintained schools and academies, which involved individual assessment of published data alongside a more in-depth ‘desk-based’ review of a wider range of available information.

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Teacher Marking

Revolutionise Your Marking Workload

Despite the fact that many teachers believe marking is necessary to provide children with valuable feedback and help them improve in the future, Ofsted doesn’t share the same sentiment.

In a myth-busting factsheet, Ofsted said it “does not expect to see any specific frequency, type or volume of marking and feedback; these are for the school to decide through its assessment policy.”

In other words, as long as schools get the required results out of students, marking isn’t absolutely essential.

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Do you have GCSE lesson blues?

Working as a teacher, you might think that you’re the only one who hates the GCSE study preparation period, but we’re here to tell you that you’re not alone. While students look forward to a time with no lessons, they quickly realise how boring studying for GCSEs can be. Particularly if there is no class structure.

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Educational Trends

The Most Common Educational Trends

It’s fair to say that education is in a constant state of flux. All governments make promises about making changes, then make more changes when they realise things aren’t quite going to plan, and the cycle continues like this for evermore. It’s also fair to say that if these sweeping changes and trends had a positive impact, we would all welcome them with open arms. But are they successful? Let’s take a look at the most common educational trends and look a little closer at their effectiveness.

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Teaching Jobs in Schools

How to choose the right school when job hunting

As opposed to the vast majority of other job hunters, would-be teachers have got more factors to bear in mind when weighing up their options.

In addition to standard considerations like salary and location, you also have to think about the size of the school, its reputation, its culture, the behaviour of pupils and the personalities of staff. Therefore, striking the right balance isn’t easy and you may have to sacrifice one ideal for another.

However, here’s how you can make the most informed decision and find the right school to match to your requirements.

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