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NASUWT: Inspection systems increasingly politicised

NASUWT: Inspection systems increasingly politicised

School inspectors are becoming education ministers’ hit men, representatives at the Annual Conference of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, will hear today.

Ninety-five per cent of teachers who responded to a new NASUWT survey into inspection said that they believe the schools inspections system operates in the interests of politicians rather than the public or pupils.

More than four out of five (81%) of teachers believe that the current model of school inspection unfairly undermines public confidence in the education system.

The survey found that:

schools are being placed on a permanent war footing due to the high-stakes nature of the inspections system, with 92% of teachers saying that preparation for inspection is a bigger contributor to excessive workloads in their school than inspection itself;
almost three quarters (73%) of teachers said that the expectations of inspection in their school mean that they are unable to adopt the most suitable approaches to teaching their pupils;
71% of teachers said inspection was leading to significant levels of stress among staff in their school. Over two thirds of teachers (67%) said activities before and after inspection in their school had also caused significant stress;
88% of teachers said they have had to work in the evenings and weekends and during holidays to prepare for inspection;
nearly 80% of teachers said they are required to produce lesson plans, pupil assessments and other records in a specific format to satisfy the demands of inspection;
nearly half (49%) of teachers have to undergo ‘mock inspections’ in their schools in anticipation of inspections;
over 80% of teachers said that inspection is frequently or very frequently used in their school to justify the implementation of new policies and practices;
70% of teachers said that lesson observations are mainly undertaken to provide evidence for inspection, rather than to help teachers develop their skills;
almost half (49%) of teachers said that outcomes of inspections had been used to unjustifiably criticise the competence and effectiveness   of teachers in their schools.

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said:

“Inspection systems should operate in the public interest. They should hold government policy to account, not be the agents of its implementation.

“Inspection is increasingly paralysing schools with fear.

“Inspectors increasingly are seen as ministers’ hit men. Neither the profession or the public can have real confidence in their judgements.”

ENDS


NASUWT Press Office contacts:
Ben Padley 07785 463 119
Lena Davies 07867 392 746
Amanda Williamson 07741 246 202

Notes to editors
The NASUWT’s Annual Conference is being held at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) from 29 March to 1 April.

A copy of the inspection survey is available on request.

The full text of the motion is below:

INSPECTION BODIES AND FRAMEWORKS
Brent to move,
Barnet to second:
Conference believes that inspection frameworks should be supportive and developmental for
improving teaching and learning.
Conference notes the growing concern of qualified teachers and the public about the increasingly politicised, punitive and irrational approach employed by Ofsted and Estyn and their inspectors.
Conference asserts that the framework changes and inspection practices often result in:
(i) a lack of clarity as to what constitutes a good lesson;
(ii) a significant number of lessons graded unreasonably as unsatisfactory;
(iii) increasingly unrealistic expectations as to what a teacher should achieve in a lesson and in the course of a working day;
(iv) undue pressure on school leaders which results in unreasonable demands made of other
teachers;
(v) an overly prescriptive pedagogical approach that undermines the professionalism of teachers and
(vi) increasing workloads with no commensurate benefit for pupils.
Conference urges the union to make representations to ensure that:
(a) all inspectors have relevant and recent classroom experience;
(b) inspectors’ employment experience and qualifications are published on the inspection websites and
(c) staff welfare and the implementation of workplace agreements to ensure an acceptable
work/life balance for all teachers form part of the framework.
Conference further urges the national executive to campaign for changes to the inspection frameworks, using all means at its disposal, to ensure the independence of inspection bodies or, failing that, to campaign for the abolition of Ofsted and Estyn.
(Brent, Barnet, Devon, Wolverhampton)

AMENDMENT (i)
Executive to move,
Executive to second:
in the first paragraph:
after ‘learning’ insert ‘, recognising the contexts in which schools are working’
in the second paragraph:
replace ‘Ofsted and Estyn’ with ‘inspection systems’
in the fifth paragraph:
replace ‘abolition of Ofsted and Estyn’ with ‘replacement of the current inspection frameworks’
(Executive)

AMENDMENT (ii)
Keith Page to move,
Dave Bullock to second:
in the fourth paragraph:
in (a) replace ‘recent’ with ‘current’
(North Tyneside)

Lena Davies
Press and Media Officer
NASUWT
0121 457 6250 / 07867 392 746
lena.davies@mail.nasuwt.org.uk