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>>much maligned Yes, by teachers and their unions. Parents generally like it and choose schools based on its ratings which are generally credible.

blowski 3y ago
Liked by parents before their kids get into the school, often detested after publishing a report that doesn’t match their own experience. I’ve personally seen them make weird recommendations that damaged the school.
mytailorisrich 3y ago
Until it hits close to home and people know better. For instance, in the case of that headteacher, I personally know that her school was one of the most highly regarded, with the best results, in town. The headteacher even acted as a consultant to other schools and had been at that school for about 15 years. Then one day, and one day only, Ofsted comes and decrees that the school is OK but that the "leadership" is poor, with tragic consequences. The outpouring of support from parents was huge and anger towards Ofsted very real.
nottorp 3y ago
Parents on their first kid have no idea what dealing with a school system really is like. They do on the second kid, but who goes there these days. And even on the second, you may want to use the same school as the first's because you can't afford to drive kids to 2 different schools every morning. Edit: to make it more clear, parents may seem to like this ofsted thing at a point when they don't have any other source and they don't know better.
afandian 3y ago
Do they? As a parent I consider OFSTED a low quality signal. If you’re reducing a school to a single word, I don’t think you’re taking the job very seriously. I wonder how others feel.
- gadders 3y ago
  You'd chose an "inadequate" school over an "outstanding" one? Do carry on putting your politics over your children's future.
  - afandian 3y ago
    When choosing a school we talked to the headmaster, pupils, teachers, and current parents. That’s far more rich than an inspector’s rushed visit. Not sure what you mean by politics.
bemusedthrow75 3y ago
I am not a parent. If I were a parent, I would assume Ofsted scores to be useless. Why? Because I know teachers and what they experience about the Ofsted process, which is Kafkaesque and officious. It is much easier to look at the exam results, visit the school, ask people in an area what the kids are like at the bus stop —- are they well-behaved or are they scary? —- and ask young adults who recently left school what the teachers are like.
- gadders 3y ago
  Haha. "Hi kids. Are your teachers nice to you?" That's a good way to get put on a register. But assuming the kids were nice, yet the school was rated "inadequate" - you would choose that over a school rated "outstanding"? I can tell you're not a parent.
  - bemusedthrow75 3y ago
    Apart from your (judging by your comment history apparently quite typical) insulting snide bullshit reading of my comment, for which go fuck yourself: Yes. I know of a school locally to me that is rated inadequate that the parents adore, that I would choose over the next nearest independent day school which turns out weird aloof little Stepford children. As for the snarky intentional bullshit misreading: “recently left school” in the UK means “completed school” as well, as in “recently left school for university” or “recently left school for college”. Engage your brain when I am talking about young adults and it should be clear I was talking about school leavers. They are the right people to ask if a school is good or not, because they are the ones most recently impacted by its actual performance. By the way, well done for being able to tell I am not a parent. Perhaps you deduced that from the opening sentence where I said “I am not a parent”? That was a tricky one, so clever you :-)
    - gadders 3y ago
      I think it is easy to claim you would make an position in line with your ideology when you don't have skin in the game.

blowski 3y ago

Liked by parents before their kids get into the school, often detested after publishing a report that doesn’t match their own experience. I’ve personally seen them make weird recommendations that damaged the school.

mytailorisrich 3y ago

Until it hits close to home and people know better. For instance, in the case of that headteacher, I personally know that her school was one of the most highly regarded, with the best results, in town. The headteacher even acted as a consultant to other schools and had been at that school for about 15 years. Then one day, and one day only, Ofsted comes and decrees that the school is OK but that the "leadership" is poor, with tragic consequences. The outpouring of support from parents was huge and anger towards Ofsted very real.

nottorp 3y ago

Parents on their first kid have no idea what dealing with a school system really is like. They do on the second kid, but who goes there these days. And even on the second, you may want to use the same school as the first's because you can't afford to drive kids to 2 different schools every morning. Edit: to make it more clear, parents may seem to like this ofsted thing at a point when they don't have any other source and they don't know better.

afandian 3y ago

Do they? As a parent I consider OFSTED a low quality signal. If you’re reducing a school to a single word, I don’t think you’re taking the job very seriously. I wonder how others feel.

gadders 3y ago
You'd chose an "inadequate" school over an "outstanding" one? Do carry on putting your politics over your children's future.
- afandian 3y ago
  When choosing a school we talked to the headmaster, pupils, teachers, and current parents. That’s far more rich than an inspector’s rushed visit. Not sure what you mean by politics.

bemusedthrow75 3y ago

I am not a parent. If I were a parent, I would assume Ofsted scores to be useless. Why? Because I know teachers and what they experience about the Ofsted process, which is Kafkaesque and officious. It is much easier to look at the exam results, visit the school, ask people in an area what the kids are like at the bus stop —- are they well-behaved or are they scary? —- and ask young adults who recently left school what the teachers are like.

gadders 3y ago
Haha. "Hi kids. Are your teachers nice to you?" That's a good way to get put on a register. But assuming the kids were nice, yet the school was rated "inadequate" - you would choose that over a school rated "outstanding"? I can tell you're not a parent.
- bemusedthrow75 3y ago
  Apart from your (judging by your comment history apparently quite typical) insulting snide bullshit reading of my comment, for which go fuck yourself: Yes. I know of a school locally to me that is rated inadequate that the parents adore, that I would choose over the next nearest independent day school which turns out weird aloof little Stepford children. As for the snarky intentional bullshit misreading: “recently left school” in the UK means “completed school” as well, as in “recently left school for university” or “recently left school for college”. Engage your brain when I am talking about young adults and it should be clear I was talking about school leavers. They are the right people to ask if a school is good or not, because they are the ones most recently impacted by its actual performance. By the way, well done for being able to tell I am not a parent. Perhaps you deduced that from the opening sentence where I said “I am not a parent”? That was a tricky one, so clever you :-)
  - gadders 3y ago
    I think it is easy to claim you would make an position in line with your ideology when you don't have skin in the game.