Oftsed Chief declares war on grammar schools

[KenR]

http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... ar-schools

Interesting article - might have more credibility if it wasn't wasn't written by the head of the organisation that has done so much to undermine excellent teachers and educational standards.

To his suggestion that:

"More "pushy parents" should whistleblow directly to Ofsted about very poor teaching standards"

we should perhaps add:-

"More pushy parents" should also formally complain to Ofsted senior management when their inspectors rate weak or poor teachers with bad results Outstanding(1) because they adopt the latest Ofsted "trendy" teaching methods, whereas excellent teachers, respected by students and parents with outstanding results are often assessed as only Good(2) or sometimes even Requires Improvement (3)"

We have a lots of friends who are teachers and I have lost track of the number of times I have heard complaints that really excellent, inspiring (and often older) teachers have fallen foul of Ofsted inspectors because they haven't adopted the latest Ofsted classroom techniques.

[Amber]

Gosh yes quite chokeworthy. This is the first sensible thing the man has said in almost 2 years in post. His sudden concern for social justice makes me wonder if he has had some kind of religious experience.

Anyone who thinks grammar schools are going to increase social mobility needs to look at those figures. I don't think they work.

I decided to remove the second bit of my post here, in case he is litigious as well as dangerous.

[sbarnes]

is there in existence an income based selective state school in the UK? This is independent of a grammar school, where regardless of income,anyone who meets the pass criteria can enter? Assuming the selection process is tutor proof (midlands CEM exams for instance), then the pupil passing the test must be attributable to the gene pool from which their background is from..

[Guest55]

Ofsted don't require a particular style of teaching; they are looking for pupil progress in the lesson. He should be more concerned about the barriers that private education creates.

[JSN]

I think Sir Michael Wilshaw has got it about right.

The only real way to get more equality of education for all is proper comprehensives with all abilities accommodated, with a grammar stream that pupils can move up into as well move down, Pushy/aspirational parents call them what you like will not "buy into " anything less IMO.

g55 you cannot ban private schools in a democratic open market economy , just like you cannot stop the rich buying Ferrari/Maserati's ( don't rate Aston Martins it has to be Italian for me)just because it offends your sense of justice and removing their charitable status would just result in there being no bursaries for the poor so preventing the lower income group from getting some of the best education in the world!
the wealthy will always get what they want. I think it is better to concentrate on the 93% of the majority and aspire to give them as good of an education that you would get at a top Public School.

[Guest55]

Of course you could restrict private schools by insisting on proper scrutiny of their 'charitable' status and tax breaks. That would close quite a few!

[JSN]

But g55 they have scrutinised the charitable status of Private schools by an independent body and directives were imposed , and than challenged in court and the government( I think) had to back down.
ps not entirely sure who did what here ,but I know the Indie sector won!

[Guest55]

The scrutiny was blocked .... I know more but can't say as it would reveal sources. Private schools have powerful friends.

[JSN]

Private schools have powerful friends.

so in that case lets move on and be pragmatic and do what we reasonably can achieve for the majority of our children?

surely you cannot lay the failures of the state system at the door of the 7% who attend Indies, note grammars are even more exclusive only 5% attend them.

and are you suggesting the private sector is so powerful they can manipulate the court? they are not the Mafia

[Amber]

The only real way to get more equality of education for all is proper comprehensives with all abilities accommodated

With you so far...

, with a grammar stream that pupils can move up into as well move down,

Ah. So not actually 'proper comprehensives' at all then? How does that lead to any kind of equality?

, Pushy/aspirational parents call them what you like will not "buy into " anything less IMO..

Oh I see. Well that is a great reason to perpetuate inequality. Got you now. As usual, the pushy middle classes get to dictate education policy for the benefit of their own offspring. Marvellous. Cheaper just to leave things as they are though, no?

Amber - sorry to change the font-colour for your reply but mods tend to use the blue when moderating and I wanted to avoid any potential misunderstanding. I hope that's okay?
Bravado