No Ofsted for Outstanding schools?

[hermanmunster]

difficult not including 11plus results at the outstanding primary I mentioned earlier I think manyof the parents would prefer it to be less outstanding in some areas and rather better at getting there child a better chance at senior level - ie the GS, where kids rarely get to go

[zee]

In 2007 -2008 there were around 14% outstanding school and now its down to about 8% which shows stanrads do slip. What else are we going to use assess school?

I think that's a bit of a non-sequitor. All you can infer from the fall of 14% to 8% is that something has changed; it could be that the assessment has become more rigorous and standards in schools are the same, or even better. The problem is, we don't know, which makes the whole process a little meaningless. Rather like the debate about grade inflation.

[wonderwoman]

In 2007 -2008 there were around 14% outstanding school and now its down to about 8% which shows stanrads do slip. What else are we going to use assess school?

I can't find the figures above, did find these though:
2007 - 2008 15% of all schools outstanding;
2008 -2009 17% outstanding, scores obviously not out for this year.
Also schools must keep moving forward to maintain the same level, so if an outstanding school is doing exactly the same at the next inspection and hasn't moved forward it will not be judged as outstanding again.

Also I really don't think 11+ results are any use in judging a school. If the tests do what they're supposed to do (that's a whole different thread), they should identify the most able 25% - 30%. So it would just identify a school with an able or less able cohort, not useful in judging the quality of teaching.

[ews147]

Tea main reason for the reduction in schools being awarded 'OUTSTANDING' is down to Ofsted changing the goal posts ,and thus criteria, as to what amounted to an o/s lesson. It was not due to any quantifiable reduction in teaching standards.I think some people read to much into ofsted reports in general anyway- what you must remember is they largely base their judgements on data and results. They will already have formulated a hypothesis about the teaching ust prior to inspection and will then seek evidence to support it.The hypothesis is usually based on GCSE results.A friend has worked in a challenging school and delivered lesson which barely received a 'satisfactory'. She had delivered the same lesson in a 'good' school where she had worked previously, and was awarded an outstanding. She firmly believe her delivery was even better in the challenging school, but that the inspectors were reluctant to grade her teaching highly as it may reflect on them , especially as the school's overall results were not good.

[sherry_d]

In 2007 -2008 there were around 14% outstanding school and now its down to about 8% which shows stanrads do slip. What else are we going to use assess school?

I can't find the figures above, did find these though:
2007 - 2008 15% of all schools outstanding;
2008 -2009 17% outstanding, scores obviously not out for this year.

I found it in an Ofsted report and it says

New school inspection arrangements were introduced on 1 September 2009. This means that
inspectors now make some additional judgements that were not made previously.
The data in the table above is for the period 1 September to 31 December 2009 and is the most
recently published data available

There were 8% Outstanding Secondary Schools, 34% Good and 44% satisfactory and 14% Inadequate

Its scary the number of schools deemed inadequate

[yoyo123]

why is satisfactory deemed as bad?

it is satisfactory, it meets expectations , one is satisfied with the result....

if every lesson was outstanding that would become satisfactory.

Like David Blunkett saying all children would be "average or above".

[KS10]

Advice given to me by a tutor on my PGCE course:
-not every lesson can be an excellent one
-you need at least one excellent lesson a day
-make sure it's not the same class getting that excellent lesson

He wasn't saying that the remainder could be poor, just that no one could deliver 5 or 6 brilliant lessons everyday if they wanted to avoid burnout.

[Maybelle]

In our area we commonly see banners draped across school entrances: "Rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted"... This even applies to known "failing" schools... Frankly, OH and I pay little or no attention to this 'rating' because of this anomaly.

[hermanmunster]

Like David Blunkett saying all children would be "average or above".

loved that .... huge temptation to send him a certificate stating that he was below average in statistics

[Amber]

We have had this discussion before - how when I were a lass, it was OK to be 'average' at school,it meant that you were doing OK, managing what was expected - but now no-one would be satisfied with that. 'Every child above average' is the target, it seems. Likewise every school, every teacher, every doctor, has to be 'outstanding'. Devalues the currency rather. And explains why school reports are so boring too: 'X has shown great interest in our topic on prehistoric wardrobe painting, and has produced several really outstanding pieces of finger art based upon our study of Victorian chimney stacks. He takes a creative approach to mathematics, and is working towards recognising numbers up to 10'. I still remember with pride a remark from my school report, for Technical Drawing, age 11 (accompanied by a C+. Bet no-one ever gets C+ these days): 'Amber has shown that she has the ability to produce good work, but rarely makes the effort to do so.' Bring it back, I say...but then I reckon the parents on this forum would be the first to complain!