How I think we should be held to account? (not by OFSTED)

Excellent stuff about OFSTED from Stuart Lock. Also worth promoting and on a similar theme is this post by Katie Ashford: http://ariadnesthreadblog.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/what-is-truth-i-dont-know-ask-an-ofsted-inspector/

Mr Lock's Weblog

How would I like schools to be held to account?

I thought I’d write this today after a conversation on twitter. I’m aware it’s very secondary centred. By “very” I mean “completely”.

Tristram Hunt has said that OFSTED is essential. He counterposed the existence of OFSTED with low standards. This disappoints me as I am becoming persuaded that this particular form of accountability is substandard at best, and actively damaging at worst.

I retweeted a blog that criticised Hunt for this today and had a few responses, one of which suggested “being anti-OFSTED is not a credible position for a school leader”. Since I consider myself to be anti-OFSTED, I hold what at least one person considers to be a position that lacks credibility. So I want to explore why I’m anti-OFSTED and consider what level and form of accountability I would welcome.

One of the main reasons for having…

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