OFSTED has decided that it will no longer grade individual lessons when it undertakes school assessments. Instead there will be a �meeting of minds� once lessons have been observed where the inspectors will as a whole, assess where there have been seen to be any causes for concern. Apparently, this change will include a meeting with the Headteacher to discuss their observations and seek an understanding if the Head agrees with the findings. If that isn�t quite radical enough for you, then how about the suggestion of scrapping their assessment of �quality of teaching�? The criticism that their assessment in this regard merely mirrors what the school is attaining in grades, appears to be gaining some traction.
What OFSTED do take into account when they are evaluating the quality of learning over time at any school are the views of parents, staff and pupils. This is all in stark contrast to how driving instructors are assessed. An examiner from the DVSA sits in the back seat and observes a 45 minute driving lesson with a pupil (this �pupil� does not need to be a paying pupil or indeed ever to have had any previous lessons with the instructor, in fact the pupil can even be a qualified driver). Once the driving lesson is completed, the examiner calls the driving instructor into an office where their grade is given to them with a short explanation of why (unlike above, there is no desire here to seek an understanding if the instructor agrees with the findings), and the driving instructor lives and dies in their business with that grade until the next assessment. That said, the public awareness of driving instructors� grades is minimal compared to their awareness of a schools OFSTED inspection grade. In 6 years I have never had anyone ever question my grade. All of us can draw our own conclusions as to why that might be the case.
Crucially though, what the assessment most certainly does not take into account are the views of the pupil (or parents as in the case of a 17 year old pupil who is having driving lessons financed by parents). The examiner will undoubtedly observe the pupil at all times of the �driving lesson� but they do not ask a single question of the pupil, they do not seek clarity of understanding, enjoyment, attainment, confidence, or satisfaction. Worse than that though, as was demonstrated on my own recent assessment, the examiner is unwilling (and seemingly unable) to differentiate their assessment as appropriate for the �pupil�. For example, my pupil was a 62 year old retired English teacher. I was marked down on the assessment criteria of �Did the trainer ensure that the pupil fully understood how the responsibility for risk would be shared?� My error was that before I drove off from the Test Centre to find a suitable place for my pupil�s driving lesson, despite myself turning and checking that the examiner in the back had put his seat belt on, I did not explain to my 62 year old pupil the importance and necessity of such a check. The reason I was given for being given a zero mark on this was because I needed to bear in mind that 17 year old pupils will not necessarily be aware of such matters. So despite never having a single collision (of any kind) in my driving school cars in 6 years of giving driving lessons, I find myself being marked down on the subject of �Risk Management� because I failed to treat my 62 year old pupil like a 17 year old.
Am I bitter? You bet I am. In much the same way that I imagine there will be hundreds (if not thousands) of bitter teachers across the UK who were marked down by an inspector on an OFSTED when they were grading individual lessons. But breathe easy, as from tomorrow (01/09/2014), that will no longer be the case for any teachers in schools.
Related articles: http://news.tes.co.uk/b/ofsted-watch/2014/08/29/ofsted-scraps-grades-for-individual-lessons.aspx
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/school-inspection-handbook
BIG TOM Driving School 0800 689 4174
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