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Will the newOfsted framework allow schools to tell their own stories?


Comment by NAIMISH GOHIL, CEOand Founder, Satchel


Schools have always gathered data to satisfy Ofsted


inspectors, yet the resulting reports often provided a poor guide for parents who want their children to have a holistic education in a safe, happy school environment. What’s more, these reports can be grossly unfair on schools since it denies them the chance to tell their own success stories – including the


ones that matter most to prospective parents. School leaders can deliver major improvements to pupils’ behaviour, wellbeing and personal development, yet much of this hard work can go unrecognised in Ofsted reports.


This may be about to change. In September Ofs its latest inspection framework which includes a m


ajor emphasis ted launched


on ‘quality of education’.What’s fascinating about the new framework is that it appears to mark a shift from statistics to more subjective judgements about school success. The new framework represents a renewed focus on the curriculum – not just what’s taught in the classroom, but on pupils’ holistic education. And while Ofsted will sti nationally co llected data such as progress and att a


inment ll use


scores, they will not look at internal performance data collected by the school.


It might seem one of the most significant changes is that teachers and school leaders now won’t need to build mountains of data to appease Ofsted inspectors. They can now have the opportunity to tell their success stories on their own terms. But while school leaders can drop this task, they still need to gather the evidence that enables them to tell their success stories, whether it is enhancing safeguarding, strengthening students’ social, emotional and mental wellbeing, or broadening and deepening the curriculum.


For example, if a school makes it a priority to improve pupil behaviour, it must demonstrate steps and prove of achievement. This is a big challenge, since demonstrating “quality of


education” requires schools to gather the evidence they need to tell their own success stories. This encompasses not just statistics on attendance and behaviour, but qualitative insig in-depth interviews with all stakeholder groups – f governors – to ensure that everybody is aligned with the school’s strategy for improving curriculum and culture. It’s now more imperative than ever that schools can create, gather and share the insight they need to tell their stories convincingly in their submissions to Ofsted.


rom pupils to ht requiring


Modern “school intelligence” platforms are a crucial tool in delivering this insight and creating the desired holistic learning environment. As well as providing easily digestible and fully up- to-date data that demonstrates progress towards the school’s goals, a cross-school intelligence tool should also be able to monitor workload for both students and teachers to ensure the positive wellbeing of both stakeholders.


Decemb e r 2019 2019


Senior leadership and the fa lse dawn of ed tech


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KC:What is it about introducing technology into UK schools that seems to be so tricky and difficult?


SC: I think sometimes it’s been much to do with senior leadership seeing something which appears glossy, which looks exciting, which offers the world and then bringing it back to school without thinking through the essentials of implementation within the teaching and learning environment. I thin k many schools hav e witnessed that and colleagues are put off by technology because they’ve been burned by false promises. Not just from developers but also by senior leadership.


AM: I think where I’ve seen it work really well is where school leaders have a vision for the technology, and it’s been a vision embedded in teaching and learning. I think you’re right.We’ve been attracted by shiny things and the school down the road has got a class load of iPads and therefore we’ll get iPads but actually where technology works is where it services the teaching and learning.


KC: These are questions of purpose, implementation and alignment with what we’re trying to do. I mean the iPad one always strikes me. So so mebody might have told me that they’ve got iPads for all thei r year 7 children and my line is ‘well, what w question that gave you that answer?’.


, AM: True. Once you’ve found the solution


for your school, it’s about as the education


fidelity to the programme. You’ve got to be convinced it’s the right thing and when you’ve made that decision, follow that through. Put yourself in the shoes of a teacher and if you, as senior leadership, are not convinced, why should they invest their time in it? So, it’s really important that we understand what it does, and we’ve got an evidence base for it.


SC: There’s nothing more frustrating for a teacher to be sat in a class, get everything set up and it doesn’t work.We’ve got to support our co eagues in the classroom. I t hink we’ve also got to give it time. Unfortunately, in education we try to do things far too quickly and too often we pay a price for that.My experience would be a gradual implementation, but a thorough implementation.


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KC: That’s music to my ears because it’s key to the evidence we have that implementation is a process, no t an event .


See the full conversation andmany others at youtube.com/learningbyquestions


Top tips fo for introducing tech


• Check that your school infrastructure is robust. This is the foundation upon which every other technology investment rests. • Invest your time in choosing technology that has evidence behind it and that will specifically service the teaching and learning in your school. Anything else is just a gimmick. • Give it time. A drip-drip approach to implementation will work better than a chaotic overhaul.


www. wwweducation-toda y.co.uk.co.uk 52


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