#Michaela - Debating Education (21/11/15)

Another Saturday, another education event... Am I an edu-geek or an edu-loser? Regardless, it was a chance to meet up with my 'edu-Twitter/blogger friends' and share a day of discussion, debate, reflection, beer and curry. 

The day was held at Michaela, a free school that divides the edu-Twitter world (Read about David Didau's visit <here>). It is a shining example of how schools could be or has Katharine Birbalsingh and her neo-trad collection of Teach First-ers got education totally wrong? Perhaps, thankfully, that wasn't on the days agenda. 

Due to a prior engagement (baptism preparation for my son Tommy' forthcoming initiation into all things Catholic), I could only make 3 of the 5 debates, but the trip to Wembley was still well worth it. We were polled in advance, presumably so Bodil (the data cruncher) could see if we changed our minds. The key questions that were to be discussed were:

1. Was Michael Gove a great Education Secretary?
2. Should Ofsted be abolished?
3. Is Sir Ken right? Does traditional education kill creativity?
4. Does mixed ability work?
5. Should character be in the curriculum?

For me, yes / no answers were tricky:
1. Not great, but had a good vision, just maybe poor execution.
2. Only if it is replaced by a better regulatory body.
3. Not really, as I don't agree with his definition of creativity.
4. Maybe in some subjects, but not all?
5. It has to be, but not in separate lessons.

I think I went with:
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. Yes
5. Yes

My final thoughts were:

1. Still not great, but Jonny had done a fine job of selling him as such. Would I go back to pre-2010 education? No. Did Gove drive up standards and expectations, especially for the poor? I think so.

2. OFSTED is not fit for purpose; it may need a new name, aims and form to have any kind of impact. However. I also don't really trust teachers or schools to be self accountable.

5. If I need character lessons, I am not carrying out my pastoral responsibility properly in the everyday interactions with my students. 

Takeaways

Did I bring anything practical back to my class room for Monday? No. Did I change my mind about any topics? Not really. Do I think the day was useful? Absolutely. So many seeds were sown. The conversations, interactions (both face to face and via Twitter), questions and reflections are still settling. I want to read more about Hirsch and his effect on Gove, I want to consider my contributions to character education as a head of year, I want to consider further the accountability within schools. This was NOT a TeachMeet with a whole series of shiny ideas to magpie (and don't get me wrong, I love those). This was not a panel debate with 5 minute soundbites. This was something a great. A space, and a time to think about some of the most important issues in education.

Big thanks to Katherine for hosting us. Huge gratitude to the speakers for giving up their time and leading us in a really excellent series of debates. Thanks for Bodil for awarding my chocolates. And of course to Andrew for organising the curry - thank goodness Moore Spice delivered! 

Other Blogs

• Daisy's Review
• Teach_Well's Review

Inspecting RE in Faith Schools

Image courtesy of The Archives of Disease in Childhood

The Guardian reports that Tristram Hunt has said, "there is a case for Ofsted to be allowed to inspect religious education in faith schools, saying schools may be exacerbating religious and ethnic segregation in English cities." (see <here> for full article)

This seems like a logical and natural reaction to the Trojan Horse scandal. However to look at Hunt's comments appears to show an accusation against faith schools:

"We have particular concerns that Ofsted is not allowed to inspect religious teaching in faith schools – that seems to me to be a slightly curious situation. It is a worrying trend in terms of cultural and ethnic identification through schooling."

OFSTED can currently go into RE lessons in faith schools to observe teaching and learning, and they do! I got observed during our last visit in November 2013 (see <here>). I don't see how there is a great need to inspect the content of religious teaching, especially given a sometimes limited understanding of the topics; I only got a Good rating as I gave Y7 students a theologically sound definition of the Messiah instead of letting students "work it out for themselves in pairs". This was a new topic to them, and none of them speak Hebrew.

Faith Schools have a separate Section 48 which checks their RE content. Ours was far more intense for the RE department than the Section 5! I had three full lesson observations (see <here>). There was thorough book checking, schemes of works were read, a whole separate SEF. Now, if Hunt is claiming we need to have examined exactly how the Qu'ran is being interpreted, or if Catholic teaching is being promoted in a liberal or conservative way, we may well need experts on the topics; that won't be OFSTED. 

Hunt went on to say, "Our answer is making sure Ofsted inspects schools on the basis of a broad and balanced curriculum.”.

For me this is a clear suggestion that he does not believe that faith schools provide this. St Benedict's in Suffolk was a RC faith school which suffered from this agenda which has already begun. It's initial OFSTED report said:

“It is not made clear how all students are prepared for life and work in modern Britain... Leadership and management could be made more effective by “making clearer the contribution to students’ preparation for life and work in modern Britain and the dangers of extremism”

A statement from Ofsted said inspectors were now paying greater attention to ensuring that schools provided a broad and balanced curriculum. This faith school seemingly didn't fit the bill.

It is interesting, and a fact seemingly forgotten, is that the Trojan Horse schools in Birmingham were not indeed faith schools. They were community schools, who OFSTED had inspected and failed to notice things going wrong as they focused purely on numeracy and literacy. Why then are faith schools now being targeted?

The feel from many, especially those working in faith schools, is that all of a sudden, to be Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish or even maybe CoE is to not hold British Values. And we're going to be targeted and made an example of by politicians on both sides who do not understand the unique and special place that faith schools hold in our British society.

Low-Level Disruption

Jonah from Tonga, courtesy of the BBC

So this time it was The Telegraph who got the leak from OFSTED, see <here>, on a report of low-level disruption in schools. I was asked by the Guardian for a comment, then a blog, and then they decided they only wanted my comment. However I had already started the blog (500 word limit), so here it is...

“9F were really chatty today… Sarah in 10/6 is always fidgeting… Danny can never stop swinging on his chair!”

Low-level disruption is often part of the daily life of a teacher; the above comments could be taken from any secondary school staff room. OFSTED suggest that this behaviour is becoming more prevalent, occupying more learning time. I’d argue behaviour is always an issue for schools as it is the most stressful things teachers have to deal with and directly affects the learning and progress of a class. The perception of behaviour (and whether it is an issue or not) is also something that varies greatly, even within a school.

Behaviour management is the utmost important thing a teacher needs to learn to do. You can have a PhD in the subject you are trying to teach, but without the ability to control the students in front of you, not much learning will take place. Despite being an established and experienced teacher, every year I go back to basics; I dictate a seating plan, go through my expectations and routines, and outline potential rewards and consequences. This means we are all clear on what needs to go on. Do my students still fall short? On a regular basis.

There is no magic solution for behaviour. OFSTED can claim they want to see an improvement and inspectors may go to a school looking for a specific strategy in place. What works at one school will not necessarily work in the next, what works for one teacher will not necessarily work in the classroom next door; this is equally as applicable for swearing and chair throwing as it is chat and pen-tapping. Often there is often “two schools” within the one (see Tom Bennett) and a culture of “good enough” behaviour (see Andrew Old), whereby some teachers experience good behaviour and others get the poor behaviour with no necessary correlation of teaching ability or experience. 

There are things that school leaders can do, and this perhaps needs to be a more positive focus for OFSTED inspections. Teachers ‘on the ground’, teaching six period days, with 32 books to mark on a near daily basis need help and support with all aspects of behaviour. Often they physically do not have the time to chase up every incident. Do school leaders really know if the systems they have put in place operate efficiently? They need to think carefully about the questions they ask, and how they ask them. Do teaching staff feel that their concerns are a sign of weakness or will they be genuinely and supportively addressed? Can they work out how big the divide is between the "two schools"? Is their behaviour "good enough" or could it better, relieving some of the pressure and stress of staff? Some of this may be a useful focus of OFSTED inspections.

However, what exactly is the behaviour that needs to be addressed? My classes can be chatty, but often I see that as a good thing. Teaching RE I may have just given them a hugely controversial newspaper article or shown them a video that has affected them emotionally or spiritually. If they sat there in silence waiting for a task, I'd feel uncomfortably awkward. I love having 32 real life human beings in my class.

Low-level disruption can often just be the behaviour of children; young adults on the route to becoming 'well-trained', civilised adults; every teacher plays their part in getting them there. Many students will spend 95% of their time attentive and hard working. Sometimes a student will make an off-topic comment that I’ll respond to as it’s interesting or funny. That helps me get to know them, and then I can teach them better. It is important to keep behaviour to the forefront of educational discussion, but it is equally important to make sure we don’t use a heavy-weight OFSTED sledgehammer to crack a chatty, teenage nut. Especially if it distracts from the real issues about behaviour in schools and creates more pressure on frontline teaching staff.

Section 48 Inspection - Part 3: Outcome, Feedback & Reflections

• Part 1: Pre-Inspection
• Part 2: The Day

Outcome:

Following the Section 48 inspection, we are delighted that, once again the school was rated as ‘Outstanding’.

The inspectors were highly impressed by the quality of teaching in the RE department as well as the learning outcomes for pupils. Furthermore, they praised the prayer life of the school, the sense of community and strong family ethos and the high quality of pastoral care that the girls receive.

http://www.mary.havering.sch.uk/

Feedback:

I know OFSTED are currently moving away from rating individual lessons, and indeed I have blogged about it <here>, but I hoped to get at least some feedback from the Section 48 inspectors about my teaching. Unfortunately this wasn't to be. I have no idea what I did right, or indeed how I could have been better. However from the comments made to the Subject Leader during the feedback meeting, all three of my lessons were rated as Outstanding. This is obviously pleasing but I have no idea what I did particually right. Of course, I must have 'ticked all the boxes' of their criteria (found <here>):

"Standards pupils achieve in Religious Education are very high. Attainment indicators for the final key stage are almost all significantly above average. Progress is at least good in each key stage for different groups and is exemplary in most. Most pupils concentrate very well and are rarely off task even in extended periods without direction from an adult. They have developed an enthusiasm for tackling challenging activities. Their keenness and commitment to succeed and ability to grasp opportunities to extend and improve their learning are exceptional."

That is obviously pleasing to know, BUT, I always want to be better. I want to know what wasn't quite perfect so I know how to move forward. I'd even swap this for the 3 shiny Outstanding badges. To be observed for 3 lessons and get not a word of feedback is frustrating.

I hoped the report may give further insight after 7 lessons were observed, yet of the 6 page document, this was the only paragraph dedicated to it:

"Progress in religious education is outstanding. Pupils work with application and interest. They enjoy their religious education lessons and work very well together. They are eager to participate in activities and keen to do well. They have a good knowledge of the Catholic faith appropriate to their age and abilities. Workbooks are very well presented, show coverage of the curriculum and indicate a varied range of tasks. Standards of attainment exceed national expectations."

Again obviously very pleasing but after such preparation and the hours spent ensuring lessons, lesson plans, data, marking etc were ready for the inspectors, it feels a little short of the mark. The feedback in the meeting was that marking was "not bad" but could be further improved with more student feedback on marking. This basically echoed our OFSTED Section 5 report. They then made it clear that our marking was good, but could be "even better".

Reflections:

I was obviously incredibly pleased with the outcome of the inspection, as was the subject leader and the rest of the department, as well as SLT. However I do personally feel the report nor feedback fully appreciates the hard work that went into the inspection. At least with OFSTED some time is set aside for inspectors to meet with staff, even if the feedback varied. I felt like someone came to my lesson, made copious notes, and I have no idea what they say... good, bad or ugly! I presume I can write to the Diocese and make a request under the Data Protection Act like I did with OFSTED, but I think that wouldn't be great for me or my school politically.

Many staff, as they congratulated us, said there is no way their department would have survived such intense scrutiny and come out well. I'm not sure if Department OFSTED inspections still happen, it's hard to keep up, but they can be the only thing that comes close. Additionally so many of the outcomes are whole school, yet so much falls on the shoulders of the RE Department. 

My thanks do go to the inspectors for recognising our hard work; we are an outstanding department in every respect. We constantly challenge ourselves, keep moving forward and work incredibly hard. It is great that has been formally awarded the Outstanding badge, but I still feel a little short changed.

NB I may add to this later... plus report has been published but is not online anywhere yet. I will link as soon as I can! 

Section 48 Inspection - Part 2: The Day

• Part 1: Pre-Inspection
• Part 3: Outcome, Feedback & Reflections

The Night Before

We took all our department documents down to the headteacher's office. This was over 10 folders including all schemes of work, department handbook, open evening folder, intervention folder, support and monitoring file... literally everything.

Additionally there were about 10 books from each Key Stage 3 year group, 10 Key Stage 4 folders and 10 Key Stage 5 folders. They had asked for 'top-middle-bottom' and, as much as was logistically possible, we provided this.

The headteacher had kindly given over her office to the inspection team for the day so they had a spacious and central location in which to base themselves. We got it all set up and left for an early night... (well I went to #TMLondonBus!)

The Morning

As per usual, I was in just before 7am. I double checked my last few books and took them down to the headteachers office... as I was returning to my desk I noticed that at the front door was the lead inspector and his 'shadow' (who was undertaking training). It was just before 7.10am and they were here and I was on my own!

I welcomed them and showed them to their base, made them coffee and offered them toast. They were happy enough and they sat down to discuss the final timetable and start going through the documentation. At this point it became clear that the other inspector would be observing further lessons and I had expected two observations but now had three...

Before school various short meetings happened with the RE Subject Leader and Headteacher followed by the chaplain and link governor. The lead was thorough in getting his understanding of RE and the ethos of the school before going near the RE classroom.

All three of the RE staff had PPA during period one, so there was a little breathing/panic time!

My Lessons

Being observed three times in a day creates an unimaginable stress. With OFSTED there is that adrenalin pumping wondering if they will arrive or not... with S48, you know in advance; it's an unavoidable inevitability. Having experienced both, I'd prefer OFSTEDs surprise method, especially as statistically you are still more unlikely to be seen than seen!

First up was my lovely, lovely Year 7 class. They got seen by OFSTED and of any class I teach, they just sparkle and buzz in all the right ways! In my nine years of teaching, they are one of the classes that stick out in my mind as being a joy to teach and I always look forward to their lesson. They were properly prepared, even trying out the room where we going to have the lesson (we had several room changes as I teach in 17 different rooms all over the school).

The lesson was based on the early Church, post-Pentecost, looking at the actions of the disciples, the healing of the lame man by Peter and some of the repercussions for early Christians. The lead inspector arrived for the second half of the lesson (25mins) and spent his whole time looking at books (he must have looked around 20 out of the 30) and spoke to a large number of students about the lesson, about RE, about their prior learning, about their enjoyment of the subject and so on. The students were brilliant, as they always are in our lessons. I really wanted to make it clear that this was so typical... their behaviour, focus, enthusasm was just the same as normal. Plus my lesson was actually exactly the same as I taught it last year. The only difference is that I had a pack of data for the inspector that he took away to scrutinise. Also Section 48 still demands a lesson plan and copy of resources.

The lesson with my Year 10 Set 2 was a new lesson I devised purely as the media questions on the EdExcel spec needed further time spent on them. It was an odd set up whereby I had been given additional TA support, plus inspector, plus shadow inspector, plus 30 students. This made it a little cosy! The two inspectors were there for the full 50 mins and literally left "no stone unturned" in regards to folders, marking and student opinion. We had some great discussion, good reflection on the role of the media and it's portrayal of families, particularly religious ones. Everyone made great progress and I was happy. As predicted, again, the girls were brilliant: focused, charming and involved.

Period 4 was CP (Citizenship & PHSE) and it was my House Feast Day, so we had Mass. One of the inspectors concelebrated which was a nice touch. The other visited Y9 and Y8 lessons, arranged only at break time, delivered by non-RE staff. This was the warning that been given to all staff the day before; "it could be you" for CP.

The inspectors spent lunch in the dining hall with students and then meeting the school council and, other groups of students. The rest of the Department breathed a slight sigh of relief as their two observations were over. I had my third and final one to go with Y13...

Given the inspectors both being priests, I decided to add some explicit Catholic links to my lesson on Donovan's article from the Implications unit. We had just finished the section on intuition and knowledge and we looked at the example of Bernadette at Lourdes. Considering it was something new, it worked very well and I'll definitely be using again. The girls really showed themselves in the best possible way, giving articulate, high level responses to every question I asked. The inspector was in there for 35mins from the start, a little longer than he planned... He apologised as he said he was so engrossed in the lesson that he forgot to leave. Always a good sign.

Y11 Set 1, period 6; the inspectors had said they weren't coming in to this lesson, however things had already changed a few times during the day. I finally let my guard down at 3.15pm, 15mins of the day to go. The only lesson of the day that didn't get observed! (It was a good one on the 10 Commandments, prepared regardless, just in case.

Part 3: Feedback, Reflections & Outcome on its way...

Section 48 Inspection - Part 1: Pre-Inspection

• Part 2: The Day
• Part 3: Outcomes, Feedback and Reflections

For an RE teacher in a Catholic school, OFSTED is naturally stressful (see my blogs on the visit <here> and the feedback <here>), but in reality when everyone else breaths a sigh of relief, the RE department go into overdrive.

If you have never heard of a Section 48 Inspection, there is information from the DfE, complied by @ClerkToGovernor <here>:

"If a school has a religious character, as determined by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, denominational religious education and the content of collective worship are inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005. The inspectors who conduct section 48 inspections are appointed by the school’s governing body in consultation with the appropriate religious authority, and are normally drawn from the relevant faith group’s section 48 inspectorate (for instance, the Catholic Education Service in the case of Roman Catholic schools...)"

Our inspection was carried out by BRES, but due the national shortage of trained Section 48 inspectors, our lead came from outside the Diocese.

Time Frame

The time-frame varies hugely and other schools in our local area had their visit 4 to 5 weeks after OFSTED with approximately 3 weeks notice. Our OFSTED was in early November and so by this rational, we would be inspected the week before Christmas. We were in two minds, we wanted to get it over and done with, but equally didn't want to review our usual Christmas schedule of lessons. The call never came.

Nor did it in January and I was getting personally quite conscious, given I was due to get married on the 15th February. Finally the call came on Tuesday 11th February, ready for 'the visit' on Thursday 13th March.

Now, with OFSTED you get the call at lunchtime and you are physically limited by what you can 'pull out of the bag'. With Section 48, you know exactly who you will have with a great deal of notice. This is not as great as you think:

• You can't plan the lesson until nearer the time. This sits at the back of your mind... shall I do this? Shall I do that? Will they be ready for this?
• When you do decide, you plan, replan, over plan, panic about the plan... (and Section 48 in our Diocese still want to see the actual plan!)
• Your marking becomes solely focused on the classes they will be seeing that day. Other classes get pushed to the back. This isn't right and I am now in the process of giving them my undivided attention!
• And this is just the lessons.... I am second in department and no chance to shirk responsibility!

Pre-Visit

The SEF was sent off the day after the phone call. Every electronic document that existed for the Department was requested including SRE policy, PHSE curriculum, pastoral care policy etc. It also included every scheme of work: Key Stage 3 to 5. These were all emailed to the lead inspector, as requested, on Monday 3rd March (my 30th birthday lunch was postponed due to amount of documents that had to be collated and emailed off!). This gave the lead a week to digest them before his pre-inspection visit on Monday 10th March.

At this meeting the lead inspector thanked us for all the documentation before meeting with the Headteacher and then later the Head of Department. We hoped to finalise an inspection timetable, i.e. who would be seen and when. However it later transpired the timetable we made was only for his visits and not those for the other inspector...

In-Between

Most staff still see Section 48 as just for the RE department. Yes, largely it is, but it is still a whole school inspection. Our Citizenship and PHSE curriculum was definitely on the agenda; all staff contribute to that. Plus inspectors always scrutinise form rooms in which RE is taught... not necessarily the form rooms of RE staff. Also they attend any assemblies or collective worship. Finally they look for evidence all around the place for your ethos and all the extra curricular things going on.

Needless to say, the rest of the week was spent chasing around various staff making sure all the fine touches were in place. Again you are limited when OFSTED call, with Section 48, there can be no excuses!

Part 2: The Day coming soon...

OFSTED Feedback

Just before Christmas, I had a bit of a rant on here. It's probably worth reading that post first, or this will seem a little abrupt and even a little odd... <A Visit from OFSTED>

And so after emailing a few weeks before Christmas, my feedback finally arrived. The one I was most interested in was where I only got 'Good':

Hi-Res image found <here>

From what I read of this:

1) She didn't like the fact I told them what the Messiah was - a key bit of completly new knowledge that they needed to do the activities for the rest of the lesson

2) She didn't think it was 'challenge' enough to get the G&T students to go around explaining the complex ideas of the fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies to other students. 

My first observation I was told "everything about the lesson was Outstanding":

Hi-Res image found <here>

This is rather brief, and doesn't really suggest my teaching was Outstanding... ah well! 

If anyone can explain a little more about what exactly is 'going on' in these, I'd be very grateful.

The system for getting observation notes does at least work, plus they are posted by Special Delivery. Every teacher who is observed should request them, would be interesting to see what happens to OFSTED then...

A Visit From OFSTED

This is a personal experience of a recent OFSTED visit; these are my personal reflections on what I experienced. They are not the schools' view, I'm simply 2nd in the RE department, not SLT or anyone who had more than 'front line teacher' experience of the inspection.

The call came on Wednesday afternoon and an 'emergency' staff meeting was called. Usual stuff, OFSTED will be in at 8.30am tomorrow, assembly to inform students at 3.20pm. I'll be honest, I think this timescale is probably the best. Enough to print off data sheets, polish the lesson and wear your best tie. I can't understand staff who need to not sleep in such situations... it begs the question, what were you originally planning to do that was SO bad? Any longer and they won't see the school 'at normal'. Turning up unannounced, 'dawn raid' style risks a lot of time wasting as SLT try to find documents and data, classes doing tests, controlled assessments et cetera.

I teach in a Catholic school, and so the Section 5 triggers a Diocese-lead Section 48. As such, everyone kept saying, "I don't know what you are worrying about, they won't see you.". There is a legendary story from  many years ago of an RE teacher not allowing an inspector in to her room on the grounds that she was teaching RE. I kept trying to reassure them that of course they could, and that I had exactly the same mentality as them - to be Outstanding in everything I was doing.

I did have one major problem. In the RE Department, we dedicate one lesson with each class to making a shoebox for Samaritan's Purse (see more <here>). It is our 'faith in action'; what's the point in being a Catholic school unless we 'walk the walk' too? The very last class in the school to do this were on the Thursday afternoon, in my lesson. The boxes were being collected on the Friday morning... I had a few choices with this Y9 class, who can be a challenge at times with low-level disruption, chat and focus:

• Abandon the shoe box lesson, tell the students we had no choice as OFSTED were in, risk my relationship with them (as the inspectors would no doubt not visit and the students would not fully understand why it was cancelled) plus allow Samaritan's Purse, and ultimately children in developing countries, miss out on a further 32 boxes.
• Do the shoebox lesson, risk the wrath of SLT, plus be ready to get a '4' from an inspector.

I spoke to my line manager and said I still wanted to do it; it was a decision of conscience, and she supported me. We agreed that we can't say our school is Outstanding partly due to our charity work and spirit of community, and then drop such an important part of our charitable giving for Wilshaw's buddies coming in. Having also visited Ethiopia a few years back, I know the real difference things like the Shoebox Appeal make to each individual child. Yes we had 500 boxes, but to discard a further 30 seemed wrong, that would be 30 children missing out.

In the assembly to students, I told my Y9s that the shoebox lesson would still go ahead. I got a few raised eyebrows from staff, and was told that I was either brave or foolish. I told the head, who was naturally a little worried, that I was happy for it to be totally on my head and that I would form a lesson on discipleship around it.

By the next day it had got on the list of things going on around school that were 'off timetable' alongside a Prize Giving rehearsal for a large number of students involving the SLT over two lessons. This gave me a little breathing space, and I appreciated that the head had allowed me to go ahead; I know there would be lots who would have not done so. Our head also decided to go ahead with Friday's non-uniform for CAFOD's Philippines emergency appeal, with staff actively encroached to join in.

There was the usual OFSTED 'buzz' around school... "Have you been seen?", "What did you get?", "How did it go?". Staff rallied around the chocolates provided by SLT in the staffroom and people were genuinely supportive and encouraging to one another.

I got my first visit during CP (Citizenship and PHSE). I have a Year 13 form who have spent every previous CP lesson this year completing UCAS forms and writing personal statements. We were doing a lesson on the changing jobs market and started with the Shift Happens video before starting some really good discussion. A number of the students were in the Prize Giving rehearsal so we had an optimum number of students for our small room and for some quality discussion.

I did get a little shock as the inspector was one of my former teachers, but she didn't recognise me! It did take me aback somewhat, but we had some good discussion and I pinged questions around the room using the PPPB technique. The inspector laughed at my jokes and the girls were amazing. The feedback I got was as positive as could be possible, highlighting my relationship with the students and the skilled questioning I demonstrated. It was also great to catch up with my old teacher who said she recognised me but couldn't place me!

I was told an inspector would be visiting my Shoebox lesson and so unlike the usual chaos that ensues with glue, wrapping paper, scissors flying about, it was done with military precision. I kept telling them that no-one could ever be stood still doing nothing! Despite being told by 3 different people I would definitely get a visit, I didn't.

There was lots of rumours running around the staff room about the possibilities that could let us down... and late that evening we got an email from the head saying they would be visiting lessons on Friday morning looking specifically for Outstanding. Interestingly, they didn't go to see teachers that the school rated as Outstanding - instead for looking for Good teachers who could produce Outstanding lessons for their observation.

As I had my Friday morning assembly with my form, I saw the Deputy Head outside. I feared another visit, so 'upped' my assembly and kept it going longer... it turned out he was waiting to tell me I was getting a visit Period 2!

I'm not still not sure I liked this, I'd much rather have an unannounced visit, rather than know and spend my PPA in Period 1 fretting, especially as I knew what they were looking for... I can't remember a time when I felt so much pressure. In the meantime, I was asked for a Literacy Policy for the Department which got produced in 10 minutes flat.

The Year 7s who I was teaching would be delightful, that much I was confident of. The lesson went well; I pointed things out, involved the inspector in the lesson and carried on largely as normal. Disappointingly, I was only awarded Good. I could just about accept this, 32 mixed ability Y7s who like to ask questions and wait for my help despite my insistence of 3B4MR. However I then got the feedback and was told it was nearly Requires Improvement, this I was shocked about. As she explained why, I got increasingly annoyed:

• I had not let Y7 work out in pairs what "a Messiah" was. I gave them a definition instead (a translation from Hebrew, and its equivalent in Greek, as well as a very brief explanation of what anointed meant). I pointed out that this was their first lesson on the concept of the Messiah and I considered this a theological term that was necessary to define; I added that as Catholics we believe in Jesus as 'The Messiah' rather than a vague notion of 'a Messiah'.
• I used my G&T students as 'experts' who when they had finished one of the tasks, and I had marked it, went around helping, explaining, reinforcing and correcting other students. Apparently this is a poor use of their time and they needed to be doing something else to maintain progress. This is was what nearly took it down from grading 2 to 3. The most annoying thing about this was two other inspectors had cited this very technique as being the reason lessons they had watched moved from Good to Outstanding; massive inconsistency even within one inspection team. I do this very successfully on a regular basis, and will continue to do so; everyone is desperate to be an 'expert' - if this isn't a good thing, I don't know what is?
• Thirdly, the task of matching Isaiah's prophecy of the Messiah to Mathew's perceived fulfilment was not challenging enough. This is something I have had GCSE students struggle with and we only used to do with Y9 previously. Our new syllabus puts it in Y7 and in one lesson all students went from not even knowing what 'THE Messiah' was to writing a letter explaining why some people believed Jesus was the Messiah and were called Christians and explaining why some people didn't believe that he was the Messiah and were called Jews - I see this as rapid progress with difficult concepts. Could you match: “He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4) to "Many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick." (Matthew 8:17)? This was one of the easier ones...

I walked away completely disillusioned and despondent that actually I didn't have a chance to help my school achieve an overall Outstanding. I also would question whether the criticism was of the activies or of the lesson content? The latter is something for Section 48 inspectors to judge and highlighted non-specialists problems with judging lessons. I actually taught a very similar lesson to Y9 on a previous Section 48 inspection (co-incidence rather than me simply delivering 'my OFSTED lesson') which was graded as Outstanding and was considered 'very challenging' by the former Head of RE inspector.

During Period 3, the van arrived to collect the shoeboxes and a team of 6th Formers spent best part of an hour in a human chain loading the van. The sight of over 500 presents in our entrance hall must have impressed the inspectors!

Overall it seemed there was a lot of inconsistency with teachers' feedback. I see this as a major failing of OFSTED. My colleagues and I want to be Outstanding, and want to know if our lesson aren't, how we could have made it so. As per usual, there was a real lack of this guidance available. Even teachers graded Outstanding wanted to know what it was that they did, so could build upon this for the future. In my model of OFSTED, inspectors would allow staff to watch them teach (probably on video), to show their credentials. Feedback and guidance would also be absolutely central.

Somehow we then pulled off Prize Giving (not our slickest) before heading down to the pub en mass. A text message confirmed the good news that we had retained Outstanding for the 3rd time... despite my personal experience, we can have little complaint. I wrote an email to my head to explain my 'Good' to get it off my chest, I guess I am doing the same here.

Roll on January and the Section 48 Inspection!

See us in the news <here>

As an aside, I have requested my lesson observation notes. I used the advice <here> to do so... maybe I'll share when they arrive!

Teachers Want (Useful) Feedback Too!

One of the things I do when I am struggling to sleep, is find a TED talk. If you've not heard of TED, you should have done! It stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and has become a global network of talks under the slogan "ideas worth spreding". It actually began as a one off conference in 1984 (the same year I also began), but has grown hugely with the popularity of YouTube. It's worth Googling things such as 'TED education', or there are iPhone apps etc. I digress as this isn't the main point of my blog post.

I came across the above video by Bill Gates and it highlights one of the key problems I have had on numerous occasions during my teaching career. This is the blurb about the video:

"Until recently, many teachers only got one word of feedback a year: “satisfactory.” And with no feedback, no coaching, there’s just no way to improve. Bill Gates suggests that even great teachers can get better with smart feedback -- and lays out a program from his foundation to bring it to every classroom."

I am always willing for people to come to my lessons. Whatever is going on, there is an open door policy and I welcome any member of staff to 'come along for the ride'. However I have never worked in a place where this has been successfully and constructively done.

Even as far back as my PGCE and NQT, I got odd bits and pieces of advice but I want to improve, always. As such speed up the niceties and get on with giving me advice on how to be better. I have also been told by one Section 48 inspector my lesson was 'perfect and nothing could be done to make it better'. Bulls**t.

I'd like to think I am a Good teacher. Some of my lessons are Outstanding, but equally some would be labelled as Requiring Improvement. If we're honest, that's most of us.

I want observations which I can be critically evaluated and given specific advice about how to get better. This is one of my biggest problems with OFSTED, come to my lessons... come every term if you want! But only come if you are willing to tell me how I could have made my lesson better. Give me advice, help me develop.

This is what I am looking to my colleagues to do, particularly my SLT. Please don't just sit there and tell me my lesson was great, tell me how it could be better. Give me new ideas, inspire, get me to try something new!

A new idea from our ACE group is to have an Open Door week. Staff will be encouraged to go into each others lessons to learn from one another; we need a culture shift in my school as there is a fear about having visitors. We are starting by getting people to give some informal positive feedback to the individual and then write something positive on the whiteboard in the staff room about what they've seen (and take a chocolate as their reward!).

We spend so long talking about feedback for students, but teachers need feedback too; Bill Gates is absolutely spot on. Hattie makes it very clear feedback works very well for our students, how about for our teachers too?