Fortunately, such an inability to explore interesting and sensible questions would not be found in a real inspection. Would it??
Read MoreWow! By Terry Freedman
The horror, the horror! N-Noooo!!!, by Terry Freedman
The inspector cometh
Being told that the inspectors are coming is pretty scary, but I would say that some people respond in ways that are counterproductive, including to their own health. These are the things I’ve either come across first-hand or experienced when I was an Ofsted inspector myself, or when I was being inspected.
Read MoreTo put it Bluntly: Ofsted jargon revisited
Derek Blunt takes issue with inspectors' jargon. Should you ever find yourself looking for examples of what Kenneth Hudson referred to as “diseased English”, I think you could do worse than looking at Ofsted guidance or listening to Ofsted pronouncements. Ofsted is the name of the schools inspectorate in England,
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The scream by Terry Freedman
Judge not -- again
In my experience, an expectation of compliance was baked in to the system, and that really does mitigate against innovation.
Read MoreWow! By Terry Freedman
Inspection of a Computing department in the form of a really bad TV documentary
You know those awful television documentaries in which the presenters (it’s usually a double act) continually display their inability to ask interesting questions and probe beneath the surface? I thought it might be fun to imagine an inspection of a Computing department conducted as one of those documentaries.
Read MoreInspecting Computing in schools: 6 research questions
The schools inspectorate in England (Ofsted) aspires to become a research hub. How might or should this affect Computing?
Read More11 attributes of the ideal ICT and Computing inspector
If ICT or Computing is inspected in your school, what attributes would you like the inspector to have?
Read MoreTo put it Bluntly: Ofsted jargon
Derek Blunt takes issue with inspectors' jargon.
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David Brown gets to the heart of the matter
Ofsted's views of the Computing curriculum
David Brown, Ofsted's National Lead for Computing, answers some common questions.
For those not in Britain, Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, aka the inspectorate.
New ideas for a new Computing curriculum
I had the pleasure of attending one of the RM Technical seminars recently, and it was well worth the time. The event was divided into several strands. I chose the Curriculum and E-safety option rather than one of the more technical ones.
As well as a very entertaining keynote lecture by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, there were three sessions:
Evaluating a school’s computing and ICT
The guidance provided by Ofsted on what constitutes a grade of “Outstanding” in subjects is currently under review. This is a good time for them to consider a minimalist approach: what two or three factors should be instrumental in coming to a judgement? In my opinion, the more tick-boxes you have, the less useful the whole exercise becomes. I wonder: are there a few key things which determine whether a school’s offering in Computing and ICT is good or not, and which, if tweaked, could transform a low grade into a higher one?
I’m always interested in such things, and that interest was reignited today when I read an article I’d written in 2005. Apart from the documentation referred to, I believe it is still accurate, and pertinent – and could be applied to the inspection of individual subject areas like Computing and ICT as to a whole school or Local Authority.
Anyway, see what you think.