Thursday, November 15, 2007
Joint Area ReviewsIt’s incredible how Ofsted have spread their grisly tentacles into so many organisations. Their very presence pollutes, corrupts and creates a climate of fear.
From inspecting schools they have branched out into teacher training colleges, Local Education Authorities, further education colleges and childminders (numbers there have fallen from 90,000 to 60,000).
In local authorities, social services and education departments have been combined to form ‘Children’s Services’. They too come under Ofsted’s probing claws.
The inspections are known as Joint Area Reviews (JAR), when it comes to schools the inspectors trawl through the SATs and GCSE results. They then produce a list of ‘lowest performers’; I’m reliably informed that their first question to the local authority ‘suits’ is, ‘Why haven’t you sacked the head teacher?’
And they wonder why so few people want the job?
Labels: Ofsted
