Should Ofsted inspections be done undercover?

Every time Ofsted visited my school, lesson objectives magically appeared on the whiteboards.

Whenever my teachers are being assessed internally or externally, they pop up. Every teacher does it, so every teacher knows that it happens, so why bother?

Secretaries would tell the head teacher who will tell staff, even if they're asked not to. Even when Ofsted turn up unexpected, someone from the office usually runs around all the classrooms and alerts the teachers.

Totally unfeasible. I think they should just give less warning.

I think Ofsted inspections should be done undercover. The reason for this is because when a school or college has an Ofsted inspection due, they make sure that everyone will be on their best behaviour to make them look like a better institution than they actually are. They'll be most likely to ask people to big the place, the support and the teachers up so that Ofsted have a very high opinion of it. I believe this is fundamentally flawed because the results of the inspections are not likely to be accurate.

I think Ofsted should carry out inspections undercover because they can observe the school in its everyday life, and provide an image of what the school is actually like, rather than an idealistic image of the school being created for when they arrive. I think that if the inspectors do this, then they can judge for themselves whether or not the school is performing up to standards. For example, they could go into the classes and observe them, pretending to be future teachers.

I think if Ofsted adapted this system, their inspections would produce considerably more accurate results and reports.

What do you think?

I was going to ask how they'd do it undercover. Surely a teacher will be suspicious of a middle aged man or women, crashing a lesson, and sitting quietly in the corner.

You can't just contact a school and say, "I'm going to be a teacher, I want to observe your lessons and spend time alone with your pupils (which is necessary as they often need to find out the pupils' own attitudes and views. There's peadophiles around you know

Even if you could I would expect that teachers will "click" and assume that every strange visitor or observer is an OFSSTED inspector. Especially if it has been a few years since their last inspection.

Perhaps they should be carried out with limited warning but not undercover. It's just not feasibe.

Apparently Ofsted give a 1 and half days notice IIRC.

That's still too long - they should just turn up on the door on the day of the inspection. Then they can see the school as it is.

Really? When they came to my college a few months ago we had at least a week of preparation (teachers changing displays etc )

Really? When they came to my college a few months ago we had at least a week of preparation (teachers changing displays etc )

Good idea, but it would be hard to put into practice... how could an adult just walk into a school and sit in a lesson without proper authorisation?

Maybe the schools should be given less warning... that wsy the teacher would be more likely to have to follow their lesson plan as normal.

Even so, people were busy literally redecorating the school the day before they were coming.