Ofsted boss says teachers try to fool inspectors

Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said teachers should not “put on a show” during inspections.

In a speech to the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference in London, Sir Michael said such lessons confuse youngsters and irritate inspectors.

“So what do inspectors want to see?” he said. “Well, let me start by saying what they don’t want to see. They certainly do not want to see teachers putting on a show for the sake of inspectors and teaching in a way they normally don’t.

“Inspectors don’t want to see frenetic activity designed to impress but without purpose, meaning and relevance.

“This is confusing for youngsters who quickly grasp that this isn’t the sort of teaching they normally experience.

“It is also deeply irritating for inspectors who really don’t appreciate the proverbial ‘wool’ being pulled over their eyes.”

Inspectors want to see teaching which is “part of the normal pattern of school life” and gives youngsters the chance to progress.

“Let me repeat again, inspectors do not visit lessons with a preconceived view of teaching style. There is no such thing as an Ofsted preferred style of teaching.

“Inspectors want to see youngsters focused and engaged and, in the best lessons, inspired by the quality of teaching.”

But Sir Michael warned that pupils should not be wasting time on “colouring in a map, endless copying of instructions from the board, or tedious word-searches and other such activities”.

“Good teaching and positive engagement is about high-level challenge to learners of all abilities, including our most able youngsters,” he said.

It has previously been claimed that schools have attempted to trick Ofsted by using underhand tactics during inspections.

Last year, allegations were made in an online forum that in some cases disruptive pupils had been paid to truant, weak teachers had been told to stay home sick, and experienced teachers from other schools had been parachuted in.

And in 2011, Education Secretary Michael Gove suggested that some schools were hiding pupils’ naughty behaviour from inspectors.

He said he had been told by teachers that “weak teachers are invited to stay at home, we make sure disruptive pupils don’t come in, and the best teachers are on corridor duty. We put on our best face for inspections”.

Under new rules, schools are now only informed of an inspection the afternoon before it is due to take place.

Sir Michael had originally set out plans for no-notice inspections.

At that time he said the inspectorate wanted to “make sure that the public views the process as something that’s rigorous and robust and there’s no question that schools are not going to follow the rules”.

The “great majority of schools conduct themselves properly”, he said, but he added that if there is any sense that a school is not, then Ofsted needs to deal with it.

New figures last week showed Ofsted inspectors have rated more schools as failing in Yorkshire and the North East than any other region in the country.

Barnsley, Hull and Calderdale had the highest proportion of schools in Yorkshire rated as inadequate between October and December.