Preparing for Ofsted

I’ve seen a few posts on LinkedIn recently where school leaders are sharing their experiences of the new Ofsted framework. For those not in education, yes it has changed again. I won’t go through all the changes in this blog post though because, quite frankly, I don’t care.

I do agree that accountability is important, but I also believe that inspections should be about support and guidance, not just judgements.

After the tragic incident of Ruth Perry’s suicide following an Ofsted inspection, the education industry cried out for change. A few small tweaks were made in the short term while Ofsted worked on a bigger fix; a new new new framework (I think we are on framework four or five since I started teaching, but truth be told I’ve never been that interested in keeping up with them).

Under the new framework, schools no longer receive a single grade judgement of the school based on different aspects, they now have each or those aspects judged separately. Yep, we have gone from having one grade that causes undue stress and trauma, to six independently graded areas.

Under the old framework, the grade was quantised in four states: outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate. There was no possibility to judge a school as being good enough to not require improvement, but not good enough to declare them good. Under the new framework, as well as receiving six separate judgements, the judgements are quantised in five states, with expected standard in the middle. What does that mean? Surely different schools are in different contexts; is the expectation contextual too? That’s rhetorical; I don’t care.

So a new framework, new grading system, new nuances and subtleties of applying the framework. In my old school (2011-2013) the Headmaster also held the role of Ofsted inspector. In my current school (2013-present) my Headmaster is an Ofsted inspector too. We had our last inspection a few years ago, so our staff briefings have once again started including instruction of what to prepare for Ofsted.

Those LinkedIn post I mentioned at the start are advising teachers what to do for Ofsted.

I will undoubtedly have to prepare another folder of evidence for Ofsted.

Having an Ofsted inspector as a Headmaster means we have a bit of inside information about what Ofsted are looking for.

If schools and teachers are having to prepare folders of evidence to make sure it is witnessed by Ofsted, if pupils are having to be briefed on what to say to make sure Ofsted knows what goes on, if Headteachers are taking on additional roles at Ofsted to get the edge in what Ofsted want to see*, then Ofsted is not fit for purpose. I do not blame schools for having to do these Ofsted preparations, I blame Ofsted.

(*in some cases I believe Headteachers are actually taking on the Ofsted role because they want to see education improve for all young people, not just those in their school. This is a noble motivation and I’m not in a position to judge the intentions of others! I personally believe my current Headmaster falls into this category; he is immensely passionate about supporting the development of young people and in particular he cares deeply about social mobility and young people getting the best start in life. I have nothing but praise for my Headmaster, and he is part of the reason I have no intention of changing schools again in my career, but that doesn’t fit the narrative of my rant about Ofsted. Anyway. I digress…)

Where was I? Ah yes, I do not blame the schools, I blame Ofsted!

Maybe this is an example of the observer effect: the act of making an observation affects what is being observed. Here’s a Physics example: if using a mercury thermometer to determine the temperature of a system, some energy has to be transferred to or from the mercury, which changes the temperature of the system being measured. Maybe Ofsted inspections are like this.

I agree inspections should take place. If a change to how a school is operating could cause an improvement to the education, well-being, and prospects of a young person, then it is morally obligatory to conduct those observations! Inspections should be about support and guidance, they should be about ensuring schools improve. Regardless of the quality of the school before the inspection, I would want the school to operate in a way that benefits the young people more after the inspection. I do not believe this is the case. After a good Ofsted inspection, everyone breathes a sigh of relief. After a bad Ofsted inspection, one can expect staff turnover to increase.

What is a good Ofsted inspection? One where a school is judged to be doing well. What is a bad Ofsted inspection? One where a school is judged to be doing poorly. Good and bad inspections ought to be about whether the pupils benefit from the inspection having taken place. A good inspection ought to be one where pupils’ experiences at school improve following the implementation of the advice and guidance. By that thinking, a bad inspection ought to be one where the experience of the pupils is unchanged. I suspect schools that were judged as outstanding under the old framework would fall under the bad inspection category by this thinking. The schools did well, ergo nothing needs to change.

The fact that LinkedIn is already abuzz with advice on how to prepare evidence and making sure inspectors see the evidence just highlights how ineffective Ofsted inspections are. Surely they should be able to see the evidence for themselves without having to have it presented to them? Otherwise, the schools that are better at playing the game will be awarded higher grades, and vice versa. As I said, instructions for playing the game under the new framework have already begun to trickle in.

Schools have no choice but to play this game, if they can. Those schools who play the game well get graded higher, attract better teachers, and attract young people from parents who pay attention to Ofsted reports when deciding schools (and even deciding where to live!) House prices near schools who can play the game go up, so only parents who are professionals can afford to live there, so schools become more populated with pupils from a single background, a homogeneous context. Social mobility is impaired.

Ofsted impairs social mobility! (In my view.)

I love my school. Our catchment area is vast and we have a hugely diverse school community. We are richer for it! Yes, we have an entrance exam (the 11+) but we are a state school, state funded not private, and any young person who attains a high enough score on the 11+ is able to attend. Unfortunately, the system is not perfect because wealthy parents can afford to get tutors to help their children pass the 11+, but at least there is a chance for children from poorer backgrounds. There is support for 11+ preparation on free sites like Seneca, and the CSSE (the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex) do make past 11+ papers available for young people to use for 11+ preparation. My daughter took the 11+ at the start of Year 6 and did not get a high enough score to get into a selective school. My school was rated outstanding in our last Ofsted inspection, the school my daughter attends was rated good; however, I have seen things that her school does better than mine and I have adapted my own teaching and adopted ideas from her school where I see they could benefit the young people I teach.

That’s the sort of work Ofsted should be doing. Ofsted should be finding ways to link schools together so that we can learn from each other; then everyone benefits! There are things my school does better than my daughter’s, to be sure, but my school can also learn from them. Ofsted should be about facilitating connections and communication between schools, not making judgements. The problem is, the education system has become so jaded by Ofsted, so disillusioned, so scarred, that any attempt at fixing it or rebranding it will be met with cynicism.

New Ofsted frameworks are met with tuts and eye rolls and countdowns to retirement. “Only 25 years left of this nonsense before I can retire.” We all see through it, but we all collectively buy into it when an inspection goes well.

Before and during the inspection: “Ofsted is a load of old nonsense isn’t it?”

After the inspection goes well: “Look at us, we are outstanding/good.”

And that’s the problem. Ofsted has a hold over us teachers, making us jump through hoops to prove we are doing what we would do even if they weren’t watching. All the time spent gathering evidence and preparing its presentation is time that could have been spent supporting young people with their education and development, but we have no choice; to rebel is career suicide.

An idealist might suggest that the process of gathering evidence invites self-reflection of our school systems and practices, which has the potential to bring about positive change, but I’m not convinced. My teaching practice has evolved more through my work with Isaac Science and my peers than it ever did through preparing for Ofsted inspections. Interacting and exchanging good practice ideas with colleagues at my school and in other schools has caused more improvement in my teaching than preparing answers to questions Ofsted commonly asks.

My view is that Ofsted’s focus is on accountability for the parents, not improving the experience of young people in the school. It’s figuratively a stick to beat schools with, not a helping hand from peers. Ofsted is an event to be tolerated, not a continual programme of professional development.

Maybe the new new new framework will change all that, but I’ve also become disillusioned by the process and cynical about Ofsted’s capacity to change for the better. Yup, I’ve become one of those teachers.

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Social mobility policies

I grew up in a household with three siblings. I was fortunate in that my parents were able to pay £5 per week from around 1991 to around 2000 to pay for my piano lessons. That’s equivalent to around £15 per week in today’s money (2026). They also paid for my youngest sister’s dance lessons. When my father got a bonus at work one year, they bought me a piano (£1600 at the time, but I cannot remember exactly what year it was bought. Maybe 1996? Probably about £4000 in today’s money!)

I had the good luck to be born into a family with a father who was a design engineer and a mother who was a midwife, although they both attained their degrees in adulthood after having had four children. My parents owned their house, and we went on holiday each year. Three times during my childhood we even went abroad! Despite being in a seemingly affluent home, money always seemed to be tight. Do not misunderstand me, I had a comfortable childhood and my parents did the best they could. They also paid for me and all of my siblings to be in the Scouts. My parents did not pay for 11+ tuition for me (I did not sit the 11+ in the end, but that’s a different story), and I would never have dreamed of asking them to pay for physics or any other subject tuition.

When I was at university, my parents agreed to pay the tuition fees (at the time £1200 per year or thereabouts) in installments of £100 per month – except the university required the fees termly up front so I was perpetually in debt and had to work up to 30 hours per week whilst doing my degree to pay for food and other stuff. My student loan covered accommodation, but that was about it.

Knowing how tight money felt when I was younger and in a household with enough expendable money to pay for piano lessons and a piano and holidays etc, I can sympathise with parents who want to do the best they can for their children but cannot afford the luxury of tuition. The cheapest GCSE Physics tutors with my level of experience are charging around £40 per hour in my area (Essex), and they’re charging around £50 per hour or more for A-Level Physics tuition. They’re the cheapest – some are charging a lot more! Comparing that to the equivalent of £15 per half-hour piano lesson my parents were paying, and it must be that only the richest-of-the-rich can afford it! Physics tuition in 2026 is around twice as expensive on average than the equivalent of what my parents paid for my piano lessons, and my parents were both professionals with degrees who owned their own home and went on holiday each year, but would not have been able to afford that.

And that’s not fair. It should not be that only those lucky enough to be born into the richest-of-the-rich families can afford to get support with their physics education. That would lead to a societal split, with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. That would lead to a lack of socioeconomic diversity on university physics courses. Physics would be the pursuit of the fiscally elite.

So I’m on a mission! I want to provide high quality physics tuition to everyone, regardless of their financial situation. I charge a small amount (currently £7.50 per month or £52 per year) for the regular term time weekly tuition sessions, which works out to be around £3.00 per hour when paid monthly, or £1.73 per hour when paid yearly. That’s cheaper than students with zero experience are charging for tuition! In my sessions, all students get real time feedback and support as they work through problems. The sessions are planned to provide good coverage of all the major exam boards’ syllabuses.

I understand that £52 is a lot for many people to pay outright, and £7.50 per month is more expendable cash than many people have, so I also have a policy of providing my service to everyone regardless of how much they pay. If you can only afford £3 per month, that’s fine. £1 per month? No worries. No judgement. No paperwork to prove it. I am operating on the basis of trust and honesty. If you cannot afford the help, I will help you anyway. We are all humans and subject to the same stresses and trials. In an ideal society, everyone has the same opportunities. There is so much more that unites us than divides us. Let’s not set up money as another mechanism for division!

If you cannot afford the fees for any of my services, just contact me and let me know. I want to help you. It’s not a scam, there’s no catch. Everyone is guided by their own moral compass and everyone has something they can offer to benefit society. I’m offering my knowledge and expertise and experience in physics teaching. This is my gift to the world. Pay if you can (it helps me to keep the website running and pay for the subscription to WordPress and Whiteboard.fi and to keep the lights on and the internet running etc), but if you cannot pay, don’t.

In the immortal words of Batman from the Lego Batman Movie, “if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change. Hooo.”

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