The Day OFSTED Made me Crazy

It's now been over 3 years since it happened. OFSTED came in, said one thing to me and in an instant turned my life around...

I've never publicly spoken about it before in any detail (though others have talked about it on my behalf). I was always somewhat worried about the ramifications of doing so. I was also so angry, I never felt I could put an objective perspective to the story.

But a lot's happened since then. Not least, I've had a much more positive experience of OFSTED which you can read about here should you so wish!

Now before I start (and this is important), I need to tell you a bit about myself... I have been an ICT co-ordinator since 2001. I'm not one of those co-ordinators who just gets lumbered with the subject - I genuinely love it.

In that time, I have written numerous schemes of work, completely upgraded two school's hardware provision, developed software for Andrell Education, taught children how to code iPhone apps, started a family business developing apps for countless clients.

I suppose what I'm saying is... I know my stuff. Don't get me wrong - there's loads out there I don't know but in terms of my subject, I know what I'm doing and have a track record to prove it. I was known in the LA for my ICT and had lead LA wide training and meetings - all centred around the innovative use of ICT in primary schools.

So what? Well, the background to my teaching career and specialism is important when explaining how OFSTED made me crazy...

It was December 2010 when we got 'the call'. Usual stuff... car parks full till midnight, overly detailed lesson plans and hundreds of laminated resources that took 10 times as long to make as they would be used for.

I had a number of roles in school (being on the SLT) but when it came to OFSTED, I wanted to make sure my lessons were perfect.

So I'd planned a lesson using KeyNote - nothing particularly special about that other than our school had just acquired some iMacs and this was a perfect opportunity to have Year 4 children comparing the usability and functionality of two operating systems and their respective flagship presentation software.

To my delight, the inspector (who I will not name in this blog but I do hope she reads it) turned up, clipboard in hand. She walked in near the end of the lesson but I was about to teach it again due to the cyclical nature of the day's activities. So she smiled at me and said she would stay and watch it again.

In total, she was with me for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Quite a long time, even by 2010's standards.

The lesson went well (twice). I could see how I could have done things better but I was quite pleased and confident of a 'good' or better grade.

Then the feedback...

She began by saying "Well, that was a good lesson..." - I was happy with that. I'll take good, I thought. She then asked me what the software was we were using as she'd never seen it before. I explained and she commented on how impressed she was with both the software and how quickly the children had learned to master it.

And then she continued: "Your subject knowledge was good".

I raised my hand and actually said "Can I stop you there? Why was it 'good' and not 'outstanding'?"

Expecting a standard response linked to progress, I was shocked by what followed...

"Well, my subject knowledge isn't good enough to say whether yours was outstanding or not."

And in one sentence, she had ruined everything I had been working for for the last 9 years...

I was seething. Word soon got around school. People laughed. It was funny. Everyone knew that I was ICT... But the more I thought about, the angrier I became...

There were other issues with our OFSTED inspection, but for me, this was it. This meant war. How could someone judge me when they have admitted they're not qualified to do so.

So what could I do? Well, initially, I complained to OFSTED. It took a while for them to get back to me - in an email as I was at Ashford International on my way with the kids to Disneyland Paris...

A brief email to say that they were not upholding my complaint. I was furious. I emailed them back straightaway. I asked for copies of the evidence forms (which I duly received) and I escalated my complaint to their next stage.

This time it was upheld. I received an apology. A letter from OFSTED accepting that the comment was inappropriate. I had wanted the inspector to apologise but I was told that could not be arranged.

But by this point, it was too late. OFSTED had made me angry, bitter and disillusioned. I felt that the one area in which I was generally considered an expert by my peers had been brought into question by an OFSTED Inspector who by her own definition was not qualified to observe me.

Some people think I over-reacted. Some people think I should have tried to sue OFSTED for the damage they did to my health and my professional reputation.

I'm not really sure what I think anymore.

But to the inspector who judged me as having good ICT subject knowledge... Here's my Pocket Curriculum app - Come and observe me again when your app is in the App Store...

@TheRenegade78