What inspectors are looking for

and how you can climb the ladder

to outstanding

Anthony Briggs

Disclaimer

The opinions and views expressed in this presentation are entirely personal and do not represent, in any way, the opinions or views of Ofsted, the Department for Education, or their agents.

Ofsted states:

The key objective of lesson observations is to evaluate the quality of teaching and its impact on learning

When observing and judging teaching, inspectors must be guided by the response and engagement of pupils and evidence of how well they are learning

Teaching is judged by its:

IMPACT!!!!!

Key Question:

What makes a good lesson?

Answer:

Good Progress!

There are many routes to

excellence

Inspectors must not give the impression that Ofsted favours a particular teaching style.

Key questions:

Are all pupils being challenged?

Are all pupils making progress?

Are all pupils at least engaged and at best inspired?

Ignacio Estrada

Sir Michael Wilshaw HMCI, States:

“We are putting power firmly in the hands of the classroom teacher to determine how they should teach. We do not - let me repeat, not - have any preferred teaching style.”

“No one from outside school - least of all Ofsted - is going to tell teachers how to teach as long as children are learning, progressing and achieving good outcomes.”

Sir Michael Wilshaw HMCI, States:

“We are putting power firmly in the hands of the classroom teacher to determine how they should teach. We do not - let me repeat, not - have any preferred teaching style.”

“No one from outside school - least of all Ofsted - is going to tell teachers how to teach as long as children are learning, progressing and achieving good outcomes.”

Inspectors must consider whether:

teaching engages and includes all pupils, with work that is challenging enough for all pupils and that meets their individual needs

pupils’ responses demonstrate sufficient gains in their knowledge, skills and understanding

teachers check pupils’ progress in lessons and use the information well to adapt their teaching

Inspectors must consider whether:

teachers use questioning and discussion to assess the effectiveness of their teaching and promote pupils’ learning

assessment is frequent and accurate and used to set relevant work

new technologies enhance learning

Not all aspects of learning may be seen in a single observation

What inspectors look for:

Are students involved in assessing their own learning and progress?

Do students have targets and do they understand what they mean and know what to do to achieve them?

Do they ask questions of each other, the teacher or other adults about what they are learning?

Outstanding behaviour

Pupils’ consistently display a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning which have a very strong impact on their progress in lessons.

Pupils’ attitudes to learning are of an equally high standard across subjects, years, classes and with different staff.

Inspectors don’t want to see:

teachers performing to the inspector

lessons that are too crowded, too frenetic, with too many activities designed to impress

teachers constantly stopping pupils’ learning in order to check whether or not those pupils are actually learning

Climbing the ladder

Consistency

Challenge and engagement

Accountability

Focus on achievement for all

A curriculum that results in a thirst for knowledge

Inspirational leadership

Climbing the ladder

Pupils make high levels of progress from their different starting points

No gaps between Pupil premium and Non-Pupil premium

The most able achieving the highest levels possible

Questions?

Thank You!

The test of a good teacher is not how many questions he can ask his pupils that they will answer readily, but how many questions he inspires them to ask him which he finds it hard to answer

Alice Wellington Rollins

What inspectors are looking for

and how you can climb the ladder

to outstanding

Anthony Briggs