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Tuesday 4 January 2011

Back to work ... the Ofsted saga continues!

By 8.15am, I was sat in the school's main meeting room waiting for the Principal to begin the weekly Staff Briefing. For once it was exactly that ... brief ... and consisted of a 'Welcome back everyone; I hope you are fully rested and ready for this exciting new term' followed by 'And don't forget; We know that Ofsted will be coming in to inspect very soon, so let's all get into pre-inspection mode!'

My cup runneth over ... and I felt like I ended up with an unfortunately placed damp patch on my trousers. (Please note ... I am not actually incontinent, although there are times when I feel that I am no longer competent to deal with the seemingly ever-changing – but never improving – world of education.) The Principal's 'let's all get into pre-inspection mode!' means more pre-inspection teaching observations by senior management, more form filling and data capturing by classroom teachers, and more pressure on everyone.

I shall be sixty one years old in a couple of month's time, and after nearly forty years in teaching, I am definitely feeling that I am past my 'sell by' date.

Thank God for wargaming ... and my wife and friends. They are the only things that are keeping me sane at the moment.

6 comments:

  1. So the only thing that hasn't changed is the insanity!
    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tim Gow,

    You are so right!

    Yours in the middle of madness,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bob
    as always you know where I am if you need to wallow in the (relative) sanity of wargaming.
    Tim

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tim Gow,

    I hope to be able to take you up on your kind offer sometime soon!

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ah the ever present whiff of edu-bollocks.

    I had a similar experience at the staff briefing this morning.

    I think they muts have been to the same conference.Either that or they've read the same 'How to be an inspiring headteacher' book.

    Hey ho.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Boggler,

    I think that they must learn it when they do their National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services courses.

    I also think that what used to be said about politicians is now true about headteachers i.e. anyone who wants to become one should be automatically barred from doing so ... and I speak as someone who was once a deputy headteacher back in the days when it was all about being seen and doing things, and not about sitting in one's office doing statistics and writing endless reports.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete

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