5/19/2008

The writing is on the wall for Labour when people start touting for jobs

Anyone who lelieves the statement today from the head of Ofsted is anything about schools more than it is about getting a job under David Cameron needs a reality check.

in the first case, for an Ofsted official to be critical of the new Ofsted regime when it has not even been in place for a full three year cycle is ludicrous in itself. how can they assess a three year rolling plan of school inspections based on the new system when some schools have not even been inspected using the new criteria ?

But let's put the arguments she made to one side. the truth of this matter is that this is a sign of what is to come for Gordon Brown. People who head up government QUANGOs are going going to be touting their "Conservative" credentials more and more over the next few months so they can curry favour with David Cameron.

As for the Tories themselves, they seem to have moved away from the "Cult of Chris Woodhead", who speaks a lot, but listen very little and whose idea of an Ofsted Inspection regime was a joke. Anyone who remembers back to Chris Woodhead's Ofsted days will remember having one Inspection every 6 years, with nearly three months notice given so that you could prepare "model" lessons which bore no resemblance to a typical school week. Michael Gove, the Tories education spokesman spoke sensibly tonight about education on Radio Five, although he did rather let himself down when he said that 40% of children left school not being up to the required standard in maths and English. The actual figure was 20%, so perhaps Mr Gove himself needs to improve at maths.

So will the head of Ofsted keep her job under David Cameron ? Well she's no doubt impressed him today. I would imagine though that she will be the first of many to try and seem slightly blune tinged over the next few months. It does all look rather ominous for Gordon Brown.

1 comment:

Johnny Norfolk said...

i in 5. 11 year old cannot read or write properly, says it all. Its no good complaining, the facts are the facts. The education budget has doubled in 10 years and we have made no further progress. It a disgrace and we have been let down by education in this country. If you put your own house in order there would not be a need for inspections

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