Unannounced Inspections

It's with real sadness that I see the teaching profession resorting to personal attacks on Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted. He has only been in post a few months and already one of the main teachers' unions, the National Association of Head Teachers, has set its stall against him because of some of the modernisations to the inspections and ratings system.

They accuse him of bullying, setting Ofsted up as an arm of the Spanish Inquisition and giving out an impression that the teaching profession cannot be trusted. At the same time these head teachers are complaining that inspections were "too variable" and "too subjective" and that inspectors were arriving at schools with their minds already made up about performance.

Strong criticism indeed of Sir Michael. But I only wish sometimes teachers would see something positive about some of Sir Michael's proposals. The early years sector has had unannounced inspections for years and been through every argument the teaching profession can bring forward as to why unannounced inspections are a bad idea and do not help improve standards.

On reflection, I believe the early years sector welcomes continued unannounced inspections for a number of reasons but the main reason for this is the knowledge that "we have nothing to hide".

The nursery and early years settings I have knowledge of operate in the same way as I do at my own nursery – we welcome inspection from Ofsted, the local authority, parents, professional bodies, colleagues, anyone! And we are prepared to do this daily, every day we are open — no notice, no appointment, anytime.

There are many benefits of unannounced inspections. I liken them to visits by environmental health inspectors to restaurants and other food outlets. As a customer at these restaurants, given a choice, would I prefer them to have 48 hours' notice before being inspected or not?

I don't know about you but while I trust the professionalism of the restaurateur, do I trust the hygiene standards in his/her kitchen? Environmental health inspectors do catch those that "cheat" but their main task is to drive up hygiene standards in all settings. Surely it is the role of Ofsted to catch the cheats and to raise the standards across the board.

However, like the head teachers at their NAHT conference, I do believe that to get their judgment right and to help improve standards, the "leader" of practice ­– be it manager, owner or lead professional –­ really needs to be there at the time of inspection.

I'm not calling for planned inspections, just the ability to inform Ofsted that this lead person will be absent due to annual leave for up to four weeks in the year. Heads and teachers know that they can only be inspected during the 38 weeks they operate, while many early years settings open 52 weeks per year. How about letting our lead professionals have a
few weeks off without worrying that Ofsted are inspecting while they are on the beach in Spain or, however, these dedicated professionals partake in relaxation.