OFFICE for Standards in Education reports are no longer news for the local press, unless they are amazingly brilliant or dramatically dire.
A run-of-the-mill report like ours probably will not rate a mention - but just in case we hit an exceptionally news-free week, even for the shire counties, I have sent off a summary report and a press release. If we do make a small column on page 27 just under the fatstock prices, I would much rather write it myself. The style is modelled on book jackets - it is always possible to tease out enough positive quotes to fill a modest paragraph or two.
Another interesting exercise in semantics this week was a meeting of the education authority’s schools’ forum, to agree a constitution. Our first three meetings have been taken up with budget issues - only now do we have time to discuss our modus operandi.
Governor representatives are feeling somewhat overwhelmed. How can we evaluate the bewildering mass of statistics and highly technical financial information we are presented with? How can we be sure we are representing the views of schools? And as an advisory group, how do we arrive at recommendations and convey them to the LEA and the county council? And is there the slightest chance of anyone listening?