If I have an excellent meal I don’t question the quality of the ingredients and how it was cooked, but if the meal is not up to scratch then I may be more interested in checking what went into it and how it was put together.

So, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is to order the reinspection of schools where the overall judgement at the last inspection was outstanding but teaching judged to be good. To be an outstanding school, it is necessary that pupils’ progress is found to be outstanding. If this is the case, then how could teaching not be judged to be outstanding? Unless, of course, the criteria for judging the quality of teaching are related to orthodoxy rather than to effectiveness.

Judging schools, or any organisations, on the quality of both their inputs and outcomes brings with it the risk of contradiction. There is enough work to be done in helping schools improve without interfering where things are working well.

Peter Lacey, Director, ECARDA.