AT A recent Universities Council for the Education of Teachers’ conference in Edinburgh to which inspectors from all over the UK were invited, it became clear that in Northern Ireland, inspectors value greatly the “link” arrangements which they have with teacher-training providers, and a similar arrangement is currently being set up in Scotland.
No English inspectors were permitted to attend, and representatives of teacher-training poviders in England reported that the Office for Standards in Education has decided to discontinue the link inspectors’ role.
This seems perverse and underlines OFSTED’s intention to emphasise their inspectoral role rather than one of collaboration and quality enhancement.
Roy Beardsworth
Academic secretary
Standing Committee for the Education and Training of Teachers
27 Britannia Street
London WC1X
