Ted Wragg is right to bring attention to how self-evaluation will be twisted into forms of self-confession under the new Office for Standards in Education regulations (TES, March 5). In effect they will impose a permanent Ofsted regime on schools, particularly if schools lie under the shadow of short notice warnings from the inspectorate.
Elsewhere in The TES this week was a report from Hay about schools being more effective where teachers are more critical of each other’s performance. Why would anyone put themselves in that position if they and their schools are going to be pilloried for honest professional evaluation? The law of unforeseen consequences runs through education because too many agencies, themselves unaccountable, are holding the frontline workers to account. One thing is clear, however; greater instability as teachers enter and leave the service at a faster rate.
Bill Anderson
11A School Road
Moseley
Birmingham
