The New Ofsted Criteria Explained!

This week we had a teacher training day focused on Ofsted. My academy will definitely be inspected this year, and the odds are it will be after January when the system changes, so the Academy Leadership Team were really keen for all teaching staff to get to know how the new system works, to maximise our chances of hitting Outstanding.

The training sessions were run by Cambridge Education. The maths, science and ICT teachers were put together in one classroom and we were led by Penny Holden, a senior principal consultant at Cambridge Education, who happens to be an ex-headteacher and ex-Ofsted inspector. She seemed to be the perfect person to deliver the training.

The first thing worth mentioning is the extremely cool free pen we were all given. Just look at it:

That's right, it has a highlighter on the end!!! How awesome?!!

Anyway, onto the actual training. The aim of the session was to learn how to observe colleagues the way an Ofsted inspector would, and how to deliver feedback in a contructive way. Through doing this, obviously you become better at delivering Ofsted-pleasing lessons, because you become aware of what they're "looking for".

We were given a handout of the things Ofsted look for when examining the quality of teaching. Here it is word for word:

• The extent to which teachers’ expectations, reflected in their teaching and planning, including curriculum planning, are sufficiently high to extend the previous knowledge, skills and understanding of all pupils in a range of lessons and activities over time.
• How well teaching enables pupils to develop skills in reading, writing, communication and mathematics.
• The extent to which well-judged and effective teaching strategies successfully engage pupils in their learning.
• The extent to which teachers secure high quality learning by setting challenging tasks that are matched to pupils’ specific learning needs.
• How well pupils understand how to improve their learning as a result of frequent, detailed and accurate feedback from teachers following assessment of their learning.
• The extent to which teachers’ questioning and use of discussion promote learning.
• The extent to which the pace and depth of learning are maximised as a result of teachers’ monitoring of learning during lessons and any consequent actions in response to pupils’ feedback.
• The extent to which teachers enthuse, engage and motivate pupils to learn and foster their curiosity and enthusiasm for learning.
• How well teachers use their expertise, including their subject knowledge, to develop pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding across a range of subjects and areas of learning.
• The extent to which teachers enable pupils to develop the skills to learn for themselves, where appropriate, including setting appropriate homework to develop their understanding. 
• The quality of teaching and other support provided for pupils with a range of aptitudes and needs, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that their learning improves.

It is really really important that you don't look at this list like it's a checklist. You don't need to do every single one of them to get Outstanding, and getting 80% of them doesn't equal a Good.

One thing that Ms Holden kept saying which I think is really important is that Ofsted do not examine lessons, and they don't even really examine teaching: they examine LEARNING. So having peer assessment in a lesson isn't Outstanding unless the impact on learning is, so the pupils have to be seen to make more progress as a result.


Effective Feedback

I was observed recently and was given feedback from my mentor. I mentioned in this post how positive it made me feel because I had been praised and had been given some attainable targets. I feel like this was very helpful feedback. But there have been times, I must admit, when the feedback I've had after a lesson has not been helpful. I have felt demoralised and embarrassed after some. And I don't think it helped me improve either! As a proper teacher now, I am expected to give feedback to colleagues when I observe their lessons (during WOW week, for example) and I was really keen to find out how to do it properly.

Guidelines for Effective Feedback:
- Do it in a neutral place, sat at 90 degrees to each other on the same sort of chair.
- Don't hide any notes
-Never say "I liked..." You should always say ".... was good because" to make it more neutral. Basically always use the passive voice.
-Definitely never say "I wouldn't have done it that way..." or "I would have done this..." Say "You could try..." instead. What you would do isn't the best thing for another teacher to do. 
- Give evidence for everything you say. Direct quotes are best.
-Include lots of praise, even if it's meaningless like "well done you!" because teachers just don't get praised enough.
-Consider doing it coaching-style with loads of questions. However me and several other NQTs hate this! When someone says to me "how do you think you could improve x" I just want to scream at them "I don't know that's why I didn't do it!!! You obviously know so just tell me!!!" I know that coaching is effective but I do hate being subject to it.
-Most importantly, never ever start by saying "how do you think it went?" Because that's just setting them up to either talk themselves down, in which case the conversation becomes focused on the negative aspects, or talk themselves up, in which case you then have to bring them crashing down which is just mean. I have definitely been asked this before and I always respond by saying "erm...OK?" accompanied by a nervous smile. In future if someone asks this I'm going to politelty refuse to answer.

The leadership team in my academy will be observing everyone in the third and fourth weeks of next half term. It will be interesting to see whether they follow these guidelines themselves. They make it like a proper inspection, they give you a two day window so you don't know exactly which lesson it'll be. I'm quite excited about it actually, I'd like to see where I am at the moment. I was apparently an Outstanding trainee, which only equates to a Satisfactory/Good teacher as far as I can tell.

I found this training session incredibly useful and also inspirational. I got loads of ideas for lessons from watching the DVDs and from talking to colleagues. I wish I got to talk to colleagues more often and share good practice more, becaue it really is incredibly helpful.

A few of the more experienced teachers didn't find the training helpful at all though, and thought a lot of it was pointless. I suppose they've been through this sort of thing before many times. Or maybe they're more resistant to change or being taught something new? I find it funny that sometimes teachers make the worst students. For example, several teachers during the session were playing on their iPads or iPods and not listening! Someone was even planning lessons, she had her text book out and everything! I was ashamed, to be honest, some people are so rude! Even if you don't find the training helpful, you should still listen and be polite, which I know several of my colleagues did, to their credit.

If you want to know more about the training Cambridge Education can provide, visit their website. Or email me on nqtpi(at)gmail(dot)com and I can refer you to someone.

If you'd like to know more about observing and giving feedback, email me and I'll try to answer, but obviously I'm no expert! Or leave a comment below and then maybe an expert will wander along to this blog and answer it!

I hope you're enjoying half term. Time can be so cruel: slowing down during an awful lesson, speeding up during your week off!

Emma x x x

First NQT Observation

This week I had my first official observation. As an NQT, I'm qualified to teach but I'm sort of on probation, so someone in the department has to check up on me and make sure I'm teaching well. There are also some standards that NQTs have to gain evidence towards, to prove that passing their PGCE wasn't a fluke, I suppose. My school has its own set of NQT expectations, like I have to organise a school trip, run an after school club, and be a co-tutor. I'm dreading that first one, although I know exactly where I'd go. Luckily there's a free museum within walking distance of my school. Sadly it happens to be perhaps the most boring museum in the UK (in my opinion) but the kids may like it.

Anyway, my observation. My mentor watched me with one class but his feedback I think applies to every class I teach so I don't need to give you any background or even describe the lesson. Here is the feedback we discussed:

My Strengths:

* Good relationships with pupils, good way of talking to pupils one on one and adapting my language to suit them. It's obvious that pupils like me and see me as nice, kind and friendly.

* Good questioning skills - I used more open questions than closed, and encouraged higher-order thinking and meta-cognition. I encouraged pupils to develop their literacy by getting them to explain some concepts in their own words.

*Good use of praise - I praised pupils a lot and not just general praise but specific, using names.

My Areas for Development:

* Use time constraints on exercises. Even if it's a long one, I should say you have to have done the first two questions in 7 minutes or whatever. This should give my lessons tighter pace. I can definitely see how this would help me with another group I teach, who are so slow and lazy when it comes to starting.

* Don't just ensure no one's talking before talking, but also ensure they're all listening - there's a difference!

* Develop peripheral vision and if possible eyes on the back of my head. This is difficult for me as even the eyes on the front of my head don't work particularly well! But I'll try.

* Limit the noise of the class when they're doing individual work. I should stop the class completely, tell them the noise is too high, then start them again, and repeat this. Pick out individuals who are talking and give them DTs. Don't worry too much about being fair.

After me and my mentor talked about the lesson I felt quite positive. I haven't really thought about my strengths since my PGCE. Although I'm a positive person, it's so easy to only think about your weaknesses, because I see them as the things that matter most, as you need to think how to improve them. It was nice to have someone tell me explicitly: you're good at this, this and this. I'm also glad my areas for development are things I can actually work on, as they're very specific, although the peripheral vision one I think will take many years to hone.

This week at school the maths department are having a WOW week (Watch Others Work) and I'm really hoping I can have one of my lessons covered so I can go and see an interesting lesson (the only year group I don't teach is year 11, and I'm not excited about seeing a group of unmotivated pupils work through past papers for a lesson). I'd love to see how all the teachers in the department teach and get some good tips.

I hope you all have a good week, and to all those lucky people in Leicestershire who are already on half term, please spare a thought for the rest of us who still have 5 days to get through!

Emma x x x

All I Ever Talk about Is School

I have quite a serious social impairment. All I ever talk about is school.

Every facebook status I've made for the last 5 weeks has been teaching-related. My friends must think I'm such a loser. Most of the friends I see regularly are maths teachers, and all we ever talk about is teaching. That's bad enough, but talking to non-teachers about school and nothing else is really quite awful.

The thing is, talking about school to my teacher friends can be really theraputic, and often incredibly useful. Yesterday I met up with two of my maths teacher friends. We talked about school. A lot. But I was really inspired by a lot of the things I heard and actually took out my iPod and made some notes. I got a few starter ideas, homework ideas, behaviour tips, and some other bits and bobs. I'm going to talk about these in my next post.

But it would be nice to talk about other things. Like... See, I can't even think of something that's not related to teaching! What did I use to talk about? Back when I was doing my A levels we used to talk about: One Tree Hill, the Apprentice (when it was on), boys, clothes, music, films, books, and, to be fair, school. It would be nice to be able to talk about those sorts of things again. Now that I think about it, I would also love to start watching One Tree Hill again too. I loved that show.

So my resolution this week is to talk about things other than school. This will be difficult, but I'm going to make a real effort, just for the next seven days. Obviously my blog will still just be about teaching. I'm sure no one wants to read 500 words of me talking about Nathan and Haley's relationship and why James Lafferty is so much hotter than Chad Michael Murray.

Do you find you have the same problem? Why not try and talk about other things this week too?

Emma x x x