Ofsted’s decision to scrap graded lesson observations for FE inspections has been described as the “right way to go” by Principals’ Professional Council (PPC) chair Sue Rimmer.

A spokesperson for the education watchdog said on Friday (May 22) that it had consulted with FE providers and “conducted numerous pilot inspections to test the changes” before deciding to go ahead with the change from September.

Ms Rimmer, principal of South Thames College and PPC chair since January, told FE Week she previously used graded lesson observations for internal reviews, but she had “conducted a number of forums with some of our grade one teachers to gain their views of the usefulness of scheme and, having reflected on their feedback and other information, I decided to suspend graded lesson observations [from the start of 2014/15]”.

Ms Rimmer said graded lesson observations were not “a reliable measure of the daily learning experience of our students”.

Sue Rimmer
Sue Rimmer

“I believe that stopping graded lessons observations is the right way to go as they have lost their credibility,” she said.

But she added that she would still “want to be re-assured that there was transparency and validity around judgements made and a robust evidence base otherwise there is a danger that it will become a guessing game”.

The Ofsted decision, also backed by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, comes after a University and College Union report published last June, called Developing a National Framework for the Effective Use of Lesson Observation in FE, raised “serious questions about the fitness for purpose of prevailing observation assessment systems in FE”.

A report in FE Week in the same month revealed that the education watchdog would be piloting inspections with no grading of teaching in individual FE sessions during 2014/15.

It followed the announcement on Twitter by Ofsted’s FE and skills director Lorna Fitzjohn that graded lesson observations could be ending.

It sparked a debate across the sector and Gill Clipson, deputy chief executive of the Association of Colleges, told FE Week on Tuesday (May 26) that views still “differ around the value of grading observed lessons separately”.

She added: “There is a need for Ofsted inspectors to give clear feedback to individual teachers about the strengths demonstrated during the lesson as well as areas where improvements can be made.”

The Ofsted spokesperson said: “This change will be reflected in Ofsted’s new handbook for the inspection of FE and skills, which we will publish before the end of the summer term.”

 

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3 Comments

  1. I have always believed that there should be more use of very good lecturers with planned programme of peer or paired improvement. The graded number was just a number, what’s really important is a holistic process of improving the teaching and learning.

  2. Steve Rawes

    I think previously so many individual teachers out extensive pressure up in themselves which increased because of the original format of grading individual lessons. However on some level it provides a baseline yet not an accurate truth…taking into account the variety of lessons that can be delivered by a tutor to demonstrate there strengths would’ve been fairer but not logistically possible. I’m all for the changes of grading across departments/provisions.

  3. Alison Arnaud

    An open door policy- where colleagues and managers can guage learning and engagement on a continous but non-invasive basis through learning walks, peer observations and learner voice, would promote much better teaching and avoid both unnecessary pressure around graded observations and ‘one-off performances’that can mask general poor practice. We need to get away from the peaks and troughs created by a single ‘all or nothing’ observation and support consistently good practice evidenced by excellent schemes of work, individualised learner support and consistently good outcomes rather than lesson plans and impressive ‘once a year’ gimmicks.