Does inspection improve schools? Can you inspect quality into a system? Gerald Haigh picks up the debate after the recent row over whether Ofsted inspections are effective.

Why, according to recent posts on Twitter, do heads and teachers feel a wave of relief at 1pm every term-time Wednesday? 

The answer, it seems, is because that’s the point at which they can be sure there will be no Ofsted inspection that week. Slightly incredulous, I sought confirmation, also via Twitter, and a secondary head responded: “Definitely! Deep breath no inspection that week!”

Whether or not that feeling is widespread, there’s no denying the stressfulness of the Ofsted process. 

“It has to be so,” some will say. “Inspection improves schools.”

Does it though?

Probably not, according to Professor Robert Coe, director of the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) at Durham University. Speaking to this year’s ResearchED conference, he said: “Ofsted in my view is part of the problem not part of the solution, because it is not a research or evidence-led organisation.”

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