Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of the Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED), declared a "new wave" of Local Area Under-performance Inspections (LAUI) of schools "denying children the standard of education they deserve". This paper examines how the threat of LAUI played out over three mathematics lessons taught by a teacher…

The advent of a new inspection system in January 2012 has created new challenges for both the teaching profession and for the inspectors of education given the task of implementing it, as the new framework demands increased involvement by serving teachers and head teachers as part of the inspection process. This paper draws on evidence from a…

Analyzes the complete cohort of published inspection reports of providers of secondary mathematics initial teacher education post-graduate certificate of education courses carried out by the Office for Standards in Education Initial Teacher Education Training team during 1996-1998. Finds considerable variation as to word length, criteria…

In this paper I explore the emotional impact of inspection on the staff of a school in the two years between Ofsted inspections. Using data from one school undergoing inspection, I argue that the negative emotional impact of inspection of teachers goes beyond the oft-reported issues of stress and overwork. Teachers experience a loss of power and…

Reports on a study of Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspection reports for Norfolk (England) state secondary schools. Analyzes the reports and concludes that inconsistencies in inspectors' reporting, particularly of spirituality across the broader curriculum, meant that the mechanisms for assessment and for raising standards were…

School self-evaluation is receiving increasing attention in England, partly as a result of changes in the Ofsted inspection framework giving greater prominence to what schools can do to speak for themselves. The relationship between internal self-evaluation and external inspection was a theme in a high profile policy speech made by the Schools…