Change of tone from Nicky Morgan and Ofsted

Many teachers must have been extremely surprised to read a recent letter from Education Secretary of State, Nicky Morgan, in which she asserts that ‘Teachers are best placed to make decisions about how and what they should teach; we trust them to exercise their professional judgement, and we want to free them up to focus on what matters in their jobs.’ This change of emphasis from the government was in the context of new guidance from Ofsted about what they did and what they didn’t expect from teachers when their schools were being inspected. The disingenuously termed ‘clarification for schools’ document was issued on 17th October and it specified very clearly what was not required rather than what was deemed necessary. Teachers will no doubt welcome the new guidance on lesson planning, lesson observations and the reduction in required ‘written dialogue’ between themselves and students. Whether this is a real change in the attitude of the government in the run up to an election or something more cynical will become evident in the coming weeks and months. You can read Nicky Morgan’s letter here: Letter of clarification – Nicky Morgan and the Ofsted guidance can be found here: Ofsted inspections – clarification for schools