10 reasons to scrap OFSTED

I think it is fair to say that I am not a fan of OFSTED. In fact, I think it does more harm than good and is a huge waste of public funds. A couple of people have laughed at my proposition that OFSTED should be scrapped so here are ten reasons why I think it is time to say goodbye to OFSTED.

1.       OFSTED is a contributing factor in the high numbers of teachers suffering from stress, mental health and health related issues brought about by the lack of work life balance in education.  This is causing many established and experienced teachers to leave the profession for the benefit of their health or to alternative professions.  OFSTED also contributes to the poor job image that teaching has publicly and is a factor in the low numbers of people being recruited into the profession.

2.       OFSTED focuses on measures that can easily be quantified such as Maths, Science and English.  This has contributed to a shift in schools away from providing a broad and balanced curriculum marginalising the wider range of subjects such as art, sport and drama.

3.       OFSTED crystallises highly complex institutions into a one–word judgement.  Despite being supported by a detailed report many people look no further than the one-word judgement.  The judgement can lead to many stake holders failing to take into account the range of measures and datasets that provide evidence about how a school is performing.

4.       OFSTED has an inherently unfair complaints and appeals process which vitiates any report produced.  The recent high-profile court case strongly asserts that the appeals process that OFSTED has implemented is fundamentally flawed and inspection outcomes are effectively unchallengeable.

5.       The cost of running OFSTED is astronomical.  Abolishing OFSTED would free up funding that would allow for better levels of funding to schools allowing them to employ more teaching staff. The cost of running OFSTED is not equitable with the impact OFTSED has on improving educational outputs if any. I believe the investment in putting teachers in front of children would have more impact.

6.       OFSTED is a political tool and its actions are not therefore always driven by the needs of educational professionals.  Political views can change where as good teaching practice should be based on established and developing educational research.  Heads are unable to sift through the constant changes introduced by government to curriculum, exams, syllabi etc.. and decide for themselves which are useful and which are chaff fit for the bin.  Non- compliance simply means another job lost.  OFSTED must be aware of the serious concerns raised by teachers across the country yet it fails to express those concerns simply enforcing policy whether it is good or bad.

7.       OFSTED inspects schools against arbitrarily set accountability measures set by a government that don’t take into consideration local factors to schools.  This makes the process inherently unfair for those schools “working at the coal face”.  There is growing evidence linking OFSTED outcomes to the economic indicators of the locality being inspected.  This has led to schools, many of which have some of the hardest fought gains, being labelled as failing which has unfairly penalised those schools.

8.       OFSTED judgments can make it more difficult for a school to recruit staff. In outstanding schools senior leaders and heads are hard to recruit as senior leaders often acknowledge “the only way is down”.  Where schools are inadequate it is challenging to recruit staff across all roles given the assumed difficulties faced by the school.  In addition a poor OFSTED judgement can impact on pupil numbers with parents removing children.  This can lead to falling pupil roll and subsequently a reduction in budget making the job of school transformation more difficult not easier.

9.       OFSTED can stifle change in schools with senior leaders being reluctant to undertake important whole school change or transformation when inspections are imminent.  This reflects the stick rather than carrot approach OFSTED has on school improvement.

10.   OFSTED’s remit has become oversized and fails to acknowledge the highly skilled professionals working in the industry who are already, on the whole, perfectly capable of evaluating their own school’s performance and formulating action plans to address any short comings. 

Health and Safety

Some of you may think the topic of Health and Safety is rather boring.  You have come into teaching to help teach pupils and encourage them to learn.  What place does Health and Safety have then, in the life of a school leader or indeed any teacher?

Putting it simply, a lack of good Health and Safety in school can lead to people being injured or worse dead; and injured pupils don’t learn well as they tend not to be in school and dead ones do even worse!

So good health and safety procedures are essential and should be on the top of a teacher’s and educational leader’s agenda along with safeguarding.  It should even come before teaching and learning.

As the senior member of staff responsible for H&S I tend to do one annual inspection and follow it up with a second inspection to check that instructions have been implemented a short while later.  Don’t think for a minute that this is the only inspection taking place.  The site management team should be conducting regular checks to do with fire safety and other visual checks as part of their weekly and daily routines.  In fact our school has a list of things which are checked and each day the site management team do a school close down and literally walk round the whole school, they carry out one specific check and log it in writing.  (Important – write down a record of checks which you do). There are also other checks going on through the year carried out by faculty leaders and teachers as part of their duties too

So what should an annual H&S audit involve?  Well I do two things.  Firstly there is a meeting with myself and the site manager where we review current practice and procedures.  I use the checklist attached here to help us evaluate and write an action plan for the year.  Secondly we do a full walk around of the site including external areas.  It is difficult to provide a full list of things to check on your rounds but it is useful to understand what the main causes of risk are as this will help you focus your attention on your walkabout.   Don’t worry if you are not really experienced as H&S is common sense more often than not.  If it looks dangerous it probably is.  If you are new to inspecting H&S get someone who has experience to do a walk around with you as you can learn a lot from others.

The main areas of risk in school are (in no particular order):

1. Fire
2. Chemical storage and injuries.
3. Collisions (with other people, fixed objects, moving objects (in PE and the car park), falling objects)
4. Falls from a height.
5. Manual handling injuries.
6. Asbestos
7. Slips and trips.
8. Stress
9. Work related violence
10. Lone working
11. Contractors on site
12. Electricity
13. Display screen equipment
14. Legionella

So lets look at the things you might check on your walkabout.  Remember not all of the things will be relevant all of the time.  I tend to take a floor plan and mark off with a highlighter each room and area I have checked.  You should do the same as you will be surprised how long an audit takes.  You can spend a whole day doing a full audit and you might not have time to do it all in one day so a floor plan will allow you to come back and complete the inspection in stages.

Fire

• Can the fire alarm be heard in all areas of the school?
• Do all emergency lights work?
• Are all fire exits and walkways clear and unobstructed?
• Do fire doors open freely and close fully with a good seal after they have been let go?
• Electrically controlled doors will need to be tested for function.
• Is there current and clear signage.
• Are there adequate extinguishers and alarms points.
• Is there adequate smoke detection.  Think here about the use of a room.  Toilets and wash areas with high humidity don’t have smoke detection but often schools stop using a toilet and might start using it as a store.  In this case the room has changed function and should have smoke detection fitted.
• Are light fittings, heaters, boilers and electrical fixtures clear of combustibles and do they have adequate ventilation.  A common one I find is paper stored on high shelves close to a light fitting as well as teachers storing huge amounts of resources and packing them round, for example, electrical units.
• Is the structure of the room intact.  Check for missing tiles, holes in walls, missing window panes etc.. Remember, fires are contained in building by ensuring rooms are sealed containers.  a fire in a room with closed windows and doors should burn itself out in minutes but if some kid has kicked a hole in a fire door , this will provide a rich source of oxygen to keep the fire burning.
• Check that external storage of chemicals, rubbish, timber etc are placed well away from the building.  Remember that the main cause of fires in schools is arson so keep your external fuel sources away from the building.

Chemical Storage

• There are plenty of rules and regulations about storing chemicals which your technical staff should be able to advise you on.
• I tend to ensure that flammables are stored in appropriate containers (fire proof or metal), items are clearly labelled, excess storage of chemicals is kept to a minimum, staff access is controlled and pupils should not be able to access them at all without supervision.
• Is an inventory maintained?
• Are Data and Hazard cards available?

Collisions

• Check that vehicles and pedestrians are kept well apart preferably by some form of physical barrier.
• ensure that movement around the school is safe.  You might need to consider putting in rules about flow of people to avoid crushes at times when lots of people are moving at one time.  Stairs are especially dangerous at high flow times. If you are looking for rules on flow of people, your fire evacuation routes will be a good start.
• Check that PE have adequate facilities to ensure that pupils are not moving at speed in close proximity which can increase the likelihood of collisions.  Indoor cricket should utilise nets to avoid damage from rogue cricket balls too.

Falls from height

• Check access to roofs is restricted.
• Check flat roofs and fragile surfaces are clearly identified.
• Sky lights and roof openings should be barricaded off if access to the roof space is needed regularly.
• In classrooms with high storage do staff have access to mini step ladders or an elephant stool, and is the equipment serviceable?
• If large step ladders or full ladders are used does the person using them have working at height training?

Manual Handling

• Do staff that work in rooms where manual handling is used have training?
• Is there adequate equipment available for staff such as stair climbers, trolleys?
• Do classroom staff ensure that heavy items are stored low down with lighter items stored higher up? Hint – examine the storage areas in your rooms and consider if the smallest frailest member of staff could lift an item off a shelf.

Asbestos

• If you have an older school it will have asbestos in it.  Do you have a clear asbestos plan of the school?
• Are staff notified of the existence of asbestos in school.
• Check the substrate of the building is in good order.  Remember most asbestos will be hidden away in building materials, if items are crumbling, smashed or broken this may be a cause of danger.
• Does someone have responsibility for signing off permission to work documentation.  Hint – check your technicians and ICT network staff are trained as they may well unwittingly start drilling holes to run cables and put shelves up.

Slips and Trips

• Check floor surfaces for integrity and evenness.  Don’t forget outside too. Hint – carpet edges, door thresholds, stair edges, floor tiles are common areas of concerns
• Pay attention to stairs. Hint – dropped flagstones, damaged stair treads and root egress are common areas of concern.
• Consider if surfaces need anti slip finishes applying to them
• Is there adequate use of handrails on slopes and stairs?
• In areas where splashes can occur is there facility to wipe up spills immediately.
• Is their adequate signage available to warn people of wet flooring?

Stress

• Is there drinking water available?
• Are there adequate washing facilities with safe hot water supplies?
• Is lighting adequate and do any lights need repairing?
• Is the control of temperature acceptable. Hint – there is no upper temperature limit set in law but be honest with yourself, could you work in that hot classroom everyone talks about.  Consider the use of opening windows, fans or air conditioning.
• Do areas have adequate access to first aid supplies?
• Is there adequate first aid cover in each area?
• Is medication stored correctly, clearly labelled with appropriate documentation?

Work Related Violence/Lone working

• Is their a clear procedure for staff at risk of violence from pupils or members of the public.  Hint – a risk assessment should be available.  You might consider meeting in pairs, notifying reception of meetings and suspected end times, use of rape alarms to raise help.
• Likewise, are their clear procedures for staff working alone.  Hint – staff undertaking dangerous work should work in pairs or be checked regularly.  eg. working on a roof, undertaking significant building work or hot works.

Contractors on site

• Are procedures in place for selecting contractors based on competency rather than cost alone?
• Are contractors required to communicate control measures.
• Does the school check the contractors insurance, certification of competency, safety policy and get references for work undertaken?
• Does the school monitor external contractor and intervene where it feels there is an unacceptable risk being taken?

Electricity/Gas

• Check for damaged wiring or equipment.
• Check for correct use of electrical equipment.
• Check all equipment has an annual certification certificate (PAT test).  Hint – remove items not checked or staff will continue to use them.
• Check the
• Check that adaptor blocks are not in use.  plug extension boards are fine but they need to be double insulated and fused but it is better to have adequate plug sockets in the first place.  Hint – you can add this sort of work onto your list of modifications for the next holiday.
• Are gas shuts offs clearly marked and working?
• Check cables are clear of walkways and secured neatly.
• Oxygen and fuel cylinders are locked in cages and separate from each other.

Display Screen Equipment

• Users of display screen equipment should have access to a self assessment document to allow them to assess their work space.
• Users who have identified medical problems associated with posture might benefit from an assessment by a qualified assessor.

Legionella

• A record of water checks are kept.
• Water systems are flushed regularly. Hint – you might find sections of old pipework that have become defunct.  These will hold stagnant water and should be removed.

Finally, a word about housekeeping.  A tidy classroom is generally a safe classroom.  On your walkabout give some consideration to what each room looks like.  Graffiti, chewing gum, general damage/wear and tear, damage to paintwork etc can actually encourage pupils to be less careful of looking after their environment.  I have a rule in my school.  If it is broken it gets fixed straight away or removed until it is.  Teachers always seem to hoard resources and you need to make sure there is adequate storage for it all.  Sometimes it means telling them to have a clear out, at other times it might mean more robust shelving.  Remember to check if it is likely that teachers can safely access resources in terms of lifting and climbing and make sure items are not at risk of falling on people.

Don’t forget to issue your written report to all staff so that everyone is aware.  I normally highlight in the report specific people who need to remedy anything I have highlighted.  AND – don’t forget to do a follow up check and go and see if your directions/recommendations have been actioned.

Strategically Planning your ICT Infrastructure Part 2

The Building Blocks of ICT Networks

This section of my article on technology is really aimed at leaders who have limited understanding of how networks function. As a head teacher you will have some pretty big cheques to sign off and knowing what exactly some of the hardware is might make it seem less daunting. I’ll start with the end you will know as a user. The interface or the thing you use to do whatever it is you are doing with technology.

User Interfaces

You use computer interfaces everyday, your digital watch and its buttons, your programmable microwave, your alarm clock, the cashpoint and so on.

The past decade has seen a significant shift from large desk based devices to mobile devices that can go anywhere. Young people are nearly all fully engaged with mobile technology and even pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds seem to ensure they have adequate technology (probably foregoing other perceivably more essential items). Yet schools continue to ban personal devices, instead battling with pupils over paper planners and missed homework that might conceivably be better integrated into the digital solutions they all have and want to use.

Over the next decade I suspect that schools will see a shift away from traditional desktop devices to more mobile devices or cheaper desk bound alternatives such as dumb terminals. Dumb terminals are basically a monitor and keyboard connected to a server somewhere else in the building (a big computer). Schools need to evaluate their current policies on banning (or allowing) mobile technologies and consider how they might be used effectively and safely in the future.

With dwindling school budgets, there is also a strong argument that implementing a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) system may result in savings for schools although with such a policy, great care would need to be taken to ensure safe use of such devices.

The bottom line is that I am convinced there will be a shift away from bulky and expensive desktop machines. However, there are pros and cons when considering what interfaces to buy. Some things to consider:

1. Laptops and mobile devices have the obvious benefit of being mobile (assuming good wireless connectivity) but in my experience are not as viable when used by pupil populations that are prone to vandalising or abusing equipment. It is worth noting that a new desktop keyboard and mouse can be had for less than £5 but a new laptop keyboard will likely cost in the region of £30-80 (or more) and take a considerable amount of effort to replace compared to a desktop keyboard and mouse. Tablets generally tend to be very strong save only for damage to screens which effectively write off the device due to the cost of replacement. If you are purchasing mobile devices you need to think about where the devices will be stored, who will supervise their use, whether it is realistic to assume that deliberate damage can be minimised or stopped and the impact it will have on learning if five machines have been damaged and are out of action for a fortnight.   PERSONAL VIEW – laptops are best used where a limited number of staff will have responsibility for them, their use will be carefully monitored or where pupils have a high level of maturity and look after school equipment.
2. Dumb Terminals – are basically a keyboard mouse and screen. The complex workings that you would expect to be taking place inside a traditional laptop or desktop machine take place on a large computer called a server which actually does the job of many computers all at once. If you choose this route the interface is a relatively cheap affair, with screens, keyboard and mice being cheap but your school will need a robust network of cables to handle the data being transferred across the network and the servers are more expensive. You will find that dumb terminals lack the mobility of laptops but take up less desk space and pupils can use desks for writing or computer work. PERSONAL VIEW – dumb terminals are good if you have a network capable of supporting this technology but don’t expect them to do processor heavy stuff like video editing, picture editing or CAD/CAM work. You are better off using desktop machines.
3. Desktop machines. Everyone will be familiar with the desktop computer. Like the computer you have at home save for the fact that you logon across a network and your work is not saved on the local machine and is saved elsewhere in school on a fileserver or SAN, the desktop machine is a robust device; damaged screens, keyboards and mice are easy to replace and not too expensive but they do take up space and it can be difficult for pupils to swap between computer work and writing. They are also generally cheaper to install than laptops but require dedicated computer rooms. They are also more effective for processor heavy activities such as CAD/CAM, photo editing or video production. PERSONAL VIEW –the best choice for processor heavy stuff like video editing, picture editing or CAD/CAM work or where you have problems with pupils damaging equipment.
4. BYOD/personal devices – bring your own device or personal devices. Some schools allow pupils to bring their own devices or provide personal devices. Whilst this can make a huge saving on school budgets (when pupils are expected to bring their own devices) there are a myriad of problems associated with ensuring devices are all able to access school networks, how pupils are supported with such a variety of devices, how to support the training of your ICT team to cater for such diversity and also how to ensure safe access and use. PERSONAL VIEW – BYOD/Personal devices would work best where pupils use the same technology. Perhaps when schools have purchased specific items or subsidised the procurement of personal devices. Pupils having ownership of devices means they are more likely to value them and look after them but you will need robust policies and procedures for safeguarding. Processor heavy activities will still require dedicated machines for this although the use of remote servers (e.g. using your personal device to access resources over the internet) is also a possibility.

What sits behind your user experience

Most head teachers will know that there sits behind the user interface lots more expensive technology. So what exactly is it all, what does it do and why is so expensive? For most users the point of interaction is their only knowledge of the school’s ICT infrastructure save for a few people who might have caught the odd glimpse of the school’s network room with its icy cold air and banks of beeping and flashing machines.

Underpinning the users experience there needs to be a robust network infrastructure. You need to have in place a backbone of good quality network cabling and fibre optic links to ensure data can pass quickly around the site. In most schools services are provided to users by way of machines known as servers. These are machines much like your desktop machines although they generally do one job only, albeit for many users at once, where as your personal desktop machine at home has to do all jobs for one user only.

As a minimum most networks will have a domain controller (something which allocates logons to users), an application server (which allows software to run) and a SAN or storage area network (allowing users to save work or files). If people need access to the internet there will be a web server and email is controlled by a mail server. Print servers sort the printing, MIS servers (management information systems) contain all your staff/pupil data, CCTV servers control your cameras, media servers store media files such as video and remote servers allow external users to access systems at school when they are geographically separated.

Each server or machine is a physical device which needs to be bought, installed, maintained, cooled, powered, often licenced, insured and takes up space. Network rooms therefore fill up quickly and are expensive.  Since the machines have to be powerful and work with multiple users they are expensive and can cost anything from a 2k up to 10k plus.

Traditional Network Architecture:

Historically, most schools have adopted a traditional setup with one server doing one job. If a server breaks down that service is lost until it is repaired meaning loss of business continuity to users. It might be no big deal but if it is the same time as OFSTED have announced they are coming in and you can’t email documents over in advance, or the police have turned up with a worrying safeguarding concern about a pupil and your management information server has failed, both could have dire consequences.

I might start building my network purchasing servers like this. Each one is a separate cost and is added on to my network. You can see quite quickly my server room is going to get filled up, I will need a significant amount of cooling, power consumption and so on. E.g.

• Server 1 – Print server
• Server 2 – Mail server
• Server 3 – Application Server
• Server 4 – Web Server and so on

Virtual Network Architecture

In the future schools will need to give serious consideration to virtualisation of servers and workstations. This involves buying high specification servers in the first place and creating multiple virtual servers within. This can reduce the number of physical machines needed with savings in power consumption, cooling etc… Each server machine basically does the job of the many servers you might buy separately in a traditional network.

Setting up two virtual servers that work together means greater speeds can be achieved and when one fails, the functioning server will automatically take over all responsibility and in some cases can even do this by actioning a predicted failure. Users are left unaware of what has happened and continue to use the system as normal.

E.g.

• Server 1 – (comprising 4 virtual servers and mirroring Server 2)
• Server 2 – (comprising 4 virtual servers and mirroring Server 1)

0% downtime to users is therefore achievable. When such virtual servers are separated geographically (e.g. in different buildings) not even the loss of a building can stop your network functioning.

There are clear advantages to virtualisation:

• Less hardware means less cooling and less energy consumption.
• Unsupported legacy software can be set up on a virtual server.
• When new software is installed it can be tested on a virtual server first to make sure there are no compatibility issues. Such advantages again limit any loss of service to users.
• Less manpower needed.
• Business continuity.
• Less hardware to purchase and less equipment to replace.
• Less physical space needed.

Storage of Data

With traditional network architecture data has been stored on site on fileservers or SAN (storage area networks). Schools do not need to use localised storage anymore as there are now big companies offering cloud storage; which effectively means your data is simply stored on one of their computers, perhaps not even in this country. Such big companies are also capable of providing back up services that far exceed any capacity a local school might realistically implement and the security measures are also incomparable. Movement to cloud storage also results in reduced hardware and energy costs and near infinite storage capacity.

Remote Servers

With the cost of software being unattainable for some pupils to own personally, the use of remote servers can break down barriers to access for disadvantaged pupils and schools might consider funding infrastructure using pupil premium funding. Remote servers basically allow pupils (and staff) to access software in school by effectively logging on to a virtual computer over the internet. Pupils don’t need expensive computers to run processor heavy software since the software runs or expensive school servers. The remote server simply provides a connection and the users own device simply needs to be capable of rudimentary web browsing.

 

Part 3 to follow –areas of technology to watch in education.

 

Strategically Planning your ICT Infrastructure

Part 1 – Strategically Planning your ICT Infrastructure

This article outlines some of the things you might consider when planning your school’s ICT infrastructure and ensuring it is fit for purpose over the next decade. The article does not endorse any particular brand and is intended as ‘food for thought’. I share my current thoughts on where school leaders might spend their school’s ever decreasing funds, highlight some specific areas that might warrant development in schools, explain and unpick some of the basic network design concepts for those leaders who are not technology savvy and suggest a four point plan for your future network development.

Planning Strategically

Technology isn’t predictable. The designers of mobile texting technology cannot have envisaged the success of this technology with today’s array of messaging systems marrying up phone, email and social media sites and spawning an entirely new language of emoticons and text language. Nor could the designers of Google glass have foreseen the rather sad uptake of its futuristic interactive glasses.

Whilst schools lack a crystal ball to see the future what they don’t lack is the capacity to lead on the strategic use of technology, learn from history and make sensible measured guesses about the future.

Why invest at all?

There are five reasons you should invest in technology. Most obviously is the impact of technology on:

1. Learning outcomes and coupled to this,
2. Teaching

But there are three other areas that technology can play an important role.

3. Improving the systems which a school operates on; which in turn can lead to
4. Savings on day to day processes.

Finally, alongside the increased focus by OFSTED on pupil safety and wellbeing, and given the very significant risks posed to young people, technology can also play a significant role in:

5. Improving the safety of pupils.

A Four Point Strategic Plan to Modernise Your Network

Step 1 Develop A Vision

A good starting point might be a ‘Vision Document – or Day in the life’ outlining what your school’s technology might look like in the future for different people. Engaging with the widest number of stakeholders is key to ensuring that the broadest consideration is given to the potential impact of technology. Suggested areas for discussion would include:

• Personalisation of learning and curriculum
• Inclusion and SEN
• Transition between phases
• Children’s Services
• Management and Administration
• CPD and Change Management
• Community Access and use of ICT resources
• ICT and the Physical Environment
• Contribution of the existing services and hardware.
• Staff wellbeing and work-life balance

It might also be advisable to get an external professional audit of your current network if you do not have the expertise in-house. This will ensure you know which parts of your current infrastructure still have serviceable life and which are ready for recycling.

Step 2 Put the Right People in Post

Having established a vision the next step is to audit the strengths of the technical team and technology users. The outcome might result in the need to appoint new staff, or train and develop existing staff.

I am particularly interested in the development of technical teams that do not fit into the stereotypical mould of unapproachable technology intellects. Too many schools allow Network Managers to build systems that are overly complicated, are only fathomable to established staff (which is fine till they leave) and often don’t fulfil any of the needs of the end user.

The technical team therefore need to be highly visible leaders in their own right. Do your technology teams carry out learning walks spending time in classes and observing first-hand how technology users interact with it? Do they provide support, train and encourage people to make more effective use of the technology? Are pupils encouraged to gain work experience as part of the curriculum by working alongside your staff so they can see what the job entails.

Remember though that the range of expertise involved in setting up a school network means it is often better to buy in expertise for initial set up leaving the school’s technical team to become competent in the day to day use and oversight of operations.

You should also consider how teachers and support staff will access on-going support and training. This will require some careful consideration of how your CPD and induction procedure marry up with the technology in place.

Step 3 Planning and Implementation

The starting point for any project planning does of course boil down to finance. It is difficult to plan a decade ahead given how much technology changes so I personally plan ahead financially for three years with fourth and fifth year plans normally left as a rough guide. There has been much debate about how much schools should spend per pupil and in my experience schools nationally spend about 6% of their per pupil funding on ICT. There are strong arguments to suggest that schools might be better off spending closer to 10% but the bottom line is that you need to set a budget.

Having established a minimum funding agreement your next step is to map out expected spending both for on-going commitments and investments in changes to bring about an infrastructure fit for the next decade.  It is best to focus initially on the core functions of the network including cabling and primary servers (such as Domain Controllers, SANs, Switches etc.). A lot of this investment goes unnoticed by everyday users save for improvements in speed and reliability but is necessary for future expansion and is the foundations on which your state of the art network will be built.

From experience, users’ main complaints about school technology is a lack of access or provision and it is unfortunate that with any programme of modernisation, the laying of foundations does not immediately resolve this issue for users. You should therefore review the availability of your current provisions to try and ensure that resources are used effectively as possible.

Realistic timescales and service level agreements also need to be negotiated and your HR team will need to work with your technical staff to ensure they have flexibility in their job descriptions to allow work to be undertaken during quieter times of the year such as holidays, weekends, evenings and night times. Make sure your projects are well planned with realistic timescales and notify users of any interruption to normal service so they can manage their workloads too.

Step 4 Evaluation

The process of evaluating your use of ICT needs to be on-going, after each phase of a rebuild, after each stage of modernisation, termly, annually etc. You can use a variety of methods for collating data on use including digital records of use, surveys and interviews but make sure that you actually observe practice and see first-hand how your technology is used.

Your evaluation should

• Lead to clear policies about usage to safeguard all users from inappropriate use.
• Result in emergency plans which take into account a variety of scenarios and standard operating procedures for staff to follow in the event of an emergency.
• Identify clear succession plans to take into account sudden losses of staff (death, new job, ill health, suspension etc.…)
• Inform your CPD and induction programme
• Identify new and evolving uses of technology.
• Allow you to update and modify your ICT budget.

Part 2 to follow – a sensible approach to accepting quotes, network structures and areas of interest for headteachers.

Teachers and Social Media

Having written in ASCL’s leadership magazine encouraging School Leaders to use twitter it makes sense to follow up with some advice about using Social Media in general. Whilst Social Media is an immensely useful tool it is something which needs wielding with sensitivity and Mark Anderson’s recent blog here on Teachers Blogging struck a chord with me as his advice almost mirrored what I refer to as my ’Monty’s golden rules’ which I wrote and are:

When putting content online think:

• If you wouldn’t want your mum to see it.
• If you wouldn’t want your employer/boss to see it.
• If you wouldn’t want your wife/husband/partner to see it
• If you wouldn’t want your friend to see it.
• If you think it might needlessly upset someone.

DON’T PUT IT ONLINE.

Having also sat as a chair on the National Professional Conduct Panels for two years and heard a number of serious cases it was surprising (or maybe not) to discover how often the issue of misusing social media would be entwined within much more serious allegations or wrongdoing. You can explore the outcomes yourself here.

As a senior school Leader the starting point for safeguarding your staff is a clear school policy. Guidance on Social Networking for teachers is available from the DFE here. A clear policy is essential to support professionals in making effective use of Social Media but it has to be backed up by frank and open discussions.

What are the rules/laws?

The DFE states:

All school staff are in a position of trust, and there are expectations that they will act in a professional manner at all times.

In terms of legislation the National Professional Conduct Panels make reference to the Teachers’ Standards which do not make specific references to social media but do refer to teachers maintaining high standards of personal and professional conduct as well as acting within statutory frameworks and those of their schools.

You should also consider the Employment Code of Conduct which is where most teachers or staff will come unstuck.

Examples of teachers coming unstuck.

Making comments about parents, pupils or your employer online. Example.

Moaning about work online. Example.

Accepting a job and not heeding expectations about images displayed on social media. Example.

Making comments about pupils. Example.

Make yourself safe

• Tip 1. – Consider using different platforms for social and professional use. I use facebook for friends and family and it is locked down. Twitter however is for professional tweeting and is open to allow engagement with other professionals.
• Tip 2 – Check your privacy settings. For instance, facebook allows you to control who sees your posts. Friends. Friends and their friends. Everyone.
• Tip 3 – Control your audience. Facebook allows you to assign friends to groups. You can control who sees your messages.
• Tip 4 – Remember that once you have put it out there any of your friends or associates can share your comments or media. They may do this out of context either deliberately or unwittingly.
• Tip 5 – Read your school’s policy on ICT and social media. If you don’t have one get involved with writing one.

Your digital profile

If you are applying for jobs it is useful to check out your digital profile. A friend of mine recently went for a big Deputy Head post. He was unsurprised to be asked “How is the rugby season going?” by the Chair of Governors, after all, he had mentioned in the personal interest section of his application that Rugby was a passion. The follow up questions was not expected – “How are you finding your 7 match ban?”

Following an altercation on the pitch a few weeks before he had been banned for some less than sporting conduct in the heat of the moment and this had been reported on the sports pages of a local news website. It was clear that the Chair of Governors had googled him as part of their vetting procedures. He didn’t get the job either. This classic video clip outlines what many teachers are like.  The first 90 seconds could be a reality for many. WARNING – MILDLY OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE IN VIDEO CLIP NOT SUITABLE FOR LITTLE KIDS.

So what can you do if there is something less than pleasant about you in a google search. There are two basic approaches you can use. One is to get it removed, the other is to dilute search results with more favourable positive results about you, so that the negative press is moved to page 2 or 3 of your google search results. Most people don’t go past page 1 of the google results. Here are some steps you can take.

1. First of all you can get it removed. If the content is illegal there are various authorities you can report it to. In some cases, content might be owned by someone who is willing to simply remove it. Contact them and make your case.
2. Get ownership of information about yourself by creating professional profiles. You could create private accounts in twitter, facebook, linkedin or even purchase your own domain name.
3. Link the profiles you have created to boost their search result status.
4. Publish articles regularly and include links to your profiles within them.
5. Share media using websites like youtube, flickr and slideshare. Aside from the positive impact of sharing resources these sites are targeted by search engines.
6. Comment on national news articles such as the BBC using your real profile name.
7. Create profiles on websites owned by local government that allow public comments. Use your real name.
8. If you are linked to news story on a national paper website, you can try bumping off the result my publishing something on their domain. Google only likes to rank one result per domain on its first page. E.g. A negative news story about you and your school is on the BBC website. Bump it off by creating a user profile with your name on the BBC site and commenting on other news stories using your name and linking in other sites owned by you.

I really enjoy pondering use of technology so please drop me a line with your thoughts. Safe surfing.

Peter

Pondering the Issue of OFSTED and Behaviour

In September 2014 OFSTED produced ‘Below the radar: low-level disruption in the country’s  classrooms’ and in Jan 2014 inspectors were told to raise expectations of behaviour and link it more closely to effective leadership and management. Since then, fewer schools have had behaviour judged to be better than other aspects of their work.

Some key findings from the document were:

• 1/5^th of teachers ignore low level disruption and try and press on.
• An average secondary school has 5 or 6 teachers who lose 10mins learning every lesson.
• 1/5^th of teachers do not feel confident in dealing with misbehaviour
• Many teachers in the UK reported that the effectiveness of behaviour policies was reduced and undermined by teachers failing to adopt a consistent approach.
• Schools judged by OFSTED to be 3 or 4 for Behaviour and Safety often have the greatest variation in standards of Behaviour and Safety in lessons, with lessons often varying across the range of 1 to 4 for judgements around the school.
• In the average school only 25% of teachers thought the behaviour policy was applied consistently.

So what did the best schools actually have?  The document listed some key aspects including:

• Leaders who are visible in classrooms, school corridors and grounds
• Leaders who know if and where low-level disruption occurs and ensure that all staff members deal with it.
• Leaders who have high expectations of behaviour and are consistent in dealing with disruptive pupils regularly tackling pupils and parents to secure compliance.
• Leaders who explain and enforce their expectations successfully to staff, pupils and parents.
• Consistent staffing with lessons being planned that are engaging.

Where schools were getting it wrong and being criticised the main areas of improvement identified were, in order of decreasing priority:

• Behaviour Management (Consistency)
• Monitoring Behaviour (Systems)
• Improving Engagement
• Increasing pupils’ responsibilities
• Raising Teachers’ expectations
• Poor behaviour (outside lessons)
• Reducing exclusions
• General improvement
• Behaviour Management Training
• Work with parents

Having reviewed the key findings from the report I thought it might be interesting to look at some of the schools in my region who had scored 3 or 4 for the Behaviour and Safety Judgement to find out what sort of things were being written in OFSTED reports.  I also picked out some key phrases and I have included them here.  The extracts below are linked to the school reports as well if you would like to read the entire document.

Review of recent OFSTED reports in my region.

Although students’ behaviour is improving, staff do not apply the behaviour policy consistently. As a result, there is too much low-level disruption in lessons and too much horseplay around school, which some students find intimidating.

Leadership and management requires improvement because actions taken to improve achievement, teaching and learning, and behaviour and safety across the school are not having sufficient impact in eradicating weaknesses in each of these areas.

Students become disinterested in learning and a very few disrupt others in class when lessons fail to capture their interest or their attitudes are not challenged.

Inspectors saw some poorly-presented work in students’ books. Where this happens, too often students are not challenged effectively to do better.

The behaviour of students requires improvement because attitudes to learning in lessons from students in all year groups are not good enough.

Students’ attitudes to learning are not always positive. Students’ enthusiasm wanes because work sometimes lacks enough interest and challenge.  

The behaviour of students requires improvement. Students’ attitudes to learning are not always positive in lessons and this impacts on their progress. Sometimes, students lack the enthusiasm to get fully involved in lessons, opting not to respond to teachers’ questions, especially where the work lacks enough interest or challenge. Students are not always well prepared for lessons and do not take enough care in how they present their work.

The behaviour of students requires improvement. This is because in a small proportion of lessons, a minority do not show enough commitment and determination and give of their best. This is particularly so where teachers’ expectations are not high enough in some subjects and the planned activities are insufficiently challenging. A minority of students do not always respond in full to teachers’ written and verbal feedback.

Behaviour is inadequate. A small minority of students behave in an unacceptable manner outside lessons. They show a lack of respect for property, adults and one another. They fail to respond to instructions and requests from adults. Poor behaviour is not always tackled firmly enough by staff.

Senior leaders and governors have not taken urgent action to deal effectively with unacceptable behaviour around the school and to keep students safe.

Work sometimes lacks challenge and is not always interesting or varied enough to motivate students to learn. The low-level disruption caused by some students in lessons prevents them and others from achieving well.

For contrast I thought it would also be interesting to see what outstanding looks like and an extract from one report is here.

Behaviour in lessons and around the school is exemplary. Students are polite and respectful, and their well-above average attendance shows not only how much they enjoy school, but also how keen they are to do well.

Students have excellent attitudes to learning because they find teaching activities engaging and enjoyable and because they know their teachers help them to improve.

There is no low-level disruption in lessons. There are very few serious incidents of poor behaviour and, as a result, the proportion of students excluded is well below both the national and local averages. Equally, the numbers of incidents resulting in detentions has reduced dramatically over the past 12 months.

Students take on responsibilities willingly and are very proud of the role they play in making the academy such a successful and harmonious community. This includes the sixth-form students who are lunchtime supervisors. A group of supervisors, also from the sixth form, are tasked with checking everyone is at their post on time. They do this for students and teachers and this ensures the level of supervision is very strong. However, during the school day and between activities, students require very little direction to go where they need to. In an assembly observed by inspectors, students dismissed themselves and did so quietly, calmly and efficiently, meaning they moved to their lessons in good time.

Areas we might look at!

Three things jump out to me from reading the recent reports.  They are

1. It doesn’t take many ‘rotten apples’ to spoil the barrel.
2. Inspectors are increasingly using work scrutiny as evidence of poor behaviour where books are not good enough.
3. There appears to be a clear link between lessons not being engaging and poor behaviour.

What might this mean for school leaders?

If you are reading this you are probably a school leader and wondering  So What.  So here’s a 12 point checklist to give your school a healthcheck.

1. Know your behaviour data?  Aside from the usual headline data like exclusions you should drill down into the data.  A clear system of recording behaviour incidents will help effective analysis and I can recommend Sleuth if you are considering a new behaviour management system.  Breaking it down by year group is a good way to start your analysis but examining data by subject area can also be useful.  Can you identify specific groups, issues in a particular area of the school, what time misbehaviour occurs, which staff report it and so on.  Understanding the patterns of misbehaviour allows you to plan how you will intervene.
2. Evaluate whether or not your system is impacting on improving behaviour. Consider what steps you can put into place to deal with the issues?  Examining behaviour data as part of a team can be a stimulating way of evaluating data and can help when trying to identify key issues.  Perhaps you could delegate the responsibility of generating data to a member of admin staff in order to provide data sets to specific middle leaders for evaluation.
3. Check your policy. Is it clear?  Does everyone have a copy.  Is it on the school website?  Clear rules help everyone.  If there are inconsistencies staff and pupils won’t know how to behave and will both become resentful when rules are applied for some and not for others.  On your next learning walk keep an eye out for what pupils are challenged about.  Do all pupils get challenged for the same things by all staff?
4. Identify the key offenders and focus your support on them. Make sure all staff know who they are, get them to share strategies to engage with them and invite parents in to generate a line of communication with home.  Celebrate your successes too.
5. Don’t forget how important books are. If you announce when you are doing work scrutiny can you be sure that your findings reflect the reality of books in school.  Informal learning walks might reveal a different picture.  Make sure you have a clear set of standards and expectations for pupils to follow and publish them in every classroom.  If staff are inconsistent in their marking and expectations give them time to work in groups and compare the work of pupils across a range of subjects.  It can be fascinating to see what your pupils produce in other lessons.
6. It is no surprise that lack of engagement leads to poor behaviour. Ensure you focus relentlessly on improving teaching as there are clear links between engaging lessons reducing misbehaviour.  A good starting point is helping staff to improve lesson starters.  If your teachers lose their pupils in the first few minutes it is not likely they will get them back in the space of a lesson.
7. Whilst exclusion is good for setting clear messages to the rest of the school community that there are serious consequences for pupils who break the rules, pupils learn very little by being excluded and are often exposed to an environment that may arguably be the cause of their poor behaviour. You might therefore consider how you can utilise the staffing and premises at your disposal to provide a separate area where experienced staff can isolate pupils from the rest of the school and work closely to support the pupils’ with behaviour problems whilst allowing those pupils who are ready to learn to get on.
8. I hate to be punitive. Experience has taught me that engaging pupils is a much better way to distract pupils from negative behaviour.  How much does the ethos of your school encourage pupils to be a part of the school?  An effective Student Council can give pupils a strong voice and if you haven’t got one perhaps this is an area you can look at.
9. Raising Teachers’ expectations has to be down to leaders setting the tone. Highly visible leaders are able to model positive interventions, support staff and whether you believe it or not, both staff and pupils are fascinated by those individuals at the top, who can have so much impact on their lives. Interacting with pupils and showing them you are interested in them can influence them positively.
10. Don’t forget that behaviour needs to be good outside the lessons too. If your pupils are running amok on the corridors you need to sort this.  Schools can be big places and expecting a small duty team and senior leaders to manage on their own is unrealistic.  Behaviour is everybody’s responsibility so share the job out with all your staff, even the non-teaching staff.  If your staff don’t like the idea remind them that bad behaviour stops everyone from working.  Everyone on the corridor at lesson change leaves pupils with no were to hide or slow time.
11. Behaviour Management Training was widely reported as having little impact in the OFSTED report but I think teachers can be taught techniques to improve their classroom management. The impact of behaviour training is probably limited though by issues such as consistency, visibility of leaders and whether the school has clear expectations.  If you get the basics right and want to invest in behaviour management training consider utilising new technologies such as IRIS to allow experienced staff to coach others.   I can also recommend Jason Bangbala if you are looking for good quality training.
12. Finally, don’t forget parents. Please don’t only ring them when it’s all gone wrong though.  Positive calls home can have a much bigger effect than a call about an hour’s detention.  The simplest approaches can work the best and challenging your teachers to phone one parent every day with a positive message can have a profound effect on the perceptions parents have and also the behaviour of pupils.

 

 

ASCL Article on Twitter

For those who missed my ASCL article in Leadership magazine entitled A little bird told me…” it is here along with a load of excellent holiday reading material from many other authors.

OFSTED 2014 July Updates

OFSTED as usual are seemingly busy moving goal posts while we are all off trying to recuperate.  Putting my cynical humour aside though, it is nice to see the subsidiary guidance subsumed into the handbook and what would appear to be a reduction in the amount of core texts that senior leaders need to be concerned about.  There are new documents including

The School Inspection Handbook July 2014 which is bigger than before since it now incorporates the guidance previously found in the Subsidiary Guidance document.  Heather Leatt has done a fantastic job of highlighting all the changes on her website here and the document is here.

The Framework for School Inspection which I have analysed and highlighted and significant changes or revisions here.

Inspecting safeguarding in maintained schools and academies – a briefing for section 5 inspections

Searching Pupils Safely

In a week when a colleague has been tragically lost following a fatal stabbing in a school, teachers and school leaders will no doubt be asking questions about their own safety measures and wondering about such topics as the power to search students.

I should start by saying that my thoughts are with the family of Ann Maguire.  It is clear from the reporting that she was an inspirational teacher and this only adds to the immense sense of loss that this violent act has brought about.

Focusing now on schools and what we might do to improve our own safety I think today’s announcement by Brian Lightman is a sensible starting point.  Brain called for calm and warned against turning schools into fortresses and I am inclined to agree.  This sort of incident is thankfully a rarity in our schools.  With any risk avoidance strategy the steps put into place to safeguard people from the risk should be proportionate to the likelihood of the risk actually occurring. It is also clear from evidence in America that simply introducing numerous security measures will not eradicate the chance of a violent incident.

For those of you who are now considering whether or not you should search pupils you will find the guidance at the DFE website here useful in determining your school’s specific policy.

However your school decides to respond there will almost certainly be occasions when staff need to search a pupil whether it is to determine if a pupil has stolen property on them, a weapon, banned substances or any other number of items.  When that point is reached no doubt you will come to the same question I arrived at when writing my school’s policy on searching students.  That being, how does one correctly carry out a search on a person.  While I am no security expert I did put together the knowledge I had from working briefly in the armed forces and working as a doorman to pay my way through University.  If you are tasked with searching a pupil I would consider this to be sensible guidance on how to do so.

How to carry out a non-contact search with the metal detecting wand.

1. Consider if a search is needed.  Remember you may have witnesses that could assist you or CCTV footage that may render a search as unnecessary.
2. A witness is not needed but it is good practice to have one.  You do not need to worry about genders for this type of search.
3. Explain that you want to carry out a search, explain why and get permission.
4. Consider the location you are doing the search.  A crowd of students gawping and pointing is not an ideal place to do a search.
5. Ask them to give you anything sharp or items that they shouldn’t have. SAFETY – they may have sharps so it is better to get them to offer them up at the start.
6. Ask the person to put their arms out to the side.
7. Arm the metal detector wand and check it works against a metal item on your own body.
8. Start at the neck and run the wand along the arm on the top and then back along the underside.
9. Repeat for the other arm.
10. Check the hands are open and not hiding anything.
11. Run the wand from the waist up to the armpits on both sides.
12. Run the wand up the front of the body in a sweeping motion.  You may need to do this more than twice for bigger people.
13. Ask them to turn and repeat for the back.
14. Then check front and rear pockets.  Don’t put your hands in the pockets (DANGER – SHARPS).  If you find an item ask the person to empty the pockets.
15. Check the legs sweeping from the hip to the floor and back up the inside leg.  Repeat for both legs.  Run the wand up the front and down the back of the leg.  Repeat for the second leg.
16. If you have removed items from the person’s pockets or a coat, get the person to check the items for you so you are not accused of theft or inappropriate behaviour.
17. You do not need to contact the body with the wand.  If you are warned of an item by the wand get the person to remove the item or identify if it is a zip or a belt buckle.

 How to carry out a contact search with permission.

1. Consider if a search is needed.  Remember you may have witnesses that could assist you or CCTV footage that may render a search as unnecessary.
2. Get a witness of the same gender as the person being searched.  You should also be the same gender as the person being searched.
3. Explain that you want to carry out a search, explain why and get permission.
4. Consider the location you are doing the search.  A crowd of students gawping and pointing is not an ideal place to do a search.
5. Ask them to give you anything sharp or items that they shouldn’t have. SAFETY – they may have sharps so it is better to get them to offer them up at the start.
6. Ask them to remove any external garments like coats or hats. (Don’t ask the person to remove religious head wear.
7. Consider using the metal wand detector to assist you in the search.  Remember the wand only finds metal items, not drugs, drink etc….
8. Ask the person to put their arms out to the side.
9. Place your hands round the arm at the shoulder and slide them down the arm to the wrist.  Check the hands are open and not hiding anything.
10. Feel the collars.
11. Use the back of the hands to feel down the chest and sides.  The back of the hands is less suggestive and less personal.
12. Ask them to turn and feel the back of the body.  Remember the back of the hands is less suggestive.
13. Then check front and rear pockets, don’t put your hands in the pockets (DANGER – SHARPS).  If you feel an item in the pocket get the person to empty their pockets
14. Check the legs as well like you did the arms.  Start from the thigh and slide down to the ankle.
15. You might want to check shoes as well.  Get them to remove the shoes to check them.
16. If you have removed items from the pockets or a coat, get the person to check the items for you so you are not accused of theft or inappropriate behaviour.
17. Ask the person to run their fingers round their waistline/belt.

 How to carry out a contact search without permission.

The procedure is as above but you must make sure that a witness is present and that staff involved with the restraint are suitably trained, confident enough to tackle the individual and you should always consider all other alternatives to a forced search.

 

 

 

 

 

4 Steps to Improve Safety in Your School

In February 2014 the Government produced guidance for schools on Health and Safety here.   It is refreshing to see the government trying to remove bureaucracy for school leaders and clarify that the management of health and safety is about common sense.    At page 3 the guidance refers to removing the need for paperwork and it also refers to reducing the fears of teachers in relation to legal action.  To date, as far as I am aware there have only been two occasions where individual staff have been in trouble with the law because of negligence in relation to Health and Safety.  These two cases were the Glenridding tragedy reported here which resulted in a teacher being jailed for manslaughter and a second case here, which resulted in a headteacher being fined.  It is therefore true to say that in pretty much all cases where the issue of negligence is being pursued, the respondent will be the school or authority employing the teacher and not the individual teacher.

My concern with the guidance in relation to reducing paperwork though is this.  Whenever there is legal case brought against a school the evidence which really holds weight in court, is that which is on paper.  Risk assessments, copies of planning documentation, training certificates and a trail of signatures showing that a breadth of people have been involved in planning and reviewing.  It doesn’t have to be copious in quantity but nevertheless, a written record is strong evidence indeed that a school has taken reasonable precautions.  This link shows the current range of cases brought against schools.

So what can you do to review safety in your school.

Step 1:

Make sure you have in place whole school risk assessments covering the main causes of injury as identified by the HSE.  These apply across all industries and include:

•          Slips trips and falls
•          Collisions
•          Falls from a height
•          Manual handling
•          Chemical injuries
•          Asbestos
•          Stress
•          Fire

Review the risk assessments you have in place that apply to schools.  These might include:

•          COSSH
•          DSE Display Screen Equipment
•          Adverse Weather
•          Use of electric tools
•          Use of hand tools
•          Electrical safety
•          First aid
•          Legionella
•          Lone working
•          Movement around school
•          Out of hours activities
•          Trees
•          Working at height
•          Vulnerable people and PEEP plans

Step 2

Give copies of the RAs to those people they apply to and ask them to review them.  That ensures they are aware of them and saves you the job of writing hundreds of RAs.

Step 3

Review the training people have had and ensure there is an annual cycle of re-evaluation.

Step 4

Make sure everyone has had Risk Assessment Training.  Most teachers will need to understand this skill at a class level, especially PE, Science and technology teachers.