A Labour Government would scrap Ofsted. In response to persistent
and loud complaints by teachers and head teachers that Ofsted creates
an environment of fear, anxiety and worry the Labour Party has stated
it would scrap the current inspection body. Head teachers and
teaching unions have called the current inspection process punitive,
requiring schools to spend a disproportionate amount of time preparing
for an inspection visit, having to do a lot of tick box exercises
that add nothing of value to the school. The time spent in an
individual school is too short and does allow inspectors to get below
the surface or understand the context in which learning and teaching
is taking place. The one word judgments can never sum up a school and
a bad judgment can feel like a prison sentence involving years of
irrelevant work and extra pressure on staff. All of which would be
equally true of Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Should Labour be consistent and promise to scrap both inspection
bodies? Do those who manage and work in NHS Trust and Local Authority
adult social care want to see an end to CQC? Certainly there is a
regular chorus of complaints from managers about the judgements and a
view that inspectors don’t take sufficient account of budget cuts,
increased demand and local circumstances( economic and social
deprivation) in arriving at these judgments. But social workers don’t
seem as vexed as teachers about the inspection process. Nor do they
complain as loudly of the extra work and pressure involved in
preparing for an inspection. In general I don’t think social worker
feel as threatened by an inspection as teachers appear to be. In fact
some social workers welcome the opportunity to tell inspectors about
their frustrations, their feelings of not being valued and their
concerns about the impact of management decisions on their clients.
And there will be those who hope that this will be an opportunity to
highlight the good work they are doing despite reorganisations, hot
desking, high case loads and over ambitious management performance targets.
Of course a bad judgement for the service or organisation has a
negative impact but sometimes it also brings a rethink on the balance
between qualified and unqualified social workers, a few additional
posts, an upgrade on equipment and even a review of some unpopular
management initiatives like hot desking!
Blair Mcpherson ex social worker and former director blogger and
author www.blairmcpherson.co.uk