ELECTRICCHALK

Image - fotdmike on Flickr

2 rather discouraging Guardian links to look at…

Tougher School Inspections form OFSTED  – Great! Just brilliant news for schools in disadvantaged areas. I have to admit to being confused. Some messages coming out of government are about freeing up the curriculum and taking a broader approach to assessing schools. Does this now mean that no matter how good you are on other measures you can’t possibly be a good school if your GCSE’s don’t achieve the government’s politically selected target? It’s like Chris Woodhead never left.

And CCTV, too. Yay!  I acknowledge that in schools monitoring the public areas is necessary but there’s something not quite right about sticking cameras in the teaching and learning spaces. The bit that got me was the idea that some schools might use CCTV as a way of monitoring teacher performance. This suggests a further decline in the lack of trust in teachers’ professionalism. Not only that, it sends a message to students that they are not trusted either which doesn’t seem healthy to me.

Does anyone teach in a classroom with CCTV? What’s it like for you?

Anyway, have a good weekend. I’m off for further grumping…