My ball, your game: Dilemmas in self‐regulation according to the ofsted criteria

Abstract

It is argued by Ofsted that the criteria for the inspection of schools should allow teachers to self‐regulate their own organisation and that the visitation of inspection teams should merely be an external moderation exercise. The use of these criteria defines the rules of the game as perceived by Ofsted but they put the ball in the court of the teachers. This raises a number of issues about whose ‘self’ is most important in school development, the State's or the teachers’. This paper looks at some of the issues involved in the possible conflict of interest between individual teachers’ craft knowledge and centralised State regulation. It examines the emerging issues from a study of five schools which undertook the process of self‐regulation and found that due to years of rapid and enforced change many teachers were treating new demands at a technical level and felt quite unable to find the time or the energy to express their own voice. The Ofsted‐inspired, self‐regulating scenario creates a number of dilemmas and challenges for the developing school. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.