Judging School's Qualities
Private / independent schools may have an Independent Schools Inspection.
What's the difference you may well ask?
"Both ISI and Ofsted report on independent schools’ compliance with the DfE Education (Independent Schools Standards) Regulations.
These are the statutory rules the DfE imposes on independent schools against which ISI inspects.
But ISI and Ofsted use a different framework and criteria for judging school quality – and they use different judgement words too.
For example, ISI uses excellent, good, sound and unsatisfactory and Ofsted uses outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.
Another difference is that ISI inspection teams largely consist of practising senior leaders currently working in ISC schools, whereas Ofsted inspectors have not necessarily run a school.
This means ISI inspectors are realistic and knowledgeable about the challenges for individual schools and their reports are more nuanced. For example, ISI inspectors judge ISC schools against the higher standards of academic achievement and extracurricular activities in the sector as a whole as well as against national norms.
ISI reports are also less data driven than with Ofsted, although Ofsted has announced that it will ditch exam results as criteria for success in September 2019 [article in The Guardian].
In addition, ISI reports stand out for the attention they give to whether a school meets its own aims.
These tend to be more specific to the school and fuller than in the state sector. In other words, ISI inspections are tailoring their report around what the school says it is doing rather than what the state thinks it should be doing."
Your comments?
What's the difference you may well ask?
"Both ISI and Ofsted report on independent schools’ compliance with the DfE Education (Independent Schools Standards) Regulations.
These are the statutory rules the DfE imposes on independent schools against which ISI inspects.
But ISI and Ofsted use a different framework and criteria for judging school quality – and they use different judgement words too.
For example, ISI uses excellent, good, sound and unsatisfactory and Ofsted uses outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.
Another difference is that ISI inspection teams largely consist of practising senior leaders currently working in ISC schools, whereas Ofsted inspectors have not necessarily run a school.
This means ISI inspectors are realistic and knowledgeable about the challenges for individual schools and their reports are more nuanced. For example, ISI inspectors judge ISC schools against the higher standards of academic achievement and extracurricular activities in the sector as a whole as well as against national norms.
ISI reports are also less data driven than with Ofsted, although Ofsted has announced that it will ditch exam results as criteria for success in September 2019 [article in The Guardian].
In addition, ISI reports stand out for the attention they give to whether a school meets its own aims.
These tend to be more specific to the school and fuller than in the state sector. In other words, ISI inspections are tailoring their report around what the school says it is doing rather than what the state thinks it should be doing."
Your comments?
