Subverting the pseudo-science of inspection with research-informed practice and pedagogic principles – An ungraded approach to the evaluation of teachers

This chapter recounts the experience of a partnership between a university and local further education (FE) providers during an Ofsted inspection of its Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes for post-compulsory teachers. Building on an internal position paper written at the time of the inspection in 2013, the chapter examines how the partnership defended its decision to adopt an ungraded approach to the evaluation of its student teachers and in so doing shares some of the key principles of the philosophy underpinning its position. Given the subsequent shift in Ofsted policy to remove the grading of individual lesson observations from inspections, this is a timely chapter as it discusses some of the challenges faced by an ITE programme in resisting the normalised use of grading scales to assess its student teachers. In sharing this story, the chapter exposes the reductive nature of inspection judgements and casts doubt on the validity and reliability of its assessment framework. It also offers hope to teacher education programmes that seek to protect and prioritise sustainable teacher growth over the pseudo-scientific practice of performative measurement