There’s an annoying little advertisement for the post of social care inspector at Ofsted that keeps popping up on my screen, when I’m trying to read something else.
Somebody who left a front line job in local authority social
work to join Ofsted is quoted in the ad as saying that she has "made more difference "in
a few months at Ofsted than she did in fifteen years of practice.
This conveys completely the wrong message: (1) it puts practice down, when what is most important is the right
service at the point of delivery, not at the point of inspection; (2) it
undervalues the work of practitioners and overvalues the work of inspectors;
(3) it suggests that top-down is the route to improvement – Ofsted knows best –
when what is needed is continuous improvement by those that practice, not endless
prescription by those that can only preach.
