I am torn between disbelief and despair by
an article in the Evesham Journal
about Worcestershire County Council’s Children’s Services.
Has somebody misunderstood what is going on
or are council chiefs (as the headline proclaims) really planning to stage “a
series of mock inspections” of Worcestershire's child protection services in
order to prepare for an upcoming visit from Ofsted?
I don’t know specifically what is happening
in Worcestershire. But generally it seems to me that there is a fundamental
problem with the impact of the Ofsted regime; with its judgemental approach and
its narrowly graded outcomes. A good result in an inspection can become more
important than actually providing a good service. Improving appearances can
become more important than improving service quality. Pleasing the inspectors can
become more important than meeting children’s needs.
It all adds up to just more and more
pressure on services that are already pressured as a result of tight financial
constraints, increasing demands and a longstanding and unremitting shortage of suitably
trained and experienced staff.
To my mind it’s all part of a name and
blame and shame culture. It isn’t a recipe for improvement, it’s a recipe for knocking
the stuffing out of services and the people who deliver them.
