‘OFSTED SAYS WE ARE OUTSTANDING’: HMI CONCEPTIONS OF TEACHING EXCELLENCE IN THE NINETEENTH- AND TWENTIETH-CENTURY PRIMARY SCHOOL

ABSTRACT

Among the most important duties of the school inspectorate since its formation in 1839 has been to report on the quality of teaching. Yet there is relatively little historical discussion over how the inspectorate has defined and evaluated teaching quality, which this paper seeks to address. Following a discussion of conceptual issues and an outline of the paper’s methodology, the inspectorate’s views on teaching excellence are compared in three significant decades in its history: in the 1840s, when inspection judgements on teaching were highly individualized; in the 1880s, when the Education Department explicated and rewarded teaching excellence in financial terms; and the 1990s, when the newly-formed Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) introduced comprehensive guidance upon which to base its judgements. The paper identifies the influences on such judgements, how teaching excellence was described, and longstanding challenges associated with consistency of inspection judgements. Such historical perspective affords important context to questions that continue to have resonance in the inspection of primary schools, notably how teaching quality is defined, measured, evaluated and improved.

Keywords:

• teaching excellence
• primary schools
• HMI
• evaluation
• Ofsted

6. Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.