http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17226187

Thanks for the link - I missed that one this morning. Sadly, nothing there to surprise most of us, I expect.

We are ALWAYS being told there's not enough music in schools. We are usually being told there's a shortage of music teachers. It used to make me sick - I know, when I was still looking around, that what there was a shortage of, was music teaching JOBS.

I have little time for ofsted. They're a load of bullies in my opinion. They make snap judgements based on snapshot evidence and it sows uncertainty, stress and demoralisation in schools. How can childrn learn in a demoralised school?

See what I stated elsewhere : Ofsted state a problem, but not any attempt at a solution, or how to implement it...

An ex headmaster I know once told an ofsted inspector that they were a guest in his school and if they upset the staff they would be told to leave in no uncertain terms.

Nice one !

Barry - agreed.

I used to work in FE and was appalled to discover that normal college activities ceased when the OFSTED visit was due -everything had to be focussed on the inspection. The HoDs just kowtowed to the inspectors.

Sad to say, if that happened in 2012, the school would probably get an immediate fail in the inspection. Ofsted, to me, seem to be able to say and do exactly what they like, with no consequences

Yeah I think that's pretty much the case. I think they don't provide any solutions because they can't actually make anything happen. In Jerry Springer the Opera Jerry has the fantastic line, "I don't solve problems - I just televise them." Same with Ofcom and Of-anything else.

When my sister complained she was rubbish at GCSE chemistry I looked at the papers and told her there was no way of establishing that from her performance on the paper because there was only 1 question that actually involved something to do with chemistry - the rest was a combination of what could very generously be described as sociology and 'common sense'. Ofsted criteria similarly are very loosely, if at all, connected with productive teaching. It also doesn't help that the definition of good teaching and what is considered most important changes about every 5 years depending on who's in government so an Ofsted inspection is purely an exercise in trying to play along with whatever's in vogue this week.

You're telling me!

I took early retirement - no, not early retirement, because I was already over retiring age, but I had intended to soldier on for at least the rest of that year - because of a single-subject inspection (meant to be a survey but they still gave out goods, outstandings and inadequates) focussed almost entirely on me, since I was the only music teacher in the primary school.

I'm not saying any more here about it, except to say that the conduct of the inspector was so contemptible an underhand and - we thought, not just me, but the head and the LEA - quite likely vindictive, that many people have not believed it possible. I was not involved in the complaints procedure that I'm told was followed, only that ofsted would not budge on the report that was made, which everyone who knew the school and its music considered to be quite outrageous.

Fortunately I'm very resilient, and the day afterwards, I decided was the first day of the rest of my life. A different person could hae ended up with a complete breakdown.

I do think this was all made worse by the fact that our school had been anticipating a full inspection later in the year (which didn't hapoen until a further year later) and was so anxious to get upgraded from good to outstanding (I could have told them they were neer going to get it, as I'd read statements from them that outstanding would need to include a measure of the pupils' level of attainment, and we were a school in a socially deprived area with a lot of lower ability children) and as a result every procedure was geared towards what ofsted would approve. It was also at the height of the security paranoia (child protection, CRB for anyone who entered the gates almost) that the level of paranoia was quite alarming.

Yep, I think it would be true to say that I thoroughly loathe what ofsted does to schools.

Music brings happiness and joy to people's life!

I said more than once in my school that I saw it as part of my job description, though I couldn't see it ever being written into it - that part of the reason I was there was to help to make, and keep, the children happy. Unhappy children cannot work.

Far too touchy-feely an idea to include in the official job description, though.