An interview was conducted with a member of staff at Mount St Mary's High School in Leeds. My sister who works their told me that the school had just been inspected by Ofsted one month ago. The interview was designed to ask about their experiences of school inspections, and inspectors and their opinions on them.
I composed a letter to Mount St Mary's High School in Leeds. To view the letter click on the icon below;
The following questions were asked;
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What is the name of the High School in which you teach? |
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How long have you been working at that High School?. |
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How many inspections have you witnessed at the school while you have been teaching? |
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Have you had a class inspected while you were teaching it? |
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Did you change the contents or teaching style of the lecture when the inspector was watching? |
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How did you feel about the inspector watching your lesson? |
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Did the inspector ask any questions to the pupils? |
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How long beforehand did the staff know about the prospect of the school being inspected? |
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Did it change their behavior in any way? |
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How did the pupils react to the inspection? |
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Where there any major changes made to the school before the inspectors arrived? |
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Did you find out how well you personally scored in the inspection? |
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Did you think the overall Ofsted report of the school was fair and true? |
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Do you think the school benefited from the inspection in any way? |
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Did anything change at the school after the inspection, what were the long term effects of the inspection? |
The interview was recorded using a Sony Mini disc player, over the phone. To listen to the interview and the teachers answers click on the button -
The answers show that the teacher had a good inspection. They felt that Ofsted had carried it out very well, with little disruption to the class and teaching. The teacher had only worked at the school for two years so this was her first inspection, and they did admit to being nervous while it was being carried out.
Overall I did think that the interview gave a good perspective of a teachers opinions of Ofsted inspections. The interview would have been better if it was longer, including more in depth questions. I rang schools which were in the Lancaster area to see whether they would do an interview, which would have been more ideal because they were nearer the university. I could have met them and had a better quality interview. Under the circumstances I think the result of the interview was successful.
