Ofsted ITT Inspection
Briefing
Secondary trainees, NQTs
(ex-MMU trainees),
Professional and Subject
Mentors.
NB: please also familiarise
yourself with the PP
presentation on the MMU
Faculty of Education website
(in the Partnership section)
entitled “Overview of changes
to the Ofsted inspection of
ITT”
Key points to note 1:
• The quality of ITT Provision at MMU within the
university and partnership schools is being inspected
NOT individual people or individual schools;
• The inspectors will be interested to see how what we
say we are good at/less good at is reflected in the
attainment of trainees, and how school colleagues
and MMU tutors have contributed to this;
• Therefore, it is helpful to think of our trainees/NQTs as
representative of the quality and effectiveness of our
programmes.
Key points to note 2:
• Because of the 2-day notice of Ofsted inspection, if
you are involved (as a trainee, NQT, Subject or
Professional Mentor) you will be telephoned on the
Thursday of the week before the inspection and invited
to a briefing at the MMU Didsbury or Crewe campus;
please give this request priority as far as
is possible so that everyone is fully
prepared for the inspection the following
week.
NB: Slides 6-10 of this presentation are
aimed at current MMU trainees and
current NQTs who trained at MMU in
2011-12 (however it will be helpful for
SMs and PMs to read these too);
Slides 11-14 relate specifically to
Subject Mentors and Professional
Mentors;
Trainees/MMU NQTs:
What might I be asked to do? What can I expect?
You may be part of a group of trainees/NQTs invited to discuss your
experiences during the course, or interviewed individually:
• How well have you been/were you supported in school by your mentors
and MMU Tutors?
• In which areas have you made/did you make most progress? How do
you know?
• Do/Did you know what to do to improve?
• Do/Did you know who to go to with a problem? How were any concerns
or difficulties you encountered addressed?
• How well has/did the course prepare/d you to manage pupils’ behaviour
effectively?
• How knowledgeable do you feel about teaching pupils with special
educational needs?
Trainees/NQTs cont’d
• How well prepared do you feel to teach pupils with EAL?
• Are/were targets set for you useful?
• In which ways has/did your subject knowledge developed/develop?
• Tell me about the impact of your teaching on pupils’ learning.
• How effective was your induction to your school placements?
• Which elements of the course have you found most useful?
• How did you find the interview process?
• How well informed did you feel about the nature of the course prior to
the start?
• Did you undertake school experience prior to the course?
• Which are the areas where you feel least prepared at the moment?/ felt
least prepared at the end of your PGCE?
• What are/were the best features of the course for you?
• Did you have/have you had support in writing job applications and
preparing for interviews?
Trainees and NQTs
You may be observed teaching part of a lesson or a whole lesson
and discuss it with an inspector afterwards. It is important to note
that the inspector;
• will not assess your lesson in the way a tutor or mentor wouldhe/she will be thinking about your lesson in terms of the overall
“picture” they are trying to create about the quality of ITE
provision at MMU and gathering evidence to support or
contradict the claims we have made about our courses;
• will not give you a grade for the lesson but should give you some
general feedback;
• may ask probing questions about the lesson and what you thought
about it, but they must be courteous and respectful towards you, the
pupils and school staff present.
NB: Please ensure the inspector has a copy of your lesson plan and
any resources for the lesson; and that your teaching file is to
hand for them to read if they wish.
You may be asked to provide your teaching files, to show evidence of
the quality of your planning and evaluation, your developing subject
knowledge, your schemes of work, your monitoring and assessment
of the pupils you work with-any documentation that demonstrates
your progress.
Please ensure your files “speak for themselves”, for example,
1. Labelling sections for different year groups/classes
2. Ensuring things are in a logical order (eg: lesson plans in order of date,
evaluations are with related lesson plan, scheme of work/project with related lesson
plans)
3. Signpost key points-eg: response to targets, evidence of progress, evidence of
impact on pupils’ learning, for the inspector
3. Include examples of teaching resources, lesson observations by mentors, or
MMU tutors, records of extra-curricular involvement-in short, everything you
would normally be expected to do as part of the course, or part of your NQT
induction.
Ask yourself: does this file accurately reflect how I see myself as a
committed, organised, professional, knowledgeable beginning
teacher?
Some points to consider for NQTs and
trainees
• Please do not use your involvement in the inspection
to “get things off your chest” or raise issues for the
first time (we hope you have told us already!)
• Please be professional, balanced and proportionate in
your responses-remember (and refer to!) your
university sessions as well as placement experiences
(the inspectors will not separate these out!)
• Be honest
• Help each other out if you can if you can see someone
is struggling with a question asked by the inspectors.
Subject Mentor:
1. You may be observed giving feedback to the trainee following a
lesson; consider
• how you involve the trainee in the feedback
• target setting
• how you judge and comment upon the impact of the student’s teaching
on pupils’ learning
• what you are focusing on in the lesson observation and how this
relates to the progress of the trainee and their particular stage in their
training.
The inspector will be interested to see how personalised the
feedback is, how effective they think it will be for the trainee, how
well you know the trainee, in terms of their strengths and areas for
development, and that your judgements are appropriate.
2. Subject Mentor/Professional Mentor:
You may be asked (individually or as part of a group of colleagues)
• About your mentor training and how well you feel prepared for your role in
supporting MMU trainees
• How effective is communication between MMU and you/your school?
• How helpful are visiting MMU tutors in confirming your judgements (or
otherwise) about your trainee’s progress?
• Are you confident in the judgements you make about trainees’ progress?
• What are your trainee’s strengths and areas for development at this point (and
how do you know this)?
• What are the areas they have made progress in in their most recent placement
(and how do you know this)?
• What have you or other colleagues in your school done to help trainees , EAL,
and literacy?
• Do you know who to contact if there is a problem (eg: with the trainee’s
progress or professionalism, or with a visiting MMU tutor?)
• Do you understand the procedures for dealing with a failing trainee?
• How do you challenge a high performing trainee?
• How confident do you feel in using the new Teaching Standards to assess
trainees?
3. Subject/Professional Mentors:
Please have any records of your work with the trainee to
hand, for example:
• Lesson observations
• Records of mentor meetings
• How you have used the progress indicators
• Review forms (and grades)
• Job reference (if you have written one)
• Any other relevant documentation-eg: displays of pupils’
work, evidence of assessment or marking of pupils’ work
etc.
4. Professional Mentors:
• Please have a copy of the professional practice
programme, (including materials for different sessions and
details of induction) and your school’s ITT policy to show
the inspectors.
• Be prepared to discuss your role in relation to the subject
mentor role
• You may be asked to
a) compare working with MMU with other providers
b) discuss the quality of past students, especially those now
employed in your school.
c) Consider how you feel about the partnership overall
Finally, thank you for your attention. If you have
any questions, please contact:
Elaine McCreery: Acting Head of ITT
(e.mccreery@mmu.ac.uk ) tel:07970 549175
Helen Scott: Head of Department for CPD & ITT
Partnerships (h.scott@mmu.ac.uk) tel: 07825 696
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