Feature Articles > Accreditation Agencies/Inspection Organisations: Which Ones Are Real? > "Inspected by Ofsted": True or False (mostly false!)
If schools outside the UK say they're inspected by Ofsted, can you believe them? (Mostly not- or at least, not yet!) How do you know, and if not Ofsted, which agencies are legitimate? And will you be allowed to see the real report?
Inspected by Ofsted: True or False
For those who aren't familiar with it, Ofsted is the inspectorate for "children and learners" in England ("through a comprehensive system of inspection and regulation covering childcare, schools, colleges, children's services, teacher training and youth work". Quotes are from the Ofsted web site).
Outside of England, Ofsted officially inspects ONLY Ministry of Defence schools. Full stop. Sniff the air when an overseas school claims it has been ‘inspected by Ofsted’; true, its contract inspectors can be hired in a private arrangement between the school and an inspection contractor, but foreign employers may or may not lean on them for certain results and there's no way to know what's been changed in the report after the inspector flies home- or even whether the "inspector" really just did a gap year making coffee at the Ofsted offices.
Schools abroad might not readily give access to these reports, and may say they are for the school or the country's Ministry of Education and not for the parents; parents should ask the schools directly if this is of interest. Because the reports are not official Ofsted reports, there is no guarantee that the report you are reading is complete, or even the one written by the inspector.
However...
There are other, very good accreditation agencies that eyeball British schools, but mostly British schools are results driven....less emphasis on the process for teaching than on each student's exam results (GCSEs, or IGCSEs, and A levels).
However, it doesn't hurt to look for further evidence of excellence; just know it's not a deal-killer if you don't find it. We might adjust this opinion as we watch the new inspection system develop....it may indeed become a deal-killer, and will probably at least make you want to ask schools why they haven't been inspected or accredited.
If not Ofsted, Who?
For now, look for accreditation by the Council of Independent Schools (CIS) (and membership in their sister organization, the European Council of Independent Schools), and by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) (further explained in the Independent Schools Council (ISC) site). (The ISC will be working with the DCSF on the new standards, along with the British Council).
COBIS (Council of the British Independent Schools, previously known as COBISEC), itself a member of the ISC, is another worthy membership organization and as mentioned in the introduction to this section, well enough respected that it is recognised by theUK Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and its members may join the UK teachers retirement and pension scheme. To be members, COBIS requires that schools be inspected or 'willing to be inspected' by ISI.
They have a sister organization, FOBISSEA (Federation of British Independent Schools of South East Asia) which is less stringent that COBIS and basically self-regulating. They say they want members to be British curriculum schools that have good practice, but it is their own membership who determine that.
The important thing is not to confuse mere membership (no matter how august the body), or even just licensing by the local government, with genuine accreditation or inspections by disinterested, legitimate bodies. Memberships, associations, and accreditations are often listed together on school websites, with distinctions or details hard to find (or avoided on purpose).
Why Should You Care?
As pointed out by Yojana Sharma, writing for the Times Educational Supplement after the startling closing of the excellent Sophie Antipolis school in Cannes, "Accreditation involves a strict process of inspection and reporting, including on financial matters over several years. CIS teams [for example] are sent into accredited schools at regular intervals to observe teaching practice and to look at the books."
That was an example of a school loved by teachers, parents and students, with great exam results, but which stunned students and staff when they arrived one morning to find the gates locked....closed without warning due to unsuspected poor management.
Although a school may do very well for many years, and its students receive a fine education, only the transparent processes of formalized dispassionate scrutiny can assure parents of the stability and bone-deep quality of an apparently good school.
Not to be Confused With...
Occasionally, schools might mention their association with the Cambridge Education, CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) , Edexcel, or UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate) in a way that suggests these organizations perhaps have something to do with inspections or some form of overall accreditation. They do not.
Totally reputable, however, with a key role to play, these organizations produce quality exams that are available throughout the world, and take care to ensure that results are not fiddled. While a site inspection of some of a school’s services and facilities is required for it to become an authorized examination center, the organizations in question are not to be confused with bodies that control, oversee, or accredit schools.
Schools that want to offer exams such as GCSE, IGCSE and A-Level must join one of these exam systems and be authorised as exam centres. These different exam systems have different syllabi, so a school may opt for a combination.
However, the inspection process is not the point: these agencies are more concerned about the delivery of the exam rather the delivery of the curriculum. If you see any of these agencies mentioned by a school, this means the school is a registered exam centre; the agencies want to see that qualified teachers would proctor the exams, that the ‘exam taking’ conditions are suitable, and most important that there is a satisfactory secure room to store exams when they arrive and until they are sent off for marking (say, bars added to the windows, secure fire-proof storage arranged, keyholders named etc).
Similarly, once a school is an exam centre, the school can register anyone to take the exam there (in other words the school can opt to register a student they don’t teach – a home-schooled pupil for example, or a student who goes to a local national school but wants to do a GCSE in a subject like French or IT).
On the other hand, organisations like Cambridge Education are UK based and credible (and inspect for Ofsted in the UK) but do not claim to be inspectorates or accreditation agencies. Schools abroad might contract with them to inspect for school improvement or development and to make recommendations, but this is not to be confused with a full fledged, comprehensive and rigorous inspection.
So, to review: CIE, Edexel, or UCLES are in no way OFSTED or NEASC or CIS type inspections, where programmes and governance are inspected. But because part of the criteria that these three agencies look at is ‘who’ authorises the school, having those organisations somewhere on the school's oversight credentials is yet another clue towards a "good" school for discerning parents.
If You're Wondering What Happened to This:
Until October 2008, there was no single standard British inspection system, authorised and organised by the British government, for British schools abroad.
But in 2008, we wrote that the new Department of Children, Schools and Families had announced it would be developing just that....."accreditation against standards similar to independent schools operating in Britain," with published inspection reports that would be available to parents and show how well individual British schools abroad measure up against British standards.
These inspections were to ensure "schools advertising a ‘British character’ were upholding the rigour and excellence of [the British] system" and the the inspection bodies accessing them would be monitored by Ofsted. (The DCSF announcement, in capital letters, said "click here for BRITISH SCHOOLS ABROAD TO BE INSPECTED TO GUARANTEE STANDARDS)(Don't do it now because you won't find it)
And when the new inspection system was finally in place, those reports whould be available to parents, with or without the school's permission.
Well, we have no idea what happened and whether it ever took on a life of its own. It all appears to have sunk without a trace, but we are waiting for a call or email back from the Department of Education about it, and you'll know when we know.
Watch this space...