OFSTED: A Head Teacher's Observations Are A Concern?

From: David McKenna, Hall Gardens, Rawcliffe, Goole. Yorkshire Post.
THE brief mention of Ofsted (Yorkshire Post, June 27) reminded me of what I discovered as a headteacher many moons ago. Having been informed that we were to be “Ofsteded”, my governors thought it a good idea if I were to undergo the training so that we, as staff, knew what we were up against.
The main thing that interested me was the people on the training course. I met several headteachers and some local authority advisers who believed that they would be financially better off doing Ofsted work; school governors who had sundry axes to grind and people from “the office” who wanted to “sort out” members of the teaching profession. Along with these, there were several who wanted out of the classroom (presumably because they couldn’t hack it!) Coming way down the list was a minority who just wanted the best for children in schools.
I had been on many courses run by HMI and had always found them to be excellent with the emphasis always on where it belonged. Where it belonged was contained in my final, self-inflicted mauling from the lead Ofsted chap. I said that, throughout the whole week, there had been no mention of children.