Ofsted’s Amanda Spielman to speak on “the use of research evidence in education policy and practice”. Where to start?

We are quite low-profile in education, in terms of public awareness of the issues that get us going and the degree to which debate-shapers are held properly to account for their pronouncements, are we not?

These thoughts occurred on learning of what to myself and sources was the staggering title and speaker for an upcoming talk at Oxford University’s Education Department on Monday.

To the uninitiated, of course, these details may seem innocuous. The title of the talk is simply: “The use of research evidence in education policy and practice: a view from the Chief Inspector.” And the speaker? Amanda Spielman, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools.

But they were enough to have a contact exhaling in relief that they would not be able to attend the event “given my blood pressure,” while your correspondent just found his jaw dropping to the floor. Satire, it seems, truly is dead.

The background, of course, is that Ofsted’s own use of research evidence in the past 18 months or so appears, given reporting on this website and elsewhere, not so much a case of “requiring improvement” but needing to be put into special measures.