We’re all familiar with Ofsted: the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. It regularly inspects schools and interacts with young children. But one particular school was also handing out comprehensive Ofsted questionnaires to its very young pupils at nursery stage.
Hayder al-Khoei, an associate fellow at Chatham House, was left stunned when he discovered his three-year-old daughter had brought home an Ofsted survey to complete – let’s face it, she probably can’t even read yet.
Children were asked to tick if they agree or disagree with a list of self-reflective statements, such as ‘My school helps me to prepare for the future’ and ‘My school takes account of my views’.
He posted the questionnaire on Twitter, complete with a doodle from his daughter, showing exactly what she thought.
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Al-Khoei asked, ‘Does Ofsted expect parents to discuss responsibility and achievement potential with 2 to 3-year-olds?’
He also joked, ‘Seriously though, she didn’t draw a jellyfish, spider or octopus – she confirmed it’s a self portrait, with a confused face and shoulder shrug.’
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Ofsted responded to the Tweet, confirming the questionnaire was to be used in schools that cater for children aged 2-19 but, in this case, was given out by mistake.
Nevertheless, the survey has created quite a buzz on Twitter, with users posting comments including, ‘At age 3 I don't think I had “views” that extended much beyond “Transformers and Lego are cool”.’
While another said, ‘If only the legit answer to all ridiculous bureaucratic questionnaires was “a small family of octopuses”.’
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