Your views on 'failing' schools

BBC education correspondent Mike Baker discussed the effects of Ofsted inspectors' rating system for schools in England.

As usual, we invited your comments. Here is a selection from the range of views received:

I go to a private school. After moving from a state school I really saw a difference - in my old school people mucked about, talked in class, had fight etc. At my new school anyone who gets in a fight automatically gets a detention (on Saturday when every1 else is at home). If the government did this, i doubt that so many people would muck about.
Andrew, London

As head of a recently inspected school, I am amazed at the lack of consistency in judgements and in the criteria for judgements. A minister claims that a satisfactory school provides good education for children! How can parents and pupils make sense of this? For schools, the process of inspection now lacks rigour and sense.
Teri N'Guessan, London, UK

Doesn't this just illustrate that the government shouldn't be running schools? Independent schools manage just fine. Why not make all schools independent and answerable to their users? The only issue the government would then have to concern itself with would be how parents pay for schooling. If schools weren't good enough the government could then say "don't blame us - it's up to you to take you children elsewhere". After all, government doesn't run food shops - where necessary, it just gives people the money to buy food and lets them make the choice.
HJ

As a Deputy Head in a school that has gone through Special Measures (and come out the other side) I find Ofsted to be a pernicious organisation with seemingly no other motive than to punish schools and those that work in them. The government (through Ofsted) has debased the teaching profession and the attempts to micro-manage schools is appalling.
Ian Morris, Barnet, Hertfordshire

Failing is so politically-incorrect. We shouldn't say that someone has failed. We should say he is educationally-challenged. Ban all the Fs from the report cards!!
Cherri, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

There is no school in the country that is perfect, full stop. Equally, there is no school that fails all students all the time. So you could say that 100% of schools fail students or that 0% do. The UK media needs its losers though, so jumps on the negative side of the story -aided by the Government. Ofsted should not rank schools - it should behave like the National Audit Office or a commercial management consultancy, giving detailed feedback to all schools and advice on how they should be improving and publishing this to parents who can then make educated judgements and provide support for the improvement plan. Ranking just creates a culture of failure and Daily Mail headlines.
Simon Hepburn, St Albans, UK

All of this has to be seen in the context that we have already "dumbed down". God help us.
Nicholas Cullum, London, England

I have spent much of my working life in state secondary education, part of the time as a head teacher, and have no doubt that poor educational [provision] must be greatly improved. But, after twenty years of ill-thought through, doctrinaire and peremptory reforms, it is also vital that politicians contemplate honestly and humbly the unintended consequences of their past actions before embarking on another round of simplistic, crowd-pleasing reforms.
Michael Wallbank (Dr.), Birmingham, UK.

You are quite right in questioning the use of the word "satisfactory" as used by Ofsted. Ofsted guidelines have always been peculiar, and inspectors have been severely hamstrung in how they can write about schools. The system is also, let's be honest, a huge lottery rather than a serious assessment of school performance.
Jorgen Stepputat, Cleator Moor UK

It's exactly this kind of inaccurate rhetoric that makes the job of most schools so difficult in the first place. Most members of the public don't have the first clue when it comes to understanding the pressures placed on teachers. It's very easy to point the finger at people if you don't have to look them in the eye.
Jim, Oldbury, UK