COBIS
COBIS
COBIS did an evlauation of the school I am at and made deragatory comments about me as a teacher to the head of school. I think the comments were wrong but that is beside the point. Is it the remit of COBIS inspectors to evaluate teachers and give feedback to the head of school?
Response
Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer:
Sure. The term inspector is a rather generic term. COBIS inspectors (evaluators) who carry out membership inspections (evaluations) to gain COBIS membership isnt the same as a BSO inspection carried out on behalf of the Dfe. COBIS isnt any more an accreditation than COIS is, they are just a club/association that an IS can join. In that regard a COBIS inspector (evaluator) can absolutely provide both official (formal written) and unofficial (informal verbal) feedback to an ISs leadership on whatever observations they deem prudent. The IS is the client and COBIS will happily provide whatever data and report an IS wants and pays the coin for. If a COBIS inspector (evaluator) makes an unsolicited comment to leadership in whatever type of setting and context as long as its not published there isnt anything an IT can really do about it, the IS is the client not the IT. There isnt a rule or regulation that would forbid an inspector (evaluator) from relaying an observation they had. What leadership does with that and what it means for you might provide you some recourse, but people saying things about you that you dont like or agree with is just part and parcel of being in edu. You will at any time find someone who has something negative they think or say about you personally or professionally. You need to add some Teflon to your back so those types of communications slide off and to the wayside. If you dont cultivate some enemies in edu youre probably not doing anything noteworthy, though many ITs make an entire career out of doing the bobble head and being beneath notice. Now if your leader calls you to the line to account for mean girl behavior thats another story.
Long Answer:
Sure. The term inspector is a rather generic term. COBIS inspectors (evaluators) who carry out membership inspections (evaluations) to gain COBIS membership isnt the same as a BSO inspection carried out on behalf of the Dfe. COBIS isnt any more an accreditation than COIS is, they are just a club/association that an IS can join. In that regard a COBIS inspector (evaluator) can absolutely provide both official (formal written) and unofficial (informal verbal) feedback to an ISs leadership on whatever observations they deem prudent. The IS is the client and COBIS will happily provide whatever data and report an IS wants and pays the coin for. If a COBIS inspector (evaluator) makes an unsolicited comment to leadership in whatever type of setting and context as long as its not published there isnt anything an IT can really do about it, the IS is the client not the IT. There isnt a rule or regulation that would forbid an inspector (evaluator) from relaying an observation they had. What leadership does with that and what it means for you might provide you some recourse, but people saying things about you that you dont like or agree with is just part and parcel of being in edu. You will at any time find someone who has something negative they think or say about you personally or professionally. You need to add some Teflon to your back so those types of communications slide off and to the wayside. If you dont cultivate some enemies in edu youre probably not doing anything noteworthy, though many ITs make an entire career out of doing the bobble head and being beneath notice. Now if your leader calls you to the line to account for mean girl behavior thats another story.
Re: COBIS
Psyguy - for CIS evaluations there is a protocol for when this happens (I'm a CIS evaluator.)
The CIS visits don't evaluate individual lessons, like (say) OFSTED do in England. But if we see something in a classroom visit which is concerning, we can raise it informally - this might mean going back and having another look, just to make sure it's not a one-off, 'bad day' lesson which we all have. In many ways, it's more like a teacher seeing something wrong in a colleague's classroom and then raising it with their HoD, for example (in many cases the only management contact the evaluators have with the school is through senior management.)
The only time I can think of where it could be raised 'formally' would be if the issue related to safeguarding.
Finally, the school can complain about the conduct of the visit.
The CIS visits don't evaluate individual lessons, like (say) OFSTED do in England. But if we see something in a classroom visit which is concerning, we can raise it informally - this might mean going back and having another look, just to make sure it's not a one-off, 'bad day' lesson which we all have. In many ways, it's more like a teacher seeing something wrong in a colleague's classroom and then raising it with their HoD, for example (in many cases the only management contact the evaluators have with the school is through senior management.)
The only time I can think of where it could be raised 'formally' would be if the issue related to safeguarding.
Finally, the school can complain about the conduct of the visit.