Weekly New Digital Media - 05.04.17 (60)

Ofsted considers using social media to monitor schools

                 

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/31/ofsted-considers-using-social-media-to-monitor-schools

Ofsted has raised the prospect of using Facebook and Twitter posts to analyse how schools are performing. The schools watchdog said it was exploring “the possibility of using near-real-time data and information from social media and other sources to predict and prevent decline in school performance”. The organisation said the frequency and content of social media posts about a particular school could help it decide whether an inspector should visit sooner than planned.  Schools ranked “outstanding” do not have routine inspections unless there are concerns that standards may be slipping, while “good” schools have short inspections every three years. Mark Orchison, the managing director of 9ine Consulting, which advises schools on everything from safeguarding to cybersecurity, said it seemed likely the exercise would involve gathering real-time data about what people were saying about individual schools. He said it could be useful in terms of supporting work that Ofsted already does looking into parental perceptions of their children’s schools, but it was also potentially dangerous.

My Opinion: I think now everything is revolving around the internet and social media, some things can not move on to the internet. Ofsted would get better understanding from about the schools when they go at the schedule times. The risk of Ofsted monitoring schools from the posts they post on social media can be incorrect because anyone can post false information of the school, through the posts it can be also misleading to others but also the school can also get inconsistent about posting things on their social media page. If Ofsted base their conclusions about wether to visit the school on that then its not really accurate and can be seen as time wasting for both the school and Ofsted themselves  I understand that it could be at some times it could be a good idea but majority of the time I don't think idea will go very far.