Mike Sheridan: Confessions of an Ofsted inspector

They're hated by the teaching profession yet rarely defend themselves in public. So what's it like being an Ofsted inspector? Richard Garner meets one

They stalk the corridors of schools, striking fear into the hearts of even the most senior teachers. They are the Ofsted school inspectors – but until now their voice has seldom been heard.

In a rare interview, one of the education standards watchdog's most senior inspectors has given The Independent an insight into the nature of his work, which under the regime of new head Sir Michael Wilshaw is about to become a whole lot tougher for schools.

As a former primary school headteacher, Mike Sheridan can speak with the voice of experience about the impact an Ofsted inspection can have on staff. "It's quite terrifying," he admits. A poacher-turned-gamekeeper, he now heads one of the watchdog's teams and can carry out anything up to 33 inspections each term.

He immediately rejects the image often put forward at teachers' union conferences of Ofsted acting as "bully boys" bringing a reign of terror to schools. The inspection, he says, will usually start with a telephone call to the headteacher 48 hours ahead. With a day to go, he contacts them directly.

"We'll go through the data on the school and make sure everything is as accurate as we think it is," he says. "Hopefully the headteacher will be able to challenge anything that could be wrong." They then go through the issues that need to be looked at when the inspection starts.

But before he heads for the school gates, he goes online to search for candid comments by parents – usually focusing on the controversial forum ParentView, where mums and dads can post comments anonymously about their child's school.

The website has angered teachers, who claim there is no accountability – or even any way of telling if the user is really a parent at all. They claim that ParentView, and other sites like it, are open to abuse by people with an axe to grind. But for an Ofsted inspector it is a useful guide to the problems they may encounter on their visit.

When he arrives at the school, he immediately gives out 100 questionnaires to pupils (parents are often sent these ahead of time too). The children's comments are not treated as gospel, but the survey almost always earns a 100 per cent response. "The information can be quite telling," Mr Sheridan says. "You get some traits in there which lead to interesting discussions. Parents' views are taken very seriously."

He will then schedule a meeting with the teaching staff. "It is a very stressful time for schools, and we know that, and we do everything we can to make it as simple as possible," he says. "When I was a headteacher, you had six weeks' warning of an inspection – I can remember waiting by the telephone when you thought it was about time you were going to get the call."

He continues: "The teaching profession is a real mixture of people. Most teachers – almost all teachers – are incredibly passionate about what they do. They are working incredibly hard and they do deliver – not all do it absolutely right, though.

"What I say is that when we're making judgements about teaching and learning, we're not making judgements about individual teachers. It would be madness to do that in a 20-minute slot. Teaching a satisfactory lesson for 25 minutes doesn't make you a satisfactory teacher."

Mr Sheridan is not alone in making the transfer from teaching to inspecting. The majority of full-time inspectors, or HMIs, have been heads or senior managers of schools, or have worked in senior positions within local education authorities.

About 40 per cent of inspectors, who are recruited from all walks of life and were once dubbed by teachers' leaders "the butchers, the bakers and candlestick makers", are still teaching. One in five are heads.

During the course of the day, Mr Sheridan will make six or seven lesson observations, before returning the next day to complete the inspection. Almost all the teachers will be observed at some point.

He will then withdraw with his team and spend anything up to an hour and a half talking through their judgements with the head, who can challenge the findings – an important process, he says, as it "adds to the transparency of the inspection".

In the five years since he joined Ofsted, Mr Sheridan cannot recall any of his team's judgements being challenged by a school. But the inspection system is braced for major change, with Sir Michael Wilshaw due to unveil his blueprint for the future in the next couple of weeks.

His controversial proposals include the introduction of "no notice" inspections, replacing the "satisfactory" rating with "requires improvement", and failing schools which fail to lift themselves out of that category within three inspections.

In effect, the new regime states that if you are not a good school you could be on the road to failure. It will also place restrictions on the number of schools rated as "outstanding", making it more difficult to qualify.

Ofsted, Mr Sheridan says, has to work "without fear or favour". But will that be possible under the new regime? "We have ways of making things work," he says. "Whatever comes out of the consultation we will work with it."