Ofsted's chief inspector: Teachers 'too familiar' with pupils

Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw says that many teachers “confuse friendliness with familiarity."

13:46 12 December 2013

Ofsted has recently published a major report which analysed more than 21,000 state schools and colleges in the country, accusing teachers of failing to address minor disruption in classrooms which include the use of mobile phones, background chatter, allowing misbehaviour to escalate and other factors. According to Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, this is because many teachers in the country “confuse friendliness with familiarity.”

He said: “Too often inspectors see a sloppy culture in schools. The sort of outrageous behaviour that we used to see a lot of in schools often doesn’t exist now.

“But what we do see is casual indiscipline, sloppy culture, you see noisy corridors, children answering back in class [and] teachers confusing friendliness with familiarity.”

“Unless this changes, teachers will struggle to create an environment in which all children learn well.”

Sir Michael is expected to call on head teachers “to start creating calm and respectful culture essential for learning.” He will add that a failure to raise standards among thousands of pupils represents an “unacceptable waste of human potential.”