Benchmarking: an alternative to OFSTED – lessons for higher education Available to Purchase

Schools and colleges have been placed firmly in the marketplace and are adopting appropriate strategies. Companies facing severe competition have learned to look at the quality, both of product and process, of their competitors, giving rise to the growing practice of benchmarking. Schools and colleges are currently being judged by a mechanistic,outcomes‐based inspection method which could provide the only benchmark for most teachers. Argues for collaborative benchmarking where schools and colleges examine in particular the quality of their processes in a search for how value is really added to the students′ experience. Emphasizes the need for an alternative perception of schools to that represented by OFSTED and suggests that benchmarking could be an important, and subversive, alternative.