GEMS Education has named Amanda Spielman, the former Chief Inspector of Ofsted, as Chair of its new Academic Council.
Spielman, who led Ofsted from 2017 to 2023, will oversee the council tasked with advising on educational standards across the GEMS network.
In an exclusive interview with Arabian Business, the former Chief Inspector of Ofsted revealed her new role at GEMS, what makes a good inspection and why technology can never replace humans in schools.
Amanda Spielman to chair GEMS Education’s new advisory board
The Academic Council will provide guidance on curriculum delivery and ensure GEMS schools reflect global best practices, and will feature representatives from various educational fields and school stages within the GEMS group.
It will further review educational policies and practices, covering areas such as curriculum, assessment, technology, inclusion, and well-being.
When asked why Spielman decided to take on a new role in the UAE, she explained that the nation has undergone “lots of growth on every front, with a forward-looking approach.”
“Within that, [the UAE has] a very strong private education sector, of which GEMS is clearly an enormous player with real scale, ambition and a very education-driven culture, right from the top. So, for somebody like me, who has been steeped in education for many years – and is really interested in not just how you teach children better, but also how you make good education systems – when the opportunity came up, it was like a no brainer,” she said.
However, Spielman addressed some challenges in the education sector today. “The role I am taking on is chairing an advisory council to look at key issues and to help explore and share consecutive and broad thinking, and to sort of influence rather than control or decide what’s done. But within that, there is a great future facing challenge – where is the world going? What is the best way to cope with a changing world?”
She added that there is a “Covid-19 backlog” which has impacted education around the world, especially on “children who missed out on schooling, socialisation,” all of which are a “challenge” in most schools.
Spielman further explained that there are also pressures of the modern world on children, from social media, “from the negatives that can come within an interconnected world,” adding that it is also perhaps why parents are more anxious on behalf of their children for around that.
Education is a ‘long-term’ gain, says Amanda Spielman
Which is why, she explained, that while there are many challenges to begin with, it is all about maintain “clarity” about what education really is.
“Education is a long-term gain. So, setting goals, having the clarity about how to get there, the intellectual flexibility – perhaps, we should re-examine that part, flexing and iterating as you go along.”
In addition, Spielman explained a child’s mental health and overall well-being is not separate from other school experiences, but rather the result of getting many things right. This includes:
- A positive school environment with a good culture
- Proper relationships between students and adults
- Quality teaching and curriculum
- Opportunities for students to discover their interests and talents
- Developing friendships and social skills
“That’s the first job for schools to get things right, and then that minimises need to for individual case work. It is a delicate balance,” she added.
But, does technology have a role in teaching?
Spielman argued that the core of education and how children learn has not fundamentally changed, as human psychology evolves slowly. While technology can significantly support and extend education, she contends that it cannot fully replace human interaction in the learning process for most children.
“There is something deep and powerful about human interaction, that helps the young grow and develop and also helps them maintain their focus. There’s a really powerful interpersonal dynamic, which a physical school creates between the adults and the children, between teacher and the class of children, and between children themselves.
“A good school also manages that dynamic between children in and out of the classroom as well, to maximise the emergency children’s desire to learn and to maximise the amount of time they spend on learning. It’s very hard to replicate that through technology,” she said.
What makes a good inspection, according to Amanda Spielman
In terms of inspections, Spielman – who worked as the Chief Inspector for Oftsed formerly – revealed to Arabian Business what, according to her, makes a good inspection.
“A good inspection does several things,” she said.
“First of all, obviously, it helps pick up where things are going wrong, and then making it right. Secondly, more generally, it gives a lot of assurance to parents about the quality of the experience their children are receiving. And thirdly, if done well, it makes the really constructive and supportive professional dialogue between inspectors and the schools they are inspecting, help schools think about what they are doing.”
On a side note, when Arabian Business asked about the UK’s Caversham primary school headteacher Ruth Perry, following an inspection conducted by Ofsted, Spielman called it a “desperately sad case,” which affected everybody at Ofsted.
“Everybody at Ofsted very much regretted it, and was really affected by it. There was a great deal of review to make sure that what Ofsted does is as well done as it can be. It takes us to a deeper – but really important point – which is to make sure that children are getting the right experience on all fronts.
“It can be genuinely, really difficult to find that right balance between looking out for the interest of children but also managing the inevitable discomfort for adults realising that things are not right for children. It always has been a difficult one in inspections, and always will be because every now and then, unfortunately, you do bump into things that are really completely unacceptable, and somehow we have to find ways to face and talk about it, even though they are difficult conversations,” she said.
Perry had led Caversham primary school for over a decade. She died by suicide in 2023, following the inspection of her school conducted by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills), which downgraded from top grade, “outstanding”, to the lowest, “inadequate.”
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