Thousands of lessons seen by Ofsted branded 'inadequate' Speaking last week, Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector, sparked controversy when he said that schools should consider blocking pay rises for teachers who persist in being "out the gate at 3 o'clock." Ofsted currently observe individual teachers" lessons and judgments made in the classroom contribute towards overall reports drawn up on schools. This week, the watchdog published a three-year breakdown of ratings attached to individual lessons following a Parliamentary Question by John Pugh, the Liberal Democrat MP for Southport. In the last academic year, 70,791 lessons were observed, it was revealed. Thirteen per cent have been given Ofsted's highest possible rating - "outstanding" - but four per cent were marked "inadequate," the lowest score. This compares with three per cent a year earlier. A local authority breakdown showed that at least 10 per cent of lessons gained the lowest possible score in six areas - Windsor and Maidenhead, Luton, Reading, Sandwell and the London boroughs of Bexley and Hammersmith and Fulham. In 2009/10, one-in-10 lessons were inadequate in just one local authority, while none were marked down in this way in 2010/11. An Ofsted spokeswoman insisted that the figures were based on a "sample" of lessons, meaning they were "not necessarily representative of the nation as a whole." She also pointed out that the inspection process had been overhauled in recent years to focus on weak schools at the expense of those previous rated outstanding. "Due to proportionate inspection and the deferring of inspection of outstanding schools the summary statistics are likely to underestimate the proportion of outstanding or good teaching and overestimate the proportion of satisfactory or inadequate teaching compared to what we would expect to see if we had observed every lesson across the country," she said.