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Disadvantage no excuse for poor school performance - Ofsted chief Disadvantage no excuse for poor school performance - Ofsted chief
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Disadvantaged pupils should not be used as an excuse by schools for chronic under-achievement, the head of Ofsted has said. The chief inspector of schools in England has blamed “disadvantage one-upmanship” for holding back a core group of schools.
Amanda Spielman, the education watchdog’s chief inspector, hit out at a culture of “disadvantage one-upmanship” as she launched her first annual report. Amanda Spielman said 130 schools had failed to record a good inspection since 2005 despite the efforts of successive governments and policymakers.
It shows that 130 schools in England have not recorded a good inspection in the last 10 years despite receiving “considerable attention and investment”. Delivering her first annual report since becoming head of the education watchdog earlier this year, Spielman said there were common factors stopping the schools improving, including high turnover of staff, unstable leadership and high levels of deprivation and special needs among pupils.
Others facing similar challenges have been able to achieve success, showing improvement is possible, it states. But, she said, deprivation alone could not be used as an excuse for the failure to improve schools.
The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said schools were struggling with government policies, which had caused problems with teacher recruitment and pay, while increasing their workload. “There is no doubt that the leadership challenge facing some schools is great. But progress is possible and we should all be wary of using the makeup of a school community as an excuse for under-performance,” Spielman said in London on Wednesday.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Spielman will say: “There is no doubt that the leadership challenge facing some schools is great. “I do find myself frustrated with with the culture of ‘disadvantage one-upmanship’ that has emerged in some places. Fixation on all the things holding schools back can distract us all from working on the things that take them forward.
“But progress is possible and we should all be wary of using the makeup of a school community as an excuse for under-performance. “Schools with all ranges of children can and do succeed.”
“I do find myself frustrated with the culture of ‘disadvantage one-upmanship’ that has emerged in some places.” A list of the 130 schools repeatedly rated as inadequate or requiring improvement by Ofsted showed that many were in the Midlands. Nine schools were in Northamptonshire, while eight were in Birmingham, the largest local authority in England.
More than 500 primary schools and around 200 secondaries have been judged as requiring improvement or being satisfactory at their last two inspections, according to the report. All the schools – 80 primary and 50 secondary – had been inspected four times since 2005. Ofsted said many of them had higher than average proportions of pupils with special needs, or white British pupils from low-income backgrounds. Around 80% of them had high proportions of pupils from deprived areas.
Of those inspected this year, around 80 primary and 50 secondary schools were found not to have been rated good or outstanding at any point since 2005. The 130 schools represent a small fraction of the more than 21,000 state schools in England, and the report showed a record number of state schools in England were rated as good or outstanding, including 90% of primary schools and 79% of secondary schools.
Unstable leadership, high staff turnover and difficulties recruiting were noted as shared characteristics between these schools, while many had high proportions of pupils from deprived areas. Spielman also accused a small group of private faith schools of “deliberately flouting British values and equalities law”.
Rayner told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The government have missed their teacher recruitment target. Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, said the real problem was that pupils had been failed by the government’s policies.
“One in three of our Sure Start centres have closed. Many teachers have lost up to £5,000 of their real-terms wage over this period. “The government have missed their teacher recruitment target,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “One in three of our Sure Start centres have closed. Many teachers have lost up to £5,000 of their real-terms wage over this period.
“But it’s not just about money ... [it’s] the workload, the pace of change, the difficulty with restrictions and being able to give every child those opportunities. The chief of Ofsted has raised these issues.” “But it’s not just about money but the workload, the pace of change, the difficulty with restrictions and being able to give every child those opportunities. The chief of Ofsted has raised these issues.”
In her speech, Spielman will call for support to be directed at consistently under-performing schools. Justine Greening, the education secretary, told the same programme it was not possible to “buy our way out of this problem”.
She is expected to say: “Fixating on all the things holding schools back can distract us all from working on the things that take them forward. She said the government had a national policy that it expected to work in different communities.
“Schools with all ranges of children can and do succeed. Where this is difficult, what is needed is greater support and leadership from within the system. “What I want to try and do with the social mobility action plan is set out an architecture. This is a complex problem, but I am trying to slim it down to key areas that we all need to focus on; not just government, but also businesses and communities,” she said.
“That means making sure the system has the capacity to provide this support.” “We have to recognise that while teachers and schools are central to this we can’t rely on the school system alone to transform equality of opportunity.”
The chief inspector will also caution against the threat posed by a rising number of conservative religious schools which “actively undermine British values” and equality law. Sir Kevan Collins, the head of the Educational Endowment Foundation, said it was unacceptable that so many schools had been allowed to stagnate.“The chief inspector is right to highlight capacity in the system as a barrier for changing this,” he said.
Overall, education and care provided to young people is “better than ever”, with around 90% of primary schools and 79% of secondaries rated good or outstanding, the report says. The school standards minister Nick Gibb said standards were rising in primary and secondary schools but the government knew more needed to be done to tackle consistent under-performance.
The quality of early years providers has improved, with 94% judged to be good or outstanding, compared with 74% in 2012. “We are targeting the areas that need the most support through our ‘opportunity areas’ and by investing £280m over the next two years to target resources at the schools most in need to improve school performance and deliver more good school places,” he said.
The school standards minister Nick Gibb said: “Standards are rising in both primary and secondary schools.
“The report recognises the widespread good practice and continual improvement across the system but we know there is more to do to tackle consistent under-performance.
“We are targeting the areas that need the most support through our ‘opportunity areas’ and by investing £280m over the next two years to target resources at the schools most in need to improve school performance and deliver more good school places.
“Having excellent teachers in our most challenging schools is also key to school improvement, which is why we’re investing £75m in teachers’ professional development and announced a further £42m for training in the budget.”“Having excellent teachers in our most challenging schools is also key to school improvement, which is why we’re investing £75m in teachers’ professional development and announced a further £42m for training in the budget.”
Rayner said it was “not enough” for the government to focus on geographical areas regarded as having fallen behind in terms of social mobility.
“Some of our most vulnerable children ... have been failed by this government’s policies,” she told the Today programme.
“Just dealing with the opportunity areas is not enough. Ofsted is quite clear that it is not about areas in particular, it’s schools that are still not able to raise their standards and raise their game.”