New Ofsted chairman's sigh of relief over academy chain
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Version 0 of 1. Watchdog chairman's academic sigh of relief It's been a tough year for the Academies Enterprise Trust, with ministers reportedly stopping its expansion, the loss of its chief executive and, in June, Ofsted inspectors sent in en masse to 14 of its 76 schools after concerns were raised about falling standards. But are better times on the way for England's largest academy chain? Published Ofsted reports on the AET academies inspected in June show it has fared better than expected in the recent series of "co-ordinated" Ofsted inspections (triggered when there are concerns about an academy chain). Information provided to us by the Watchsted website shows that eight schools were judged good, with the remaining six deemed to "require improvement". This is not a perfect record. But it does compare very favourably with three rival chains that have been subject to Ofsted similar mass inspections this year. Across those three chains – E-Act, TKAT and the School Partnership Trust – barely a third of schools have been judged good or better, with, in E-Act's case, nearly a third found "inadequate". This may come as a relief to David Hoare, incoming chair of Ofsted, who is stepping down as a trustee of AET, having held that post since January. Ofsted's scheduled announcement of the results two weeks ago was held back as Hoare was appointed, amid predictions that it would be bad news for AET. Meanwhile, we understand that two companies – PricewaterhouseCoopers and Mouchel – are vying to win an outsourcing contract to run AET's support services, worth up to £400m, that the chain advertised by the chain in January. Educationalists ousted from Ofsted board Predictions published in the Sunday Times earlier this year of a purge of the board of the inspectorate appear to be correct. While six board members have had their term extended – although only temporarily, to give new chair Hoare the time to find his feet – the board's three education professionals – Sir Alan Steer, Geoff Whitty and Andy Palmer – will serve only until Christmas, while the other three – social services expert Paul Snell, accountant Linda Farrant and John Roberts, former chief executive of the post office – will stay on for longer. Whitty, a former director of London's Institute of Education, is clearly not impressed. He tells us: "I am confident we will work well with David Hoare. It's just a pity it will be for such a short time for some of us." An Ofsted spokesman says: "The tenure of three Ofsted board members has been extended until the end of the year while David Hoare takes up his role as chair. Decisions on the recruitment of new board members will be taken in due course." Scientists unhappy with new curriculum The country's leading science education body has launched a stinging attack on England's new national curriculum in the subject, accusing ministers of overloading it with content and failing to ensure progression between key stages. In a consultation response to the new curriculum, due to be introduced next month, Score (Science Community Representing Education), a partnership between five organisations including the Royal Society and the Association for Science Education, repeatedly refers to a lack of coherence. It says this is down to the "piecemeal manner" in which the review had been carried out. It makes little sense for new A-levels to be being launched before pupils have had the chance to sit new GCSEs in the subject, says Score in its response to the most-recently launched aspect of curriculum reform: key stage 4. The response also questions the coherence of the curriculum between key stages 3 and 4, identifying two topics where it says there is repetition in what pupils must study. It adds, in a dig at ministers' moves to increase subject material covered, that this could result in pupils' ability to apply their knowledge being "compromised" by the number of topics they had to cover. "Higher standards in education are not achieved merely by the introduction of new content," it warns. Score was itself involved in some of the detailed writing of the curriculum, and acknowledges that its members were "largely pleased" with how this had generated improvements to earlier drafts. A DfE spokesman said: "We make absolutely no apology for introducing a rigorous and challenging curriculum as soon as possible for every age group." Teachers can still train at university Why does the newly-published business plan for the National College for Teaching and Leadership – part of the Department for Education – include barely any reference to what is still one of the most important sectors within its remit: teacher training offered by universities? The NCTL's plan makes only one mention of higher education in its 13 pages. By contrast, the document repeatedly emphasises the virtues of a "school-led system". The School Direct programme (where schools rather than universities recruit trainee teachers) introduced under the coalition government has increased the amount of school-based teacher training, but over half of the places available for student teachers are still at universities. James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers, says: "We do think that the business plan should have acknowledged the key contribution that universities make." A DfE spokesman says: "This plan focuses on the changes we are making to create a system led and driven by schools, ensuring teachers arrive in the classroom with the skills and training that school leaders know they will need. Universities have an integral role to play in that." |