Ofsted chief calls for formal tests for children aged seven and 14

Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, talks to young children at St Paul’s Way believe in school in Bow, east London. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

The chief inspector of colleges, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has urged the government to reintroduce formal tests for 7- and 14-year-olds “for the advantage of youngsters”.

In a speech to launch Ofsted’s annual report, Wilshaw stated more required to be completed if the country was to keep pace with its overseas rivals.

The Ofsted survey of its inspections in the past year showed that almost eight in each ten schools have been judged to be excellent or excellent, the highest proportion in Ofsted’s twenty-12 months background.

But Wilshaw mentioned reintroducing national exams would be a way of measuring progress.

“If we are significant about raising standards and catching up with the best in the world, we need to know how pupils are undertaking at 7, eleven, 14 and 16.”

The get in touch with was right away criticised by teachers’ unions for overemphasising testing at the cost of learning.

Christine Blower, basic secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said testing was “an unhelpful phase”.

“We presently have formal assessment in the early many years and the phonics examine at age 5. This is all as well significantly testing too soon,” Blower explained.

National tests for seven-12 months-olds had been scrapped in 2004, replaced by teacher assessments, whilst national tests for 14-yr-olds – key stage three – were dropped by the preceding Labour government in 2009 soon after a fiasco involving marking and administration.

The recent government launched a phonics check for pupils at the end of yr one in primary college, even though eleven-yr-olds get maths and reading through exams at key stage two, with a new spelling, punctuation and grammar test additional from Might this year.

“Talk to any great headteacher and they will inform you it was a error to abolish individuals tests. Which is simply because very good teachers use people exams to make sure every child learns effectively. In getting rid of the tests, we conceded also significantly ground to vested interests,” Wilshaw said.

“Our training program need to be run for the benefit of children, and no one else.”

Ofsted had statistics from 30 infant schools that had been merged into regular major colleges, exhibiting that the efficiency of essential stage one pupils suffered after they had been in main schools. That advised that main schools put far more energy into preparing pupils for key stage two exams.

The Division for Education recently held a consultation on exams for younger pupils, providing a “baseline evaluation” of both a check for four-year-olds getting into reception class or tests for 7-12 months-olds.

A spokesman for the DfE said: “The department launched a consultation on the main accountability technique and will be responding in due course. We count on teachers to take expert duty for the accurate evaluation of pupils.”

There are now 485,000 far more main school pupils and 180,000 more secondary college pupils attending great or exceptional colleges in contrast with a yr ago.

“Hunting at the evidence across all sectors, there are unmistakable signs that England’s training system is steadily bettering,” stated Wilshaw, who attributed some of the improvement to Ofsted’s abolition of the “satisfactory” inspection grade becoming replaced by the notification “needs improvement”.

The chief inspector also announced that Ofsted inspectors would start creating “no recognize” visits to schools identified as rife with bad behaviour.

“Classrooms need to be orderly places. About 700,000 pupils attend colleges the place behaviour wants to increase,” Wilshaw stated.

Wilshaw gave a nod of approval to the academy programme launched by Labour in 2007 and expanded below Gove.

“Academies are undoubtedly generating a big distinction. Effectively-established sponsored academies in deprived locations have created especially impressive progress,” Wilshaw stated.

Ofsted chief calls for formal tests for children aged seven and 14

Ofsted chief advises return to formal pupil tests to improve teaching

London pupils aged 14 or 15. Oftsed’s latest schools report finds the education system slowly strengthening but even now challenged by ‘mediocre teaching’. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Formal exams for pupils aged seven and 14 need to be introduced to check requirements and enhance teaching, England’s chief inspector of colleges, says Sir Michael Wilshaw, reopening a debate about the use of testing in colleges.

Wilshaw, Ofsted’s chief inspector,named on the government to reintroduce much more formal external testing to replace the assessments carried out by schools.

Ofsted has offered proof exhibiting that the overall performance of pupils at key stage one particular, between the ages of five and seven, is suffering.

National curriculum exams, or Sats, for 14-yr-olds have been abolished in 2008 right after a marking scandal. 7-yr-olds are assessed by their teachers after preceding external exams for them were scrapped in 2004. Protests in excess of Sats tests for 11-12 months-olds led to a nationwide boycott by teachers and head teachers.

“Talk to any good head instructor and they will inform you it was a blunder to abolish individuals exams. That’s because very good teachers use these exams to make certain each kid learns effectively,” Wilshaw stated. “In obtaining rid of these exams we conceded also significantly ground to vested interests.”

The get in touch with for far more exams by the chief inspector made a sharp response from the educating unions.

Christine Blower, basic secretary of the Nationwide Union of Teachers, stated that the contact for formal testing for 7-12 months-olds was “an unhelpful step”.

She stated: “We presently have formal assessment in the early years and the phonics verify at age 5. This is all also significantly testing as well quickly.”

Ofsted mentioned there have been worrying inconsistencies in inner assessments at essential stage one particular. Researchers located that pupils at infant schools – which teach 4- to 9-12 months-olds – had been much more probably to attain higher grades than these in major colleges, which teach four- to 11-year-olds.

This suggests that primary colleges are putting more assets into their older pupils dealing with essential stage two tests at the age of eleven.

Wilshaw’s remarks came at the launch of Ofsted’s yearly colleges report card, which located that, all round, schools and colleges in England had improved their performance compared with the previous yr.

But issues nonetheless remained, Wilshaw warned, highlighting “mediocre educating and weak leadership” alongside regional variation in school high quality and underachievement among white young children from bad backgrounds.

“If our destination is the high peaks of a planet-class training method and the financial benefits that adhere to, we are now in the foothills,” Wilshaw stated.

The Ofsted survey of its inspections in the past yr showed that almost eight in every 10 schools have been judged to be excellent or exceptional, the highest proportion in Ofsted’s 20-year history.

There are now 485,000 much more major college pupils and 180,000 far more secondary college pupils attending great or outstanding schools compared with a yr in the past.

“Seeking at the proof across all sectors, there are unmistakable indications that England’s education technique is gradually enhancing,” said Wilshaw, who attributed some of the improvement to Ofsted’s abolition of the “satisfactory” inspection grade getting replaced by the notification “requires improvement”.

Wilshaw said: “Tenacious and committed teachers and leaders are at the forefront of this. At the exact same time, our new frameworks have raised expectations and established that only ‘good’ is very good sufficient.”

The chief inspector also announced that Ofsted inspectors would begin creating “no observe” visits to schools recognized as rife with poor behaviour.

“Classrooms should be orderly spots. All around 700,000 pupils attend colleges the place behaviour wants to improve,” Wilshaw explained as he promised “a concerted concentrate” on culture and behaviour by Ofsted in the year ahead.

“Unless this adjustments, teachers will struggle to create an setting in which all youngsters will understand properly,” he added.Wilshaw also gave his seal of approval to the academy programme launched by Labour in 2007 and expanded underneath the training secretary, Michael Gove.

“Academies are undoubtedly generating a large difference. Effectively-established sponsored academies in deprived areas have produced particularly extraordinary progress,” Wilshaw stated. “I am convinced that if this progress is maintained we will see greater outcomes in the up coming round of Pisa outcomes in three years’ time.”

Nevertheless, virtually 250,000 pupils are becoming taught in colleges judged to be inadequate by Ofsted. Thirteen regional authorities have less than half their pupils in schools rated “good”, or far better than that rating.

Educating of English and maths was located to be weaker than for other subjects. The report said that very good teachers had been not always becoming deployed in which they would have the best effect.

Ofsted inspected 7,905 schools in 2012-13. The ideal primary colleges had been to be identified in Darlington. The Isle of Wight and Barnsley had been at the bottom of the nationwide table for secondary college efficiency.

“Significant difficulties continue to be, and all the whilst many of our international competitors are strengthening at a more quickly rate than we are,” mentioned Wilshaw. “It is not an exaggeration to report that the story of our schools and colleges these days is a tale of two nations. Kids from comparable backgrounds with equivalent talents, but who happen to be born in distinct areas and attend diverse schools and schools, can end up with broadly distinct prospective customers because of the variable good quality of their training.”

Ofsted chief advises return to formal pupil tests to improve teaching

Seven steps to Ofsted success for Sencos

The goal of training is not to attain an ‘outstanding’ grade from Ofsted. There are many great programs and practices in our colleges which do, and need to proceed to, accomplish wonderful items for our most vulnerable students, even however they never immediately inform or affect the school’s report. Nonetheless, colleges all as well often focus on Ofsted inspections to the detriment of anything at all that doesn’t impact it. This obsession can trigger upswings in employees anxiety levels.

The new Ofsted framework divides into 4 locations: achievement, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils and good quality of leadership and management. Not too long ago, there is also been a lot interest on the certain areas of spiritual, moral, social and cultural improvement (SMSC) and the pupil premium.

Numerous specific educational wants co-ordinators (Sencos) have commented on the positives of the new framework. It does not contain a distinct special educational demands (SEN) or inclusion group for the inspection, but as an alternative integrates inclusion into all four key areas. By highlighting the progress of all inclusion cohorts across yr groups and departments, it reshapes the role of the Senco as important to a school’s achievement as a entire. Nevertheless, whilst it now appears that inspectors will focus much less on inclusion or SEN as a division, the reality that it crops up so broadly helps make it much more crucial than ever.

One of the most typical inquiries I get is: what do I have to do to put together for the inspection? Here are 7 methods to help you as a Senco get the outstanding comments that you deserve.

Know your data

Realize and summarise the method by which you determine college students with different demands. Your assessment method paperwork may incorporate a 1-page summary of all assessments you carry out, your thresholds and the conditions under which you may use them. Ensure all your paperwork about interventions clarify your baseline measurements and your typical review processes. Continuously update your provision map and make it accessible to all teachers who would benefit from this information. Make sure that your inclusion groups (such as the SEN cohort) meet or exceed their target grades and, where they will not, give convincing reasons and proof for why this took place.

Know your interventions

Create a list of all your interventions with SEN students. Summarise their functions, who they are for, how often you check their accomplishment and the number of students who have progressed simply because of them. Ray, a Senco in a greater-than-regular inner city secondary college, when showed me reams of papers cataloguing each and every detail about every single provision. I was immensely impressed, but it took me a lot more than two hours to get through it all and by the end my head was spinning. With each other, Ray and I identified a clear and concise technique to demonstrating a snapshot of summarised information.

A couple of months later on he told me that his Ofsted inspector felt reassured that he had all of the comprehensive paperwork, because it backed up his summary, but they honed in on how nicely he grasped the larger picture and our summary document gave them exactly that. It is quite unlikely that your inspector will be inclined to invest two hrs studying via all of your paperwork.

Show the good quality of inclusion in the class

How broadly is differentiation practised and how can you demonstrate its efficacy? Demonstrate that this is looked for in paperwork like your teaching for learning policy and formal observations. If possible, cite some of individuals final results. You will also achieve loads of feedback about this on a normal basis via teaching assistants (TA) and what students inform them. The quality of inclusion is most typically measured by whether students make progress or not.

Demonstrate the strengths of your TAs

Justify how they are employed by listing the statement hours and how you fill them. Hold this probably really long document to a summary. It ought to be sufficiently clear that an inspector can consider a quick glance and know that you know what you are undertaking. Demonstrate that information you consist of about their optimistic influence have been gleaned via a range of approaches – that might contain observations, line management and help meetings.

Lisa, a major school Senco, explained that all of her TAs often support brilliantly in the classroom. I asked her how she knew this, and she replied that every time she did an observation they followed all the protocols. We discussed the limiting nature of observations: the Hawthorn Effect describes how people modify their behaviours when they are being watched. After a couple of weeks, Lisa told me that feedback she had gained from students and teachers revealed that some TAs were working even far better than she could see by means of observations, and she was ready to address a couple of worries as nicely.

Tackle the pastoral concerns affecting SEN

Guarantee that the attendance, lateness, exclusion and bullying of your SEN students are restricted and any difficulties are decreasing. The place there are difficulties, be open about them and show how you are dealing with them. I presume that every single surroundings that manages youngsters will have pastoral problems of some sort, from behaviour considerations to social issues to attendance.

It would be unrealistic for a college to preserve that it had no challenges at all, so your best approach is to be open and display what you have experimented with to do even if it has not worked. Peter, a Senco in an outstanding school, advised me he was worried about ten instances that he felt would allow his complete SEN technique down. I advised we should use a couple of his largest failure situations as his situation studies and soon after some persuasion he agreed.

The Ofsted inspector that looked at the circumstances gave Peter positive feedback. He mentioned that even however the outcomes were not ideal, the cases demonstrated the efforts made by the college and how staff had gone beyond the contact of duty. At times a failed situation can in fact be a way of displaying the very good a college tries to do.

Prepare your Ofsted pack

Existing the pack with diligence – make certain that it looks like a essential document for the college. Guide the inspectors to your strengths, do not wait for them to ask. Contain the following paperwork:

• Two to 4 case research

• Summary of assessment procedures and evaluation of pupils

• Evaluation of interventions

• Pupil premium

• Suggestions from pupils and dad and mom

• SEN CPD and affect

• Evidence of observations – top quality of educating

Also, prepare for the most typically asked questions by inspectors, which consist of:

• How do you function with companies?

• What does inclusion suggest to your college and how does it match into the college improvement programme?

• How do you deal with social, emotional and behavioural issues, as nicely as pastoral matters?

• How do you justify your spending budget?

• How effective are your techniques of communication about SEN students?

Inform and involve your governors

The worth and sum of governor involvement differs broadly from school to school. By way of the new framework, Ofsted is keen to guarantee that your board of governors is concerned with SEN and inclusion, and the inspector will most probably interview your link governor. In a preparatory meeting with your governor, you ought to introduce them to the paperwork listed over in the earlier phase and inquire that they evaluation them cautiously and come back with any queries. At a second, stick to-up meeting make certain that the governor entirely understands the materials. If you can provide evidence that these two meetings took place, you can show that your governors are informed and concerned.

It is understandable – and universal – to be anxious about your school’s Ofsted inspection. All Sencos I have worked with locate it to be a very demanding knowledge. Alternatively, see the planning procedure as an possibility to share with your senior leadership staff and board of governors your team’s superb work, and present the strategies in place to plug any gaps. Practically each and every Senco I have worked with does brilliant function and has a lot to be proud of. So, be concerned much less, demonstrate the positives, and never ever forget why you chose this job in the initial spot.

Daniel Sobel is founder of Inclusion Expert and an schooling advisor. He tweets via @Inclusionexpert. He is working with the University of East London to create a neighborhood of colleges across the nation who can learn from every single other in the endeavour to shift social migration.

This content material is brought to you by Guardian Specialist. Looking for your up coming function? Consider a seem at Guardian jobs for schools for thousands of the most recent teaching, leadership and assistance jobs.

Seven steps to Ofsted success for Sencos

Ofsted chief says England"s schools failing white working-class children

Pupils at a science academy and educating school in Lincolnshire. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

White doing work-class children are currently being written off far too frequently in England’s schools, Ofsted’s chief inspector will warn this week.

Sir Michael Wilshaw will on Wednesday blame teachers’ minimal expectations and a failure to instil the correct studying culture for holding back enhancements in the training technique. In Ofsted’s second state of the nation yearly report, he will say that attainment amounts for white youngsters from poorer families, in particular, have improved more gradually than for all other ethnic groups considering that 2007.

Following damning global league tables published final week, Wilshaw will describe this as “an unacceptable waste of human prospective” storing up large potential fees for the country. The warning follows publication of the newest edition of the programme for international student achievement (Pisa) from the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Growth, which place the Uk in the middle of the global rankings.

Its position was practically unchanged from the last workout in 2009, with slight improvements in the reading and maths scores of 15-12 months-olds offset by a small drop in science. Nevertheless, Wilshaw is expected to claim that the “battle against mediocrity” in England’s schooling technique is progressively being won. Virtually eight out of 10 state schools are now judged good or excellent – the highest proportion in Ofsted’s twenty-yr historical past.

He will claim that requirements are becoming driven up by greater teaching and leadership in colleges. He will also declare that there has been a galvanising influence from a tougher inspection regime – such as his selection to exchange the “satisfactory” grade with a new “requires improvement” judgment.

But he will also highlight a amount of aspects he believes are avoiding the nation moving up the worldwide rankings, such as poverty of expectation and a tolerance by some teachers of minimal-level disruption in the classroom. He will make the case that widespread regional variation in school performance is a brake on progress, while describing England as a “patchwork of provision”. Some deprived places supply an outstanding regular of schooling, he will say, while other, more affluent areas are letting their children down.

Schools in the east of England, the place primaries perform worse than in any other portion of the country, are anticipated to get serious criticism. This is in stark contrast to the situation in London, which Wilshaw will say was an “educational basket case” in the 1970s and 80s but has enjoyed massive improvements in current years, as reported by Alan Milburn’s social mobility commission

Wilshaw, a former headteacher of a London secondary school, will announce that seven of the nine neighborhood authority areas in England the place each secondary college is judged great or excellent are in the capital. Regions this kind of as Coventry and Derby, which trailed in last year’s major college league tables, will be observed to have manufactured significant progress given that getting put beneath Ofsted’s spotlight a yr in the past. For the very first time, Ofsted will be publishing reviews on standards in every of the areas and will launch an online instrument to highlight the usually stark differences in college and school efficiency in between regional authority areas that share similar demographic characteristics.

In a speech to accompany the report, he will say Ofsted does not favour a particular teaching style but is only interested in how a lot helpful finding out goes on in the classroom.

Ofsted chief says England"s schools failing white working-class children

Science education still not making the grade, say Ofsted

Useful experiments can assist students find out, say Ofsted. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Few would doubt that the sciences perform a basic function in everyone’s education. But are we – government, college leaders, teachers and inspectors – doing sufficient?

In a new Ofsted report, Keeping curiosity: a survey into science training in colleges, the answer to that question is a resounding no.

There is great information. Pupils’ achievement in science exams has risen given that our final science survey 3 years ago. But the truth is that the data masks a broad variation in overall performance amid schools, a lack of emphasis on the most-in a position pupils, and a decline in science educating in about half of the 91 main schools visited by inspectors.

Figures for 2013 present that in fee-paying out schools, one particular in 4 college students studied A-level chemistry and 17% sat physics. This compares to close to one in 7 for chemistry and 10% for physics in non-selective state colleges. This successfully implies that thousands of young folks are missing out on a world of opportunity and the nation is missing out on a big talent pool.

In the 21st century, it truly is ludicrous to feel of physics, biology or chemistry as masculine topics. But not adequate female students do A-level physics. Why do one-third of 17-12 months-previous female students drop physics soon after doing it for a year? That attrition rate is far also substantial.

So if Ofsted has a new rallying cry for science, it is that we want a lot more female physicists. This is in which college leaders come in. They can challenge assumptions, set the bar substantial, and deliver greater outcomes for youthful people.

Inspectors identified that leaders in the colleges we visited usually accepted the stereotypical alternatives that college students produced. We found that schools took little observe of why girls did not continue to research physics past sixteen.

Our inspectors identified that educating in primary and secondary colleges usually lacked ample depth to enable pupils – specifically the most in a position – to build on their science understanding. In addition, it is just not very good ample that virtually half of main colleges had been not setting targets for science and had been not monitoring students’ progress in the topic. They did not appear to see science as a priority, even though it is a core subject in the nationwide curriculum.

We had been also shocked to uncover that numerous teachers were unconvinced by scientific enquiry studying science by carrying out experiments. Ofsted is clear that scientific enquiry develops students’ tips, expertise, knowledge and knowing in younger people’s normal curiosity about the way the planet performs.

In the very best colleges – in which we identified excellent science lessons – teachers knew that science is one thing that pupils have to actually do. It is not adequate to study about what other individuals have accomplished. It flows that scientific method is the basis of scientific understanding. Science is one thing we do to learn about the natural planet.

Powerful leaders, who are ready to challenge dated assumptions about gender and subjects – complemented by confident and skilled teachers – make the distinction.

In Prince Henry’s Academy in Evesham, Worcestershire, sixth-form college students investigated the impact of temperature on air pressure. They did this by modifying the temperature of a sealed flask that was connected to a temperature gauge.

The pupils, by plotting a graph of temperature against strain, then predicted the temperature when the stress is zero, which is absolute zero (or -273C) – nothing at all decrease is achievable.

A teacher could have told pupils the temperature in individuals situations. But by undertaking scientific enquiry, the pupils discovered much more for themselves. This is an example of teaching much more on the edge of a pupil’s knowing, taking them to where they are not able to go alone.

The very best teachers, we located, are able to relate abstract scientific concepts to existing affairs. That consists of asteroids lighting up the Siberian sky, and the memorable Felix Baumgartner’s free fall from all of 24 miles up in the air.

All this issues due to the fact science training – biology, chemistry and physics – presents possibilities – in academia and with employers – for youthful men and women. Request employers and they will tell you they want a higher skills base in the labour market place.

If we all up our game, then we can open doors for young individuals that advantage not only them but our economic system also.

Michael Cladingbowl, Ofsted colleges director

Science education still not making the grade, say Ofsted