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

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

Nick Clegg defends free school meals for children aged six and seven

Nick Clegg said there was ample research to demonstrate a sizzling school lunch assisted kids concentrate in the afternoon. Photograph: Rex

Nick Clegg has defended plans to provide totally free school meals for all 6- and seven-yr-olds, saying it is nonsense to suggest the cost of funding further kitchens will come from funds not obtainable in the schools maintenance price range.

He insisted the £150m required would come from £80m by means of the Treasury and £70m from underspend in the Department of Training (DfE) maintenance budget. He also insisted the program would go ahead since he had cleared it with the chancellor irrespective of whatever a single unnamed supply in the DfE had stated.

There have been fierce protests at the way the policy has been cobbled together, reflecting tensions among the department and Clegg.

Speaking on LBC 97.3′s Contact Clegg programme, the deputy prime minister also defended the principle of extending universal cost-free college meals to even the kids of footballers such as Wayne Rooney earning £200,000 a week.

He mentioned it was a basic principle that the wealthy need to be entitled to accessibility some public services this kind of as the NHS or a state pension regardless of income.

The measure, he stated, would specially support the 4 out of 10 households that are not wealthy but not entitled at existing to cost-free school meals, saving them £400 a yr.

He explained there was ample investigation to display that a sizzling school lunch aided youngsters to focus in schools in the afternoons, claiming there were justifications for the measure on the basis of expense of residing, health and education.

The previously unforeseen extra demands positioned on college canteens by the policy indicate an further £150m is needed to fund the emergency building and improvement of school kitchens, prompting a dispute in which the Liberal Democrats accused the training secretary, Michael Gove, of lying.

The concern had to go to the quad – the group of 4 most senior ministers in the coalition which includes Clegg, David Cameron and George Osborne – as the training division complained that the further money could require ministers to raid its fundamental demands spending budget, the fund used to deal with the rise in the number of principal schoolchildren caused by a little one boom.

So serious was the dispute that the Lib Dems accused the DfE of lying about the impossibility of discovering added cash from the schools servicing price range.

“Gove and the DfE had their eye on the underspend for cost-free schools,” explained the supply, “which I believe explains the slight bitterness from the DfE in some of the briefing. What we are seeing from DfE is them going rogue. They are totally out of stage. It is time for them to cease whining and get behind a policy that they are going to have to deliver. The DfE are lying if they say there is no money.”

Downing Street then made clear that it was Gove’s department that was out of line. “The place is absolutely the one particular the DPM’s [Clegg"s] office have set out,” the prime minister’s official spokesman explained.

Cameron sided with Clegg in the quad meeting, in accordance to coalition sources, in return for the Liberal Democrats ceding some ground on environmental issues.

But a DfE supply stated: “There is no spare funds in either the fundamental needs or servicing budget to spend for Clegg’s kitchens.”

Clegg won the unique £600m for free college meals as part of a last-minute autumn deal that permitted Cameron to invest on a marriage tax allowance. The meals scheme is due to get started in September 2014.

It is considered that Gove regarded the totally free college meals proposal as political showmanship made to win Clegg votes at the election, but unlikely to do anything significant to enhance schooling.

There are also wider reports of more and more tense relations in between Clegg and the schooling secretary, with Clegg telling colleagues he identified it increasingly hard to work with Gove.

At training questions on Tuesday Gove went out of his way to praise Clegg in a bid to pour oil on troubled waters.

The two sides are at loggerheads more than the determination of Clegg, with no warning, to announce that he wished competent teachers to perform in totally free colleges, something the Liberal Democrats had endorsed just before but had never been highlighted by the deputy prime minister.

At the outset of the coalition the two men appeared to be ideological allies.

Element of the trouble is that Clegg is taking an increasing curiosity in early-years education, partly to mark out some distinctive private ground ahead of the election. Clegg has been closely concerned in announcements extending childcare support, the pupil premium and helping the younger unemployed.

The autumn statement is expected to incorporate a commitment to lift employers’ necessity to pay nationwide insurance coverage for employees aged below 21. This would reduce the cost of employing younger people by an typical of £520 a yr per worker.

The totally free college meals pledge has been common with the public, but led to some criticism inside of Clegg’s very own celebration.

Nick Harvey, the former Liberal Democrat defence minister, described the announcement as “completely astonishing”.

He advised the Huffington Post he wanted the money to be much better targeted so totally free lunches would be offered to poor kids from when they began school at five to when they finished at 18.

He explained: “A person, someplace, has identified £600m a yr we did not know about down the back of a filing cabinet and has come up with the brilliant brainwave that the best way to invest it is to give a free school meal to all 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds – irrespective of their cash flow degree. I am sitting there, gawping in open-mouthed astonishment.”

The Liberal Democrat colleges minister, David Laws, said: “Free of charge college meals have numerous benefits – children focus far more in school when they get a proper, wholesome lunch they eat much more healthily strain on family budgets is relieved and families on lower incomes who go back to function are aided also – by no longer shedding all their free of charge college meal entitlements.”

Nick Clegg defends free school meals for children aged six and seven

Seven States Fighting To Keep Cursive Writing in the Classroom

Some states that adopted Widespread Core educational requirements are bothered that a staple of classical schooling will be affected — they are fighting to preserve cursive creating in classrooms. As folks improve the use of computer systems and smartphone for communication, and as the new Common Core Specifications demand computing abilities for assessment, many colleges have dropped penmanship classes.

Nonetheless, seven states — California, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Utah — want their schools to hold the cursive in classrooms, writes Julie Carr Smyth of The Related Press.

Linden Bateman, a 72-yr-old state representative from Idaho, mentioned cursive conveys intelligence and grace, engages creativity and builds brain cells.

“Modern research indicates that much more areas of the human brain are engaged when young children use cursive handwriting than when they keyboard,” stated Bateman, who handwrites 125 ornate letters every 12 months. “We’re not considering this by means of. It’s past belief to me that states have permitted cursive to slip from the specifications.”

The Typical Core is a set of favored K-twelve schooling benchmarks for public colleges. The Specifications omit cursive for a host of factors, including an growing require for kids in a digital-heavy age to master laptop keyboarding and evidence that even most adults use some hybrid of classic cursive and print in every day lifestyle.

“If you just stop and believe for a second about what are the sorts of abilities that individuals are probably to be employing in the future, it is significantly far more most likely that keyboarding will aid students succeed in careers and in school than it is that cursive will,” mentioned Morgan Polikoff, an assistant professor of K-12 policy and leadership at the University of Southern California.

Advocates for cursive cite latest brain science that signifies the fluid motion employed when creating script enhances hand-eye coordination and develops fine motor expertise, in flip marketing studying, writing and cognition expertise.

Advocates also say that scholars of the long term will shed the capability to interpret worthwhile cultural assets if they cannot go through cursive.

“The Constitution of the United States is written in cursive. Think about that,” Bateman stated.

New investigation displays that some 95% of teens use the Internet often, and the percentage utilizing smartphones to go on the internet has grown from 23% in 2011 to 37% nowadays. A 2012 Pew report located the volume of text messages amongst teens rose from 50 a day on regular in 2009 to 60 a day on common two many years later on.

Kristen Purcell, associate director for research at Pew’s World wide web &amp American Daily life Venture, stated researchers discovered it surprising — provided these outcomes — that 94 percent of the 2,462 Sophisticated Placement and National Writing Project surveyed nevertheless said they “encourage their college students to do at least some of their creating by hand.”

According to Purcell, teachers gave two primary causes for asking students to do some handwriting practice. Most standardized tests are nevertheless in paper-and-pencil format and teachers believed having college students create by hand aided them slow down their pondering, encouraging deeper and fuller considering in the course of the creating method.

Seven States Fighting To Keep Cursive Writing in the Classroom