Supporting school improvement through inspection

‘Supporting school improvement through inspection’

International conference: ‘Improve the school’

Naples, Italy - 14 May 2015

Lee Northern HMI

Ofsted, England

Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted)

Founded in 1992

Ofsted is a non-ministerial government department

Headed by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI), Sir Michael Wilshaw

Independent of the Department for Education (DfE)

Ofsted reports ‘without fear or favour’

HMCI reports directly to a Parliamentary Select Committee, made up of Members of Parliament from different political parties, and must ‘lay before Parliament’ an Annual Report

Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services

and Skills (Ofsted)

Parliament

Education Select Committee

Government

Head of State: the Queen

Department for Education

Department for Business, Industry & Skills

Non-executive Board

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector

Funding Department for Justice

Inspected compliance with new laws on working ages, hours and conditions

Inspected provision of factory schools for children

Did not produce published reports on individual factories

Did not cover ALL types of factory where children worked

Did NOT focus on the outcomes for the children

The first inspections, 1833

Introduced to ensure accountability over public funds

Professional inspectors

Published report to Parliament

Commented on value

Inspection of schools, from 1840

The purpose of school inspectionThe inspection of a school provides an independent external evaluation of its effectiveness and a diagnosis of what it should do to improve.

Ofsted’s inspections of schools perform three essential functions. They:

provide parents with an expert and independent assessment of how well a school is performing, and help those who are choosing a school

provide information about the work of schools, whether minimum standards are being met, and provides confidence in the use of public money, as well as indicating where improvements are needed

promote the improvement of individual schools and the education system as a whole.

(The Education and Inspections Act, 2006)

‘The effective monitoring and evaluation of schools is central to the continuous improvement of student learning: Schools need feedback on their performance to help them identify how to improve their practices; and schools should be accountable for their performance.’

OECD strongly supports external reviews of school performance

‘Synergies for better learning’ (2013)

Inspection reports

Reports are set out to show how schools should seek to improve

Inspection reports:

recommendations

Ofsted’s 2012/13 Annual Report identified some key barriers to raising standards:weak leadership and ineffective school governance

mediocre teaching and too much variation in quality

pockets of weak educational provision in parts of the country

significant underachievement of children from low-income families, particularly white children.

Ofsted’s ‘Annual Report’

Where schools decline, or improve too slowly, weak leadership of teaching is often the biggest factor

In teaching, it was the lack of leadership that mattered more than the quality of teaching

Analysis of reasons affecting 114 schools that declined markedly

Thematic and survey reports

The pattern of poor achievement for the more able:

Too little challenge in lessons

The core reason is that PLANNING is not good enough

Tasks are too easy

Low expectations of what will be done

Assessment systems do not identify pupils’ potential or their prior learning

Teachers’ subject knowledge is weak

Compounded by – lack of checking on progress in lessons, poor guidance in marking

Compounded by – poor time management

Compounded by – lack of application ACROSS subjects

Tasks are same for all

Compounded by – lack of chance to develop writing and speaking

Guidance & inspection criteria for inspectors (January 2015):

How we inspectPublicly available on our website

How does inspection support school improvement?Inspection:raises expectations by setting standardsprovides challenge and impetus where improvement is neededclearly identifies strengths and weaknessesrecommends specific priorities for improvement for the school and, when appropriate, checks on and promotes subsequent progresspromotes rigour in the way that schools evaluate their own performancemonitors the progress and performance of weaker schools, and challenges and supports them to improve.

Impact of school inspections

Add presentation title to master slide | 19

School inspection framework (Sept 2014)

‘Inspection has the strongest impact on school improvement when the school understands the evidence and findings that have led to the judgements, and what it needs to do to improve.’

Investigation report: School leaders’ views on the impact of inspection (March 2015)22,800 responses to Ofsted’s post-inspection survey.

(2009-2014)

98% of school leaders said ‘The inspection identified clear recommendations for improvement’

Schools are surveyed immediately after inspection: Response rate: typically ~ 75%

98% of school leaders said ‘I will use the inspection recommendations to move the school forward’


Inspection does not have to deliver new insight in order to support improvement

A new headteacher explained how the inspection gave them confidence in securing improvement:

‘The inspection was very helpful to confirm that the impact and actions put in place were the correct path. Inspectors gave confidence to the leadership team that we were taking effective action and validated our judgements, evidence and improvement plans.’

Changes made are dominated by driving the improvement of teaching and learning:

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/oct/22/school-ofsted-stockholm-syndrome

‘Are heads too caught up in what Ofsted wants? If it’s all about striving to please the inspectors, schools will never truly improve’

Side effects?



‘Looking at, not looking for’

October 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-inspections-clarification-for-schools

Ofsted does not:•specify how planning should be set out•expect to see any specific frequency, type or volume of marking - these are for the school to decide •favour any particular teaching style. School leaders and teachers should decide for themselves how best to teach.•grade the quality of teaching for individual lessons •require teachers to undertake additional work specifically for the inspection.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-inspections-clarification-for-schools

Schools are inspected:•If they are new•If they were previously grade 3 or grade 4•If risk assessment suggests their performance is falling

Grade 1: outstanding•No further inspection scheduled (exempt)•Likely to be asked to support weaker schools nationally or to take them on as new academies•May become a ‘teaching school’

Grade 2: good•Inspected every 5 years•Expected to provide some support to weaker local schools

Grade 3: requires improvement•Invited to seminar•Visited by inspector within a few weeks to discuss plans & actions•Inspector will discuss package of possible support measures•Will be re-inspected after two years•If found to be Grade 3 three times, then this is evidence that leadership is inadequate

Grade 4: inadequate•Can be placed into SPECIAL MEASURES•Ofsted will visit each term and report on progress until school is found to be at least grade 3•Local authority can act to change the governors•Governors can act to change the headteacher•Government encourages these schools to partner with outstanding schools or to close and re-open as academies.

2012: ‘Every child deserves a GOOD school.’

Government strategy is for weaker schools to be supported by stronger schools on their improvement.

20% 60% 17% 3%

What happens in grade 4 (‘Special Measures’) schools?

OFSTED:•One inspector is allocated to the school throughout the next stages•This inspector leads a monitoring visit every 3 months, focusing on the school’s weaknesses•These visits are likely to include much greater dialogue about improvement•The school will be re-inspected after no more than two years.

OFSTED:•One inspector is allocated to the school throughout the next stages•This inspector leads a monitoring visit every 3 months, focusing on the school’s weaknesses•These visits are likely to include much greater dialogue about improvement•The school will be re-inspected after no more than two years.

Schools are inspected:•If they are new•If they were previously grade 3 or grade 4•If risk assessment suggests their performance is falling

Grade 1: outstanding•No further inspection scheduled (exempt)•Likely to be asked to support weaker schools nationally or to take them on as new academies•May become a ‘teaching school’

Grade 2: good•Inspected every 5 years•Expected to provide some support to weaker local schools

Grade 3: requires improvement•Invited to seminar•Visited by inspector within a few weeks to discuss plans & actions•Inspector will discuss package of possible support measures•Will be re-inspected after two years•If found to be Grade 3 three times, then this is evidence that leadership is inadequate

Grade 4: inadequate•Can be placed into SPECIAL MEASURES•Ofsted will visit each term and report on progress until school is found to be at least grade 3•Local authority can act to change the governors•Governors can act to change the headteacher•Government encourages these schools to partner with outstanding schools or to close and re-open as academies.

2012: ‘Every child deserves a GOOD school.’

Government strategy is for weaker schools to be supported by stronger schools on their improvement.

20% 60% 17% 3%

What about the grade 3 schools? Changes were made from September 2012:

• The ‘satisfactory’ grading was replaced with ‘Requires Improvement’

• For any school in this group, the report explained clearly why it was not yet good

What happens to schools that ‘require improvement’?

School judged to REQUIRE IMPROVEMENT

School is invited to a REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT SEMINAR

An HMI is allocated to the school and makes an initial MONITORING VISIT that focuses on improvement planning

The HMI may arrange a series of support activities or a further monitoring visits

The HMI may suggest an early re-inspection

REQUIRE IMPROVEMENT schools will always be re-inspected within two years

A school that is still not good on its THIRD inspection will be considered INADEQUATE.


What does this look like in detail?

‘Through the lens of inspection’ workshops for senior leaders

Surgeries for governors and headteachers

English and maths conferences across local authorities

Local seminars and workshops eg FSM, more-able

Seminars and training for middle leaders

Good practice working groups, using groups of schools with a strong track

record to support other schools

Targeting some schools for early re-inspection

Focus on RI schools in meetings with local authority

staff

peer to peer review projects

survey activity eg reading, mathematics

Further HMI monitoring visits to schools – may not lead to a letter

….and inspections show that a greater proportion of RI schools are improving than satisfactory schools did in the past


Changes in schools judged to require improvement

In responses to our ‘impact’ survey, school leaders of RI schools told us what they had worked on as a result of the inspection. Most of these related to improving the management or quality of aspects of teaching and learning. Common actions included:

developing clearer strategies for marking and assessment improving professional development and training programmes introducing tighter processes for monitoring and evaluation improving approaches to managing behaviour making better use of data for tracking and evaluation.

Thank you.Any questions?

Over time, a greater understanding and acceptance of the RI ‘message’…

Question: Overall, do you agree that being judged to ‘require improvement’ rather than to be ‘satisfactory’ has strengthened the focus of leaders and governors on becoming a good school?

April 2013 Feb 2014

HMI visits to ‘requires improvement’ schools are seen increasingly positively:

Question: Do you agree or disagree that the visit helped you to identify weaknesses in the school’s planning that might otherwise have restricted the school’s ability to improve?

April 2013 March 2014

Provider surveys have been

generally positive….

Data from April 2013

Most of the activities in ‘RI’ work are seen as useful by headteachers

Frequency of activity (as reported by schools) - volume

Usefulness of activity - % useful

What do reports tell us? Schools that ‘got to good’ ensured effective governance, had robust systems and good leadership – especially of teaching

Thirty RI schools that ‘got to good’ : How successfully they had resolved their previous areas for improvement – issues of leadership, management and governance

Whereas ‘Stuck’ RI schools lack the capability to resolve key weaknesses:

Nineteen RI schools that stayed at RI, still with G3 for leadership: how successfully they resolved previous areas for improvement at re-inspection.

RI evaluation – spring 2014

Our 2012 Annual Report highlighted weaknesses at local authority level: