What do school leaders and the public really think

What do school leaders and the public really

think? The Key and Ipsos MORI share the latest findings

Ben Page | Fergal Roche

• Survey conducted online in March 2014

• Sample of 12,000 school leaders selected from The Key’s database

o 1,198 school leaders completed the full survey

o The Key’s database of school leaders covers 84% of schools in England

• Census of 7,000 school governors on The Key’s database

o 1,079 school governors completed the full survey

o The Key’s Governor database covers 74% of schools in England

• Data quoted provides an indication of the opinions of school

leaders and governors in state schools in England

Latest results…

Base: representative sample of c.1,000 British adults age 18+ each month, interviewed face-to-face in home Source: Ipsos MORI Issues Index

An Education War?? Not for public

What do you see as the most/other important issues facing Britain today?

0

10

20

30

40

50

May1997

May1998

May1999

May2000

May2001

May2002

May2003

May2004

May2005

May2006

May2007

May2008

May2009

May2010

May2011

May2012

May2013

May2014

London

Bombs

Introduction of

means-tested

tuition fees.

Education most

important issue.

Fuel

Protests

City academies introduced

to combat entrenched

failure in some urban

schools

Lowest score

since Dec 1985

(9%)

Labour’s second term - pledge

to improve failing secondary

schools

Education and

Inspections Bill limits

the power of LAs to

open new schools

April 2011 – Pupil Premium

introduced

Cameron becomes

PM

School leaders are happy in their job, especially

those in the best-rated schools

72%

82%

75%

62% 57%

Question: How satisfied or dissatisfied are you in your current role?

Base: 1,198 school leaders responding to question where Ofsted data available

Unweighted data

Outstanding

(n=130)

Good

(n=657)

Total

(n=1108) Requires

improvement

(n=235)

Inadequate

(n=28)

Ofsted rating

% very/ fairly satisfied in current role

Rates of satisfaction are better than other public

services

72%

66% 63%

57%

Question: How far do you agree or disagree: ‘you are happy in your job’?

Source: Ipsos MORI Loyalty Representative Employee Data 2012

Education Health and

social work School leaders

(The Key) Public administration/

government

% agree ‘you are happy in your job’

Ipsos MORI Loyalty Representative Employee Data (2012)

66% of school leaders believe that morale in the

teaching profession nationally is poor and 82% think it’s

worse than in 2010

44% of governors believe that morale in the teaching profession

nationally is poor and just 19% believe it is good

Question: How do you rate the level of morale in the teaching profession nationally?

Base: 1,198 school leaders responding to question; 1,079 school governors responding to question

Question: How much better or worse is morale in the teaching profession now, compared with 2010?

Base: 1,198 school leaders responding to question; 1,079 school governors responding to question

Despite their own satisfaction, leaders and governors

perceive that morale nationally is low

Evidence of a perception gap?

Excellent Very good Neither

good nor

poor

Very poor Poor Good

My school

Schools generally

Extremely

poor

35%

8%

58%

27%

% Excellent/

very good Quality of governance

Quality of teaching

My school

Schools generally

Question: What is your impression of the quality of school governance in England? / How

would you rate the quality of governance in your own school?

Base: 1,198 school leaders responding to question

Question: What is your impression of the quality of teaching in England? / How would you

rate the quality of teaching at your school?

Base: 1,198 school leaders responding to question

School leaders and governors rate teaching highly,

especially in best-rated schools

Question: How would you rate the quality of teaching at your school?

Base: 1,192 school leaders responding to question and for whom Ofsted

data available

57%

79%

63%

34%

10%

Outstanding

(n=109)

Good

(n=443)

Total

(n=1192)

Requires

improvement

(n=87)

Inadequate

(n=29)

Quality of teaching at your school - % rating quality ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’

Ofsted rating

Although ratings suggest there may be room for

improvement

Leaders

36%

Good

42%

Very good

15%

Excellent

Governors

35%

Good

39%

Very good

18%

Excellent

93% 92%

Quality of teaching at your school

Question: How would you rate the quality of teaching at your school?

Base: 1,198 school leaders; 1,079 school governors responding to question

Leaders and governors think the teaching

profession is an unattractive prospect

Question: In your view, how attractive or unattractive is the teaching profession to people

choosing a career?

Base: 1,198 school leaders; 1,079 school governors answering the question

60% of school leaders believe the

teaching profession is unattractive

But school leaders would still recommend the

profession, especially in the best-rated schools

66%

76%

66% 66%

32%

Question: If you felt that somebody had relevant skills and experience, how likely

would you be to recommend the teaching profession to him or her?

Base: 1,170 school leaders responding to question where Ofsted data available

Unweighted data

Outstanding

(n=136)

Good

(n=693)

Total

(n=1170) Requires

improvement

(n=251)

Inadequate

(n=28)

% very/fairly likely to recommend the teaching profession to somebody with relevant

skills and experience

Ofsted rating

School leaders are less satisfied with the

government’s performance cf. 2010

Question: Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the current government’s

performance on education? Base: 1,198 school leaders (2014); 366 teachers on Senior

Leadership Team interviewed for Ipsos MORI’s 2010 Teachers Omnibus

Source: The Key/Ipsos MORI; Ipsos MORI Teachers Omnibus

Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the current government’s

performance on education?

Very satisfied Fairly

satisfied

Neither

satisfied nor

dissatisfied

Very

dissatisfied

Fairly

dissatisfied

2010

2014

This may reflect views about the role of

government in education

“Education should not be

politicised. Teachers and school

leadership are best placed to

make these decisions.”

School leader

“A long-term, cross party

education policy would be

far more beneficial for

pupils and teachers, which

no party currently

champions.”

School governor

Nevertheless school leaders perceive that the

quality of education is improving

Question: Do you think the quality of education in England’s schools is better or worse

than in 2010, or do you think it’s about the same?

Base: 1,198 school leaders

47% school leaders say

the quality of education

has got better since

2010

20% school leaders

say the quality of

education has got

worse since 2010

Do you think each service has got better or worse in the last five years, or has it

stayed the same?

Public agree…..

Base: 1,031 Source: BBC October 2013

27

15

11

13

11

8

14

8

8

9

7

5

4

4

21

18

18

16

16

20

11

13

12

11

12

10

7

7

3

6

9

14

11

14

9

4

11

9

9

10

15

10

18

3

6

6

14

12

16

8

3

8

8

7

11

13

12

49

2

Recycling collection

Parks and open spaces

GPs surgeries

Refuse collection

Hospitals

Schools and colleges

Leisure centres

Bus service

Street lighting

Libraries

Street cleaning

The police

Care for the elderly

Road maintenance

Meals-on-wheels

Got much better Got a little better Got a little worse Got much worse

Do you think each service has got better or worse in the last five years, or has it

stayed the same?

43% better vs 22% worse – good news

Base: Response from those who use the service Source: BBC October 2013

36

43

36

23

29

29

29

28

22

9

22

16

11

22

23

28

32

32

Leisure centres

Schools and colleges

Parks and open…

Meals on wheels

Libraries

Bus services

GP service

Hospitals

Care for the elderly

Better Worse Net score

+27

+21

+20

+7

+12

+6

+1

-4

-10

What are schools for?

Which of the following are most important in your school? (Select up to 3) All leaders

Preparing young people with the skills needed for adulthood 68%

Helping young people to have high self-esteem 54%

Creating good citizens 47%

Helping young people to be happy 45%

Creating well-behaved young people 23%

Ensuring young people do well in their examinations 20%

Preparing young people for the world of work 15%

Ensuring that young people are healthy 15%

Preparing young people for FE/ HE 14%

Question: Which of the following are most important in your school?


School leaders consider pupils are generally

happy – less so in academies

Question: On the whole, how happy or unhappy do

you think pupils in your school are?

Base: 1,198 school leaders; 1,079 school governors

59%

academy

leaders think

their pupils are

very happy

72% non-

academy

leaders think

their pupils are

very happy

98% of school leaders

and 99% school

governors believe

their pupils are

happy at

school

More academic focus in academies vs. other

schools

Which of the following are most important in

your school?

(Select up to 3)

All

leaders

Academy Non-

academy

Preparing young people with the skills needed for adulthood 68% 62% 69%

Helping young people to have high self-esteem 54% 43% 57%

Creating good citizens 47% 44% 48%

Helping young people to be happy 45% 41% 46%

Creating well-behaved young people 23% 24% 22%

Ensuring young people do well in their examinations 20% 34% 17%

Preparing young people for the world of work 15% 20% 14%

Ensuring that young people are healthy 15% 8% 16%

Preparing young people for FE/ HE 14% 22% 13%


Base: 1,198 school leaders / 180 academy leaders / 851 non-academy leaders

Pink shading indicates statistically significant differences between academy/ non-

academy school leaders

What next? Support for Pupil Premium and

SEN reforms

Question: How far do you support or oppose each of the following national policies/initiatives?

Base: 1,198 school leaders; 1,079 school governors

School leaders School governors

%

Support

%

Strongly

support

%

Tend to

support

%

Support

%

Strongly

support

%

Tend to

support

Pupil premium funding 74 31 42 80 40 40

0-25 statements for

children with special

educational needs 55 24 32 65 23 42

Universal free school

meals for infants 51 25 26 52 24 28

Forced academisation

of underperforming

schools 8 2 6 13 3 10

Creation of free schools 7 2 5 16 4 12

http://www.conservatives.com/

Summary

• Perception that morale in the profession is low, but real picture is

more complex

o Leaders are generally satisfied in their role, and would

recommend the profession

o Ofsted scores reflected in morale and perceptions of quality

• Leaders are relatively positive about aspects of teaching within their

control and experience

o Exception is quality of governance – rated relatively poorly by

leaders for their own schools

• Perception that quality of education has improved since 2010,

despite dissatisfaction with government

• Public agree!!!

Why is morale so low when

school leaders think teaching

is getting better?

Which of the following are most important in your

school? (top four responses)

Preparing young

people with the skills

needed for adulthood

Helping young people to

have high self-esteem

Creating good citizens

Helping young people

to be happy


61% of school governors








Base: 1,198 school leaders; 1,063 governors

Which of the following are most important in your

school? (bottom five responses)

Creating well-behaved

young people

Ensuring young people do

well in their examinations

Preparing young people

for the world of work

Ensuring that young

people are healthy









Preparing young people

for further or higher

education




Base: 1,198 school leaders; 1,063 governors

Pupil

Premium

funding

0-25 EHC plans for

children with special

educational needs

Universal free

school meals for

infants

The three most popular policies:

Question: How far do you support or oppose each of the following

national policies/initiatives?


0 20 40 60 80 100

Other

Business awareness

Relevant work experience

Qualification obtained

Academic results

Basic literacy and numeracy

Aptitudes for work

Attitudes towards work

Percentage of respondents

What do employers look for in school and college

leavers?

78% Attitudes

towards

work 57% Aptitudes

for work

CBI/Pearson, 2013

How can we help schools

continue to improve in an

increasingly autonomous

system?

• Examination system

• Inspection regime

• Governance

• School leadership

Examination system

55% of school

leaders do not feel

that the current

examination system

accurately measures

the abilities of pupils

Question: In general, how

accurately, if at all, do you think

the 2013/14 examination

system measures pupils’

abilities?


Inspection regime

• 64% of school leaders

do not believe that the

inspection system

accurately measures

schools’ performance

Question: How accurately, if at all, do you

think the current inspection system

measures schools’ performance?


Effectiveness of governance in England

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Extremely poor

Very poor

Poor

Neither good nor poor

Good

Very good

Excellent


Question: What is your impression of the quality of school governance in

England?

Base: 1,063 governors

“Good governance isn’t

universal. Most of the

6,000 schools that

aren’t good not only

have weaknesses in

leadership, but also

governance.”

Wilshaw, 2013

The role of school governor – Perceptions vs reality

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Extremely unattractive

Very unattractive

Fairly unattractive

Not sure

Fairly attractive

Very attractive

Extremely attractive


Question: How attractive or unattractive do you think the role of

school governor is to potential volunteers?

Base: 1,063 governors

School leadership

0

20

40

60

80

100

School leadership is very orfairly important in attractingand retaining high qualityteaching staff

0

20

40

60

80

100

The role of

headteacher is

unattractive to those

in senior leadership

positions

71% Of school

leaders feel

the role of

headteacher

is unattractive

%

%

Question: How important, if at all, do you think each of the

following are in attracting and retaining high quality staff into

the teaching profession? Base: 1,198 school leaders

Question: How attractive or unattractive do you

think the role of the headteacher is to those in

other senior leadership positions?


Questions

• Have we got the balance of support and accountability right?

• Does the current inspection regime meet the needs of self-improving

school system?

• How do we get the very best people into school governance?

• How do we ensure headship is an attractive role for talented school

leaders?

• How can we support school leaders and governors to continue

improving?