Ofsted chief blames poor leadership for rise in failing secondary schools
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Version 0 of 1. The head of Ofsted has blamed the lack of good leadership in schools across the board for the increasing failure of secondary schools after years of improvement. Speaking before the publication of Osted’s annual report, Sir Michael Wilshaw said it made no difference whether schools were free or academies, the key factor was leadership. “The people who make a difference are the leaders,” Wilshaw told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “More autonomy means they can get on and make better schools, but if you’ve got poor leadership, it doesn’t work. It comes down to leaders. “The big challenge for the future is to get better people into our schools, better teachers.” Wilshaw also defended Ofsted’s record of inspection and said it would inspect good schools more regularly to ensure there was no dip in quality. In his third annual report published on Wednesday, Wilshaw will say secondary schools in England are failing in increasing numbers, with more falling into special measures and tens of thousands more pupils attending schools condemned as inadequate. While primaries continue to flourish, according to Ofsted, progress in secondaries has “plateaued” after years of improvement – and is in danger of going into reverse – with the overall proportion of good or outstanding schools unchanged from last year. At the other end of the scale, Wilshaw warns that the proportion of failing secondary schools has gone up, with 56 more in special measures than a year ago. The total is up from 91 to 147. Of particular concern will be the 170,000 children taught in secondary schools that are deemed inadequate – Ofsted’s lowest category – which is 70,000 more than in the previous year. The findings will be disappointing for the government, whose academy programme will inevitably come under further scrutiny in the light of these results. As improvement in secondary schools falters, critics will point out that just over half (56%) of secondaries are academies, compared with 13% of primary schools, which according to the report are continuing to improve. But in a speech in central London to launch the report, Wilshaw will call on critics to move on from the “sterile” debate about school structure, which he describes as “yesterday’s argument”. “Most people recognise that school autonomy is a good thing. Almost all schools, regardless of status, now enjoy far more freedom than they did in the past,” Wilshaw will say. “Where schools are failing, it is not because they are local authority schools or academies, or because they are part of a multi-academy trust or because they stand alone. They are failing because they haven’t got the essentials right: governance and oversight is weak, leadership is poor, misbehaviour goes unchallenged and teaching is indifferent. If our education system is to continue to progress we need to concentrate on the basics of why schools and colleges fail and why they succeed.” The figures for failing secondaries are relatively small but they will nevertheless be worrying, and Wilshaw will use his speech to highlight poor leadership, indifferent teaching and weak governance as some of the contributing factors. Wilshaw is expected to say that in an increasingly autonomous school system, effective oversight is more important than ever. The problems facing struggling schools, he will argue, are often compounded because they are “isolated” and without meaningful support and challenge, whether from their local authority or their sponsor. “These schools are deprived of effective support when times are bad. They are left unchallenged when they flirt with complacency. In many cases they are totally insulated from effective governance. They are bereft of good leadership and teaching practice. They remain apart from schools that could partner them.” Wilshaw has been engaged in a well-publicised row with the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, in which he has repeatedly demanded more powers to inspect and grade management of academy chains. Currently Ofsted can inspect only the schools run by the chains, not their administration. Morgan is adamant that Ofsted already has sufficient powers, and has said: “I am not in the business of passing legislation for powers that already exist.” In his annual report, the chief inspector will acknowledge that many secondaries are doing a “superb job” – proportionately there are more outstanding secondaries than primaries. But in a third of local authority areas in England, fewer than 70% of secondaries are either good or outstanding, while in 13 areas children have a less than 50% chance of attending a good or outstanding secondary school. Primaries have thrived, Wilshaw will say, because headteachers have focused on behaviour, the quality of teaching – in particular the teaching of phonics – teachers’ professional development and improved communication with parents. Commenting before the report, David Simmonds, of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, called for an independent review of Ofsted. “Ofsted is intended to be a key part of the improvement of schools, and in the case of academy schools are the only people councils can call on to intervene when there are signs that standards are slipping. “As well as asking questions of schools, Ofsted has questions to answer about whether its regime is bringing about the improvement we need to see. “Mums and dads want to know someone has their finger on the pulse of schools. That can’t be done from Whitehall. It is time for an independent review of Ofsted so we can be confident in judgments which at the moment seem to change at a moment’s notice.” The Department for Education said: “We share Sir Michael Wilshaw’s ambition to keep raising standards in secondary schools but we should acknowledge we have seen incredible improvements in recent years, all achieved against the backdrop of Ofsted’s much tougher inspection framework which leaves no room for underperforming schools to hide. “We now have more than 1 million more children now being taught in good or outstanding schools since 2010. This has been accomplished by acting swiftly on underperformance, encouraging high-quality schools to open and unleashing a wave of teaching talent across the country through our excellent teaching schools. “Thanks to this approach and the hard work of teachers more pupils than ever before have the chance to attend a good or outstanding local school.” |