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School chiefs hit out at Ofsted rating change
CONCERNS ... Coun Jim Foreman, above, South Tyneside Councils lead member for children, young people and families.
EDUCATION chiefs in South Tyneside say Government plans to change school inspections are “insulting.”
Under new proposals, schools rated as ‘satisfactory’ would be told that they must do better in a bid to drive up standards.
All schools are rated as outstanding, good or satisfactory after an inspection, which takes place every three years. But Prime Minister David Cameron says satisfactory is no longer good enough, and the category could be replaced with a new one telling headteachers their school ‘requires improvement’.
Coun Jim Foreman, South Tyneside Council’s lead member for children, young people and families, said: “I have never been happy with a system which labels or tags a school simply as good, bad, or something else.
“Inspections are thorough and a lot of things are taken into consideration. It doesn’t seem right after all that, to use just one word to describe a school’s performance.
“Some might be performing better than others, but they are all striving to be as best they possibly can, sometimes in difficult circumstances. Instead of scrapping one rating or category, the Government should think about how it labels schools.”
Dr Jill McManus, secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in South Tyneside, said the plans are an insult to schools which are currently rated as satisfactory.
She said: “It used to be OK to be satisfactory but now it seems as though it won’t be good enough. But all schools are trying to improve, and they all want to be rated as ‘good’ or better.
“Being satisfactory is a security base to build from. If this changes and schools are told that they must improve, it puts extra pressure on them.Schools rated as satisfactory are not bad schools, and this is an insult to them.”
Education watchdog Ofsted has unveiled plans in a bid to improve schools seen as ‘coasting.’
Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted’s chief education inspector said: “I believe that ‘satisfactory’ falsely denotes acceptable provision, and it isn’t.”
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Just good enough is frankly not good enough.”
joseph.tulip@northeast-press.co.uk
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
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wasthatthatguy
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 09:25 PMMaybe the Inspectors should grade schools in more categories, eg poor, marginal ("could try harder"), satisfactory, good, excellent?
BoldonLad
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 03:45 PMMr_RiL, I would differ on only one small point, as a general rule of thumb - anything ANY union is against tends to good for the taxpayers and "customers" of the service provided by the unions members.
Wavydavy
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 02:57 PMI have just read and commented on an article about youth unemployment and think this ties in well. A good education is now number one in allowing young people to have the best chance to obtain employment and the opportunity to do well in their lives. Creating a ranking list of schools will create a competitive environment and allow parents to have the opportunity to make sure they identify the best options for their children. Continuous improvement in both education and industry is critical to the short, medium and long term future of the region and country as a whole. I would have thought educated teachers unions would have agreed with that. I will not share my thoughts about Jim Foremans preference for mediocrity given it is to be expected from anyone in government.
Paris2011
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:41 PMI agree with you Mr_RiL. I was sent a letter the other day from a new deputy head who didn't seem to be able to grasp what sentences were and that they need commas in them! I was astounded that someone would send a letter out like that to new parents and I pray that my kids will be learning better standards than that. Last time I complained about a letter sent out with spelling mistakes, bad punctuation and appalling grammar I was haughtily told that kids had written it themselves, which is fair enough I suppose, but it should have been CORRECTED before it was sent out en-masse (although I know some teachers don't like correcting work because it dents the kids' confidence apparently!)
Goman
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 12:37 PMI question Sir Micheal Wilshaw's understanding of English, surely satisfactory does mean acceptable. How can it not? The Prime Minister's statement "good enough is not good enough"??? I think we know what they mean but not satisfactory. However when there are two criteria above satisfactory "good and outstanding" is it not implicit that any school rated as satisfactory should be aiming to improve to the next level and not complacent by being assessed as just "good enough"? Therefore I think "requires improvement" is correct but surely should be "satisfactory but requires improvement". There is a substantial role for parents in this - the school's cannot do it all nor can they.
Mr_RiL
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 11:25 AMGeneral rule of thumb - anything that the teachers unions are against tends to be good for the taxpayer and pupils.
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