Ofsted
Good afternoon everyone.
Ive always enjoyed speaking at this festival. The setting is beautiful, the weather is usually glorious and its full of fascinating people. Also, its an opportunity for me to be a little bit more reflective than usual.
So I want to talk about the year weve had in education but Id also like to look forward. Id like to talk about the opportunities and about the challenges that lie ahead. And, I want to set out a few thoughts on how inspection might evolve.
Later on in my talk today I touch on the thorny subject of political impartiality. So Im going to practice what I preach today and steer well clear of Westminster speculation. There are times Im very happy to remind everyone that the post of Her Majestys Chief Inspector is, as the name suggests, a crown appointment. And this is one of those times!
In praise of schools
So lets start with this year. And I suppose its best summed up as a year when schools have all been trying to reassert normality, while still managing abnormal circumstances.
Schools and colleges have worked incredibly hard to make the best of a bad situation. Schools have rightly been praised for adapting to unprecedented challenges. And I think this last year really has been a crowning achievement.
Managing through a crisis is relentlessly tough. But trying to put one behind you, reset, and move forward, takes real effort and vision. Id like to thank everybody working in education for their commitment and energy this year.
Back in September, it was clear that the path ahead would be full of obstacles. Staffing shortages, lower parent confidence, attendance issues, uncertainty over exams, greater anxiety among children.
As we approach the end of the year, schools and colleges can look back with pride at a job well done. You have been restoring normality and reducing anxiety. You have brought children back into school and helped bridge many of the gaps to get them to where they need to be. You have prepared a cohort for exams that they werent sure they would sit a year ago. You have, without doubt, earned a great summer and I hope you get one.
I dont need to remind this audience about the importance and value of schools and teachers. The pandemic helped bring this home to parents at least, as they grappled with home learning.
You do so much more than educate the next generation. You support childrens social development and keep them safe. Teachers see and hear things that, in the most extreme cases, can save lives. When home is not a place of safety, the classroom can be.
And the watchful eyes of teachers can identify more than just the children with difficult lives outside school. They can also spot the children with additional needs beyond those of their classmates. Identifying these children and targeting support helps make sure that the benefits of a good education are available to all.
And recognising additional needs is perhaps harder now than before the pandemic. We know that some children arent where they would normally have been at this point. The Key Stage 2 results this week for reading were encouraging, but for maths were a disappointing reminder that, despite all your efforts, there is still some way to go.
Many children still need some help to catch up. Some of them might tick the normal diagnostic boxes for SEND, but have no real needs beyond not having received all the schooling they should have done. As far as possible those children should get the help they need without having a label pasted on them.
Fortunately schools have the experience and know-how to identify the children who really do have additional needs. But the SEND system has long been overstretched, even before COVID disrupted childrens lives and so many of their support services. Just last week the LGA reported that requests from councils for SEND support rose by nearly a quarter in 2021.
And here I will mention that we are consulting on a new framework for inspecting SEND provision in local areas, alongside the Care Quality Commission. Because of course, support for many young people with SEND goes much wider than school. We really want to understand the experiences of children and their families. And we want to look more closely at how local partners are meeting childrens needs. Our consultation runs until September, and you can find it on our website.
Giving children the best start
And now I want to look forward to the next school year. We all know there will still be external pressures. But I hope it will be a big further step towards normality, and a chance to concentrate on what children most need.
For schools, I think that starts with structure. Many school routines were heavily disrupted by COVID first when schools were closed and then when they returned under restrictions. Its only recently that more normal structures and routines have returned. And its not always easy to re-establish them. You only have to look at the debates around office versus homeworking to see that established routines dont just snap back into place.
But for children, they are vital. The pandemic has shown quite how much the great work of schools begins with having children in classrooms with their teachers. So attendance has to be the top priority. Lots of good work has been happening to improve attendance from the rates seen earlier this year. Our recent report onSecuring good attendance and tackling persistent absence reflected what weve been seeing in schools that are handling this particularly well. They listen to families and children, they understand and empathise but they are still consistent in their expectations. This shows how much they care about their children.
Exams too provide structure and focus. Im unapologetic in my support for exams. They give children something tangible to work towards and they test what they have learned throughout their time in school.
And the glue holding school structures and routines together are rules and discipline. The word discipline like exams for some comes with connotations. For some, it conjures images of over-strict headteachers, punishments and coercion. But for me discipline is rooted in respect. Respect for the school, for staff, for fellow pupils and for learning itself. Its the discipline of being on time, of treating people well and of making an effort. In successful schools, these things are taught and reinforced, humanely and effectively. Discipline is not a dirty word.
And respect for each other plays into another crucial aspect of the school experience socialisation. Again, we have seen the effects of lockdown. The youngest children were particularly affected. Children who missed time at nursery were less well-prepared for school. Many hadnt had the chance to learn how to get along, take turns, share. And these things need to be reinforced all through school it is clear that a prolonged period without normal structures and routines has contributed to behaviour problems this year in all age groups.
Because of course socialisation continues as children get older. Schools broaden minds, and they also broaden social circles. They introduce children to peers from different backgrounds, with different interests and different perspectives. We talk a lot about preparing children for life in modern Britain and a big part of that happens at school, in and out of the classroom. Children learn about differences and similarities, friendships and frictions and how to rub along together regardless.
But the structures and rhythms of school life are getting back to normal. These are important building blocks of a schools culture. And if a schools culture is healthy, then children are better able to learn.
Since becoming Chief Inspector Ive kept a relentless focus on curriculum: what is taught and why; how topics are sequenced and schemas built. And how this helps teachers make sure that children really learn and can use their knowledge, not just answer specific test questions.
And I think our emphasis has contributed to a resurgence of interest in building good curriculum. There are great resources being developed both in schools and outside schools. And I see this as a positive example of Ofsteds influence.
We recognise how careful we need to be. Sometimes our influence can have unforeseen consequences. For example, a positive comment in a report, perhaps recognising the success of a schools particular way of doing something, can spawn a thousand imitations, that copy the style but not the substance. But the shift in emphasis towards real curriculum thinking over the last few years has been in my view a true success story.
And theres one particular aspect of curriculum that Id like to talk about today. Reading with fluency is the gateway to almost all learning. Without reading, there is little science, no history, no geography. So we should champion reading as a vital life skill; reading to learn; reading for advancement; reading to expand horizons; reading for pleasure. When reading is discussed in educational circles, it can quickly become a valuable, but somewhat limited conversation about the earliest stages of learning to read. Alongs