19 November 1999
The new system will target schools in middle-class areas which produce average results when their pupil intakes should have resulted in a top-grade performance.
In future, these schools will be officially described as 'underachieving'. If there is no improvement within a year, Ofsted will designate the school as 'failing'.
Director of inspection Mike Tomlinson said: 'It is possible we may have missed some schools whose performance might be good by national standards but ought to be better. What we are trying to do is to make their identification more systematic so that they can be forced to improve.'
Currently, some 4% of schools are deemed to be failing and between 8% and 10% are designated as having serious weaknesses, according to Ofsted figures.
Inspectors will also pay more attention to social and economic factors affecting pupils and teachers.
The education watchdog also announced new inspection procedures. In the first year, 20% of effective schools will be eligible for shorter inspections and schools will only receive six to ten working weeks notice of an inspection, compared with two terms at present.
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