21 November 2008
By Paul Dicken
Disadvantaged children continue to do less well at school, the education and children's services watchdog has said, as it warned of a strong link between deprivation and quality of services.
Ofsted's annual report for 2007/08 said that the gap in educational attainment between pupils who were entitled to free school meals and those who were not had remained constant over the past three years.
Speaking at the launch of the report on November 19, Ofsted chief inspector Christine Gilbert said: 'There have been real improvements but provision is still not as good as it must be for those facing poverty and disadvantage. We know that poor people get poorer services – and this remains the case.'
But the annual report did identify areas of improvement, citing 'the positive impact of a growing number of children's centres and extended schools'.
Miriam Rosen, education director at Ofsted, told Public Finance: 'It's really important for the leaders of schools to be ambitious for the children that they have and not think that because the children are from poor backgrounds that they can't do well.'
She said schools that had moved out of special measures had needed a 'relentless focus on improving teaching', while it was also important to take on board the views of parents and children. A review of outstanding schools in challenging areas will be published by Ofsted shortly.
Schools minister Jim Knight said teachers should be proud of the report's findings against tough inspection standards. He stressed that the government would 'accelerate' efforts to close the gaps in achievement between poorer and more affluent children.
'We're targeting record investment at deprived areas and putting personalised support into schools to help teachers spot problems early, with more one-to-one and small group tuition to help children who are at risk of falling behind,' he said.
Almost two-thirds of schools are still considered 'good' or 'outstanding', with fewer judged to be 'inadequate' compared with last year. The proportion of secondary schools considered 'outstanding' increased by 4 percentage points to 17%.
Childcare and early education scored highest for quality, with 62% of childcare providers and 71% in early education provision rated 'good' or 'outstanding'. Local authorities' children's services were generally judged to be 'good', with 78% either 'good' or 'outstanding'.
Gilbert, commenting on what she called the 'recent tragic events in Haringey and Manchester', said: 'Everyone involved in child protection in any way must take stock of the role they play.'
Ofsted is one of three inspectorates reviewing child protection services in Haringey after a 17-month-old boy, Baby P, died from horrific injuries despite being known to local social services.
The annual report said: 'Concerns remain that staff in some services are less well equipped than others to recognise and respond effectively to signs of abuse or neglect.'
Also, an Ofsted evaluation of serious case reviews carried out by local safeguarding children boards between April 2007 and March 2008 found that a quarter of the reviews – undertaken after a child has died or is seriously hurt – were inadequate and 'there were serious delays in producing them in almost all cases'.
The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) was heavily criticised in the report. The agency covers all of England's courts to ensure family proceedings make a child's welfare the paramount consideration.
'In an unacceptable number of instances, Ofsted could not be assured that Cafcass was safeguarding a child's safety or welfare,' the report said.
Earlier, Ofsted had come under fire from independent think-tank Civitas for 'squandering millions' of taxpayers money on its new 'pointless' inspection regime.
Ofsted's short, sharp inspections – the new 'light touch' regime – was slated for being nothing more than superficial, tick-boxing procedures that relied too much on test and exam results.
Civitas' pamphlet, Inspecting the inspectorate, is a collections of essays by ten different authors, among them a practising inspector, two head teachers, a parent and a former chief inspector.
Whereas in the past a school could have up to 18 inspectors visiting over four or five days, under the new system this has been reduced to a maximum of five over two days, it points out.
Ofsted hit back, saying that Civitas appeared not to understand how inspection worked. In a statement, it said: 'Ofsted considers the progress learners make in the school, the background of its pupils, the school's own self-evaluation and evidence from the direct observation of lessons.
'All this evidence enables school inspectors to make more than 30 judgements, including safeguarding equalities, behaviour, teaching and the effectiveness of leadership and management. Only one judgement relates directly to exam or test results.'
One of the book's authors, Barry Sheerman MP, who chairs the Commons children, schools and families select committee, said: 'Many people believe that more attention should be paid to inspection reports than to the results of GCSE and A level results – yet, as inspection reports and results become more interchangeable, many educational practitioners feel that the inspectors' minds are made up long before they observe the quality of teaching or the atmosphere within the school.'
Former chief inspector Pauline Perry said that the Ofsted approach had not done enough to raise the bar for the lowest achieving schools and disadvantaged pupils. She added that the gap between the most disadvantaged and the highest achieving has widened. 'Ofsted has not succeeded in becoming the force for educational achievement that successive governments had hoped,' she said.
PFnov2008
