Ofsted hails ‘unprecedented’ 9% school improvement rate

9 Sep 13
School performance in England has experienced a rapid improvement, with 600,000 more children now receiving an education judged as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, Ofsted said today.

By Vivienne Russell | 9 September 2013

School performance in England has experienced a rapid improvement, with 600,000 more children now receiving an education judged as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, Ofsted said today.

The watchdog called the rate of improvement, up by nine percentage points in a year, ‘unprecedented’.

Ofsted head Sir Michael Wilshaw said the data was a ‘cause for celebration’.

Speaking in Manchester today he said: ‘Thanks to the work of dedicated teachers and outstanding head teachers up and down the country, England’s school system is making some genuine and radical advances. It means that thousands more children are getting a least a good standard of education.’

According to Ofsted figures on inspection outcomes, 78% of state schools in England are judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. This compares to less than 70% a year ago. Wilshaw said changes to Ofsted’s inspection framework, which came into effort a year ago, were having a galvanising effect on schools.

The changes saw the old ‘satisfactory’ rating replaced with one called ‘requires improvement’. Such schools have four years to improve or face the prospect of being judged inadequate.

‘Head teachers are using the “requires improvement” judgement as a way of bringing about rapid improvement in their schools, especially in the quality of teaching. And the national improvement we are seeing is all the better for taking place under the terms of a more rigorous school inspection framework.

‘I am determined to use the power of influence of inspection to improve our education system,’ Wilshaw said. ‘The message from Ofsted is unequivocal – the acceptable standard of education in this country now starts at “good”.’

Ofsted carried out more than 7,000 school inspections in the 2012/13 academic year. Of these, 39% had improved since their last inspection, 41% remained the same and 18% declined.

All English regions saw an increase in the proportion of schools judged ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’.

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