Ofsted chief: Poor leadership, not structures, causes schools to fail

Sir Michael Wilshaw said that poor leadership is causing schools to fail regardless of who has oversight.

“Schools are failing not because they are local authority schools or academies, or because they are part of a chain or they stand alone,” he said.

“They are failing because they haven’t got the essentials right: governance and oversight is weak, leadership is poor, misbehaviour goes unchallenged and teaching is indifferent.”

Wilshaw wants the debate, which he branded as "sterile" and “yesterday’s argument”, to be moved on to focus on the characteristics of failure.

“If our education system is to continue to progress, we need to concentrate on the basics of why schools and colleges fail and why they succeed,” he said.

Wilshaw’s comments came as he launched his annual reports on schools and further education (FE) and skills.

The former, based on the inspections of more than 6,000 schools, shows that both local authorities and multi-academy trusts (MATs) are failing to hold school leaders to account for poor standards, with both displaying “unconvincing” improvement strategies.

It also warns that converter academies that are not part of a MAT are at risk of rapid deterioration due to a lack of support from local authorities and MATs.

The report also reveals concerns about the performance of white children from disadvantaged backgrounds, which it claims are most likely to be failed by the education system.

In a separate commentary document, Wilshaw claims that the gap between the group and their wealthier peers is not closing, causing “serious concern” about how schools are using pupil premium payments to narrow the attainment gap – something Wilshaw says he will report on next year.

Meanwhile, Ofsted’s annual report on FE and skills shows that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have the “worst experience” of FE.

It claims that poor careers advice in schools causes them to take “inappropriate low-level” courses that fail to help them find employment.

The report also criticises local authorities for failing to effectively track the post-16 engagement of school leavers, which it claims hinders efforts to re-engage the hardest to reach young people.

Wilshaw said the findings of the reports leave him concerned about the future.

“The essential ingredients of success are no secret: strong leadership, a positive learning culture, good teaching, robust accountability and a determination to improve the lot of every child, regardless of background or ability,” he said.

“When schools and colleges ignore these essentials, they fail to improve – and I fear that where they are isolated from effective partnerships, improvement becomes that much harder.”

Both the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Children's Services have long called for councils to be given greater powers to intervene in underperforming academies, but their pleas have been rejected by the Department for Education.