Thousands of children denied good education by consistently underperforming schools, says Ofsted
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
More than 200,000 children, mainly in disadvantaged areas, are being educated in schools that have been consistently weak when inspected over the last 13 years, a new Ofsted report shows.
The regulator says 415 schools across England have been consistently judged below its rating of "good" in four consecutive inspections since 2006. Over this time they have not improved on Ofsted’s lowest grade of "inadequate" or slightly higher ratings of "satisfactory" or "requires improvement".
Schools “stuck” in this way are serving around 210,000 pupils, the inspectorate adds.
Because of the length of time involved, two whole cohorts of children have passed through these schools “without a good education”, warns Ofsted.
“Across the country, we see schools that improve, schools that decline and schools that continue to deliver good standards of education,” states the inspectorate's Fight or flight? How ‘Stuck’ Schools are Overcoming Isolation report.
“But hidden behind this is a set of schools in which children have been failed for too long.”
This is despite being offered support to improve over the last decade, according to the report, which adds that “it is particularly concerning for these children, who are more likely to live in deprived areas than children attending other schools”.
Deprived areas including Derby, Southend-on-Sea and Darlington are among those with the most “stuck” schools, the report says.
“In some of these areas, a pupil will go through their whole primary or their whole secondary school life never having attended a good school: 13 years or more,” the report adds.
“This is failure of the highest order. The whole school system has been letting down these children for over a decade.”
Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman added: “Stuck schools are facing a range of societal problems such as cultural isolation, a jobs market skewed towards big cities and low expectations from parents.
“However, we have shown that schools in these places can still be good or better by holding teachers to high standards, tackling bad behaviour and getting the right leadership in place.
“Our inspectors have found that the majority of schools in challenging areas are providing children with a good education that sets them up to succeed in later life.
“What the remaining stuck schools need is tailored, specific and pragmatic advice that suits their circumstances – not a carousel of consultants. They are asking Ofsted to do more to help, and we agree.”
Schools struggling to offer a good education are to be offered a three-year programme of support by the government through six "teaching school hubs".
This involves six high-performing schools being handed the role of regional hub to support between 200 and 300 other schools in their area, according to the Department for Education.
Improving staff recruitment and retention as well as training for teachers are among the priorities for the hubs, which will be tested in five areas from February this year.
“It is vital that we back our best school leaders and help them to support struggling schools so that we can continue to drive forward the high standards we are already seeing in schools across the country,” said schools minister Lord Agnew.
“These new teaching school hubs will make it easier for the best school leaders to share expert advice and help schools in their local communities, ensuring that those schools facing the greatest challenges are supported as simply and efficiently as possible.”
