By Robert J Marsh And Sammie Jones
Ofsted’s head, Amanda Spieldsman has announced her wide plans to restore the curriculum of education in Britain to ”its proper place”, as an important component of the quality of education.
Spieldman, who has been charged with the responsibility for leading the inspection of the academic standard in British schools, said much work had been done to make sure ofsted pitched its criteria at the right level. Too weak, and a poor curriculum that leads to little learning, and produce the least progress would be adverse in its effect. Also, too strong a curriculum and the diversity and innovation that are an important aspects of our education system would be hindered.
The criteria being used by Ofsted draws on the academic evidence that exists around curriculum quality, and does not extend beyond what we have found that evidence justifies. Amanda Spieldman was speaking at the sixth form college Association Conference, where she gave a brilliant speech about Ofsted’s plans to ensure a high standard curriculum with lasting educational and long term career benefits for pupils.
Speaking about Ofsted’s new framework as well as the college landscape, she addressed the pre-16 educational stage as well as the post-16. Spieldman praised the fact mergers and academisation are creating profound changes in the landscape. ”Our latest annual report highlighted that nearly a third of the original 90 sixth form colleges have become more academic or merged just in the past 2 years”, she said. The woman tasked with monitoring and directing the standard of education said the number of 16 to 19 academies has more than doubled in the past 2 years, up to nearly 50 by August 2018. She said that at that point, about four-fifths of the sixth form colleges and 16 to 19 academies that we’ve inspected were judged good or outstanding.
She said it was an improvement on the previous year, reflecting a lot of hard work and dedication. A level of dedication that will prepare more young people for further study and the world of work. On curriculum, Spieldman spoke of restoring the curriculum to higher standards . Speaking of the ‘what is taught and why’, has had too small a share of inspection, she spoke of the gradual erosion of curriculum thinking in early years, schools and post-16.
CURRICULUM
”This draft framework is built around a re-balanced set of judgements that restore curriculum to its proper place as one of the main considerations in good education. And in turn, I hope, to the forefront of educators’ minds”. A new quality of education judgement will look at how schools are deciding what to teach and why, how well they are doing it and whether it is leading to strong outcomes for young people. This will reward those who are ambitious and make sure that young people accumulate rich, well-connected knowledge and develop strong skills using this knowledge.
The Ofsted boss praised the fact that four sixth form colleges improved to good. What we commonly found, in these 4 colleges: managers had put in effective development for teachers; teaching and assessment had improved; achievement gaps between different groups of learners had reduced; and teachers’ confidence in developing students’ English and mathematics had improved.
”One sixth form college went from good to outstanding last year: Joseph Chamberlain College. We found high quality teaching across a range of academic and vocational subjects, a culture of high aspiration and harmonious relationships and a senior leadership team that hadn’t stood still, but had made further improvements since their previous inspection. They show how good colleges can improve even further”
. Spieldman highlighted the commitment of Ofsted as a force for improvement in education which she said is reflected in their new education inspection framework. Inspection should be about supporting improvement, not detracting from it”, she said
IMPROVING STANDARDS
”The substance of education, and how that is examined at inspection is the key to identifying and improving the standard of education. Describing inspection in essence a professional dialogue between inspectors and a provider, the Ofsted boss says she wants to make sure these professional dialogues are as much as possible about what matters to young people- the substance of their education. What are they being taught? How well are they being taught it? And how is it setting them up to succeed at the next stage?
She plans to champion a new quality of education judgement will look at how schools are deciding what to teach and why, how well they are doing it and whether it is leading to strong outcomes for young people. This will reward those who are ambitious and make sure that young people accumulate rich, well-connected knowledge and develop strong skills using this knowledge.
. Whilst using outcomes as a benchmark for the educational achievements of pupils, Spieldman added that when too much weight is put on individual performance data as a measure of quality of education, problems can emerge. She said the extent to which people working at every level and stage of education has confirmed the pressure they feel to put securing grades and stickers ahead of real learning. A renewed focus on substance is continuously being explored was the message she was delivering today.
She said ‘how’ results are achieved, if done right, reflects great education; but done badly, can give false assurance that young people have achieved well and are ready to progress. No data measure can ever fully capture the quality of the education it reflects. Spieldman’s quality of education judgement will look at how schools are deciding what to teach and why, how well they are doing it and whether it is leading to strong outcomes for young people. This will reward those who are ambitious and make sure that young people accumulate rich, well-connected knowledge and develop strong skills using this knowledge.