Raising standards, improving lives Middle School Conference The new Ofsted framework

Ceri Morgan HMI. February 2010

Raising standards, improving lives

Overview of the session

 Overview of the revised inspection arrangements, including    attainment safeguarding Key features relating to the inspection of teaching, learning and the use of assessment and ‘what inspectors look for’

Raising standards, improving lives

Figure 1: Overall effectiveness of schools inspected between September 2007 and July 2008

(percentage of schools) Middle deemed primary schools (28) All primary schools, excluding middle deemed (6047)

7 13 54 50 36 33 4 4

Middle deemed secondary schools (88) All secondary schools, excluding middle deemed (1064) Outstanding

14 17

Good

38 40

Satisfactory

40 34

Inadequate

9 9

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

Figures in brackets indicate the number of schools inspected.

Raising standards, improving lives An overview of the revised inspection arrangements February 2010

Raising standards, improving lives

The revised Framework gives priority to:

  proportionality promoting improvement: inspectors make specific recommendations based on their diagnosis of the school’s strengths and weaknesses  evaluating the achievement & well-being of pupils & assessing the extent to which schools ensure that all pupils, including those most at risk, succeed  evaluating learning and teaching and the use of assessment to support learning; focusing on the classroom  evaluating the effectiveness of leadership and management and the school’s capacity to improve  a strong focus on users: engaging school’s staff in dialogue throughout the inspection; better engagement with pupils and parents

Raising standards, improving lives

Attainment inspectors should take account of

 the attainment of the oldest year group for which the school provides, up to the end of statutory schooling

using published data as a starting point

 national test and examination results set against national benchmarks as indicated in RAISEonline  patterns in the data over the last three years, noting particularly any evidence of performance significantly (as shown in RAISEonline) above or below the national average  attainment of different groups, including boys, girls, minority ethnic pupils, looked after children, pupils eligible for free school meals and other groups identified by the school

and where relevant

 the extent to which specialist subject attainment targets have been met

Raising standards, improving lives

Attainment: using other information to get the full picture

 Test and examination results available in school but not yet validated or benchmarked nationally  Current attainment, including:    school data, including results of, for example, optional standard assessment tests (SATs), GCSE module tests and moderated coursework the school’s track record in assessing standards of attainment, including the accuracy of previously predicted grades and the quality of teacher assessment standard of attainment confirmed by pupils’ current work

Raising standards, improving lives

Attainment: weighing all the evidence

 The judgement about attainment is based largely on the published data, but …   Where possible, an up-to-date insight into the current standards of pupils work should be used to explore patterns in the historical data - for instance to confirm that low attainment by a particular group in a previous year was an isolated occurrence If there is compelling evidence that current attainment is substantially different from the historical data, it should inform the judgement Track record – performance of groups – observation of current practice

Raising standards, improving lives

Learning and progress

‘The starting point … is the quality of learning experienced by the pupils across the school’ The judgement takes account of how well pupils:  acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and develop their competence as learners across a range of subjects  enjoy their learning as shown by their interest, enthusiasm and engagement across a range of subjects  make progress relative to their starting points, using contextual value added and other value-added measures  with special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress relative to their starting points

Raising standards, improving lives

Learning and progress What do we know about past progress? Evidence from data up to 3 previous years

 contextual value-added data for the school overall (and the learning achievement tracker for post-16) as indicated in RAISEonline (and the sixth form PANDA)  data presented by the school, including information provided by external bodies – for example FFT  any analysis of past progress carried out by the school including whether pupils reach challenging targets

What do we know about current progress? Evidence drawn from:

  pupils’ records any analysis of progress carried out by the school, including the progress made by different groups of pupils  lesson observations

Raising standards, improving lives

Learning and progress

What contributes to the overall judgement?

    The overall judgement about learning and progress is determined by the full range and weight of evidence about: the quality of learning past progress current progress  It is about more than the most recent set of examination results the new framework sets CVA and other value-added measures in the context of actual learning in the school

Raising standards, improving lives

Achievement

 This judgement takes account of the pupils’ attainment and the quality of learning and progress - for all pupils and for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities   Inspectors make this judgement after making the judgements on attainment and learning and progress The evaluation schedule explains:   how this is done the impact of the judgement on achievement on the overall effectiveness judgement

Raising standards, improving lives

Scenarios to consider…

If attainment is low (grade 4) but learning and progress are outstanding (grade 1), achievement may be graded …  2 (good) - if the majority of the other outcomes for pupils are outstanding the school could be judged to be an outstanding (grade 1) school. If attainment is average (grade 3) but learning and progress are good (grade 2), achievement may be …  2 (good) - again, if the majority of the other outcomes for pupils are outstanding the school could be judged to be an outstanding (grade 1) school.

Raising standards, improving lives

Scenarios to consider…

 In a high attaining school there is no guarantee that overall effectiveness will be judged outstanding – this would usually only be considered when …    are at least good … and  the effectiveness with which the school promotes equal opportunity and tackles discrimination the quality of pupils’ learning and progress the school’s capacity for sustained improvement the majority of judgements about the quality of provision are outstanding  Finally - the term ‘likely to’ is used in the evaluation schedule – there is a strong emphasis on the importance of inspectors weighing the balance of evidence and applying their professional judgement within the context of the school

Raising standards, improving lives

Section 5 safeguarding judgement takes account of:

 The effectiveness of the school’s arrangements, including links with key agencies, for ensuring the safety of its pupils Including –          clear policies and strategies for ensuring the safeguarding and welfare of children clear management responsibilities – designated staff appropriate recruitment and vetting up-to-date high quality training for staff encouragement of reporting about poor/abusive practices reasonable steps to ensure pupils’ safety identification of concerns about possible abuse or neglect effective recoding of information relevant to safeguarding concerns support for pupils to keep themselves safe

Raising standards, improving lives

Demonstrating effectiveness



How safe are your pupils, and:

     how do you know that pupils feel safe and know what this means – any examples of improvements made?

how do you know that pupils use safe working practices? how can you show robust risk assessment especially for the vulnerable pupils?

how can you show effective working with the LSCB – and what impact has it had?

how can you show safeguarding is prioritised – in business plans? Staff training?

Raising standards, improving lives

Scenarios - outstanding primary school practice

  Strong culture of partnership with all local agencies All safeguarding provision viewed from the perspective of the learners. CYP know who they can turn to if they have an issue of concern and see the school as a haven  Parents’ views sought regularly and any issues raised dealt with promptly and effectively  Robust risk assessment of vulnerable pupils and vulnerable situations  Yet open and welcoming school which uses CRB checks positively and as a route to other opportunities for volunteers/helpers

Raising standards, improving lives

Scenarios - a case study of inadequate safeguarding

    Pupils’ views (more than 20% of those surveyed) confirm that they do not feel safe at school Bullying incidents are not dealt with well and CYP report little action when incidents are disclosed Parents’ views often dismissed or underplayed – little support to keep themselves safe Climate in the school supports these views      safeguarding is not taken seriously – little attempt to ensure that children are safe little or no risk assessment safeguarding training for staff not sufficiently prioritised vetting and barring inadequate safeguarding regulations and duties not met

Raising standards, improving lives

Key features relating to the inspection of teaching, learning and the use of assessment and ‘what inspectors look for’

26 January 2010

Raising standards, improving lives

Inspection approach: teaching, learning & the use of assessment

 Higher expectations: a new judgement about the leadership and management of teaching and learning  A greater emphasis on the impact of teaching - and the use of assessment - on outcomes for different groups of pupils  The key leadership & management judgement looks at leaders’ and managers’ success at all levels in embedding ambition and driving improvements  More explicit expectations for governors and an enhanced judgement about governance

Raising standards, improving lives

Inspection approach: teaching, learning & the use of assessment

Capacity to improve: 3 clear strands which feed into the final judgement about the school’s overall effectiveness    the school’s track record in improving provision

especially teaching and assessment

and outcomes for pupils since the last inspection the quality of whole school self-evaluation the effectiveness of leadership and management especially in tackling weaknesses in teaching and the use of assessment

Raising standards, improving lives

What inspectors look for – teaching, learning and the use of assessment

Inspectors evaluate  how well teaching promotes learning, progress and enjoyment for all pupils  how well assessment is used to meet the needs of all pupils Inspectors consider  the school’s monitoring information as well as their own observations

Raising standards, improving lives

What inspectors look for

  Inspectors do not prescribe the approach to assessment that a school should use Inspectors consider whether the school’s methods are effective and how well schools:    make reliable judgements about pupils’ attainment, learning and progress use diagnostic information about pupils’ learning and progress to improve planning, teaching and learning track pupils’ progress

Raising standards, improving lives

What inspectors look for – some features

    Inspectors take into account the extent to which:   teachers and other adults have high expectations of all pupils lesson planning is linked to a current assessment of pupils’ prior learning and is differentiated teachers and adults ensure that pupils know how well they are doing effective questioning is used to gauge pupils’ understanding and reshape explanations and tasks where this is needed teachers and adults assess pupils’ progress accurately teachers and adults are alert to pupils’ lack of understanding during a lesson i.e. they use assessment in individual lessons to help pupils who are ‘struggling’

Raising standards, improving lives

What inspectors look for - impact on outcomes for pupils

 Inspectors will investigate whether any system being used is effective in promoting better learning; for example, by helping to set a clear direction for learners’ next steps  Inspectors will not assume that any one system is ‘good practice’ in itself; even a system which has many strengths may be used ineffectively by some teachers  Inspectors will ‘credit’ a school where the strategy being used is applied consistently and effectively.  Inspectors will not prescribe how learners should be assessed

Raising standards, improving lives

Self-evaluation: basic questions to address

How good is your provision and how do you know?

This might translate to:  Achievement – does the school take sufficient account of learning/progress and attainment - for all pupils and groups?  Teaching – does the leadership carry out sufficient monitoring and take rigorous action to ensure that teaching promotes effective learning for all pupils?  Assessment – how well do assessment in the classroom and the school’s systems promote better learning and progress – and ultimately, raise attainment?

 Safeguarding - does the school takes pupils’ fears seriously, try to address them through robust action, rigorous monitoring and by listening to their views and those of their parents?

Raising standards, improving lives

Main inspection documents: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Forms-and guidance/Browse-all-by/Education-and-skills/Schools/Main inspection-documents-for-inspectors Safeguarding guidance: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Forms-and guidance/Browse-all-by/Education-and skills/Schools/Supplementary-guidance-and-resources Safeguarding FAQs: http://intranet/NR/rdonlyres/F9AFA750-375D-4917-BF98 B9D727832AFF/0/safeguarding_FAQ_181109.doc