Lack Of Improvement Prompts Calls For UK Education Reform
It was depressing, but not surprising, to read of the new data that shows the flatlining productivity of our schools system.
The ONS has found that overall value for money – measuring the inputs of record extra spending against the outputs of GCSE results and attendance – was the same in 2008 as in 1996.
Of course productivity assessments of this kind are just one way of measuring the success of our education system, but the figures add further evidence to the argument that we have not seen an improvement in standards proportionate to the £30 billion per year extra funding going on our schools.
In fact as a report from Reform shows, our GCSE system does not stand up well in terms of rigour and breadth of academic study when compared internationally.
In his speech to the CPS last month Michael Gove made a powerful case for education reform based on five priorities, including a more rigorous curriculum and exam system and a cut in wasteful spending, based on a shift to a national per pupil funding formula.
As part of this reforming agenda one of the key tasks facing a new Government will be to deal with the inspection system. In his speech Gove outlined proposals to reform Ofsted so that inspections focus on the core business of schools – teaching and learning – and reduces the bureaucratic box ticking and wider burdens and costs on schools that the inspection regime has created.
He plans to reduce the 18 categories of assessment to four: the quality of teaching, the effectiveness of leadership, pupils’ behaviour and safety and pupils’ achievement.
In recent days there has been a barrage of criticism of the structure and performance of Ofsted, particularly its ability to handle the expanded remit it was given to inspect children’s services, childcare and schools. As we argued in a CPS report over the summer, these are fundamentally different jobs and we need a schools inspection body that focuses relentlessly on educational standards.
Inspections should be less about desktop assessments and more reliant on in-class observation, and they should focus on failing schools.
This is just one of the many reforms that will be vital for a potential Conservative Government intent on addressing the educational scandal that still sees more than one in four of 11 year olds falling short of basic levels of literacy and numeracy.
Topics: academic study, behaviour, Britain, childcare, children, Conservative Government, education, educational scandal, educational standards, England, funding, Governance, leadership, learning, Michael Grove, ONS, productivity, reform, rigorous curriculum, safety, school system, schools, spending, teaching, UK, United Kingdom, wasteful spending
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