Post by Focus on Jun 21, 2013 18:18:08 GMT
Outstanding schools in leafy suburbs and other affluent areas will be stripped of their status unless they do more to help deprived children.
The warning was issued by chief schools inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, who said thousands of disadvantaged pupils - an ‘invisible minority’ - are being ignored by the education system.
It means over-subscribed schools that are otherwise deemed highly successful by inspectors could be downgraded to ‘good’ or even ‘requires improvement’ - the third lowest of four ratings.
The Ofsted boss accused them of ‘complacency’ by focusing on more able students while cultivating ‘low expectations’ in others.
Inspectors would ‘visit and revisit’ them until there was improvement, he warned.
The warning was issued by chief schools inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw (above), who said thousands of disadvantaged pupils are being ignored by the education system
Sir Michael said under-achievement was no longer a problem among ethnic minorities in inner-cities.
Instead, it is now most pronounced among white working class boys and girls - who make up two-thirds of all schoolchildren receiving free school meals (FSM), a key indicator of deprivation.
Most of these under-performing pupils are in suburbs, market towns and seaside resorts where they are being let down by ‘timid’ school leaders and local authorities.
‘Often they are spread thinly, as an “invisible minority” across areas that are relatively affluent,’ he said.
‘These poor, unseen children can be found in mediocre schools the length and breadth of our country. They are labelled, buried in lower sets, consigned as often as not to indifferent teaching.
‘They coast through education until, at the earliest opportunity, they sever their ties with it.’ In a radio interview earlier in the day he confirmed top schools were also letting pupils down.
‘The problems now are in schools, good schools, outstanding schools, in county areas, with small proportions of poor children that are doing extremely badly,’ he said.
He singled out West Berkshire, which has the worst record for pupil attainment in the whole country at primary level.
The area, which includes Wokingham and Newbury, is also second worst for secondary schools and in the bottom three local authorities for qualifications at 19.
Other prosperous parts of the country that need improvement include Norwich, Hastings, Shropshire and Herefordshire.
Sir Michael’s speech accompanied a report, Unseen Children: Access and Achievement, which revealed 15 local authorities where only a quarter of children on FSM achieved five good GCSEs.
Sir Michael said under-achievement was no longer a problem among ethnic minorities in inner-cities. Instead, it is now most pronounced among white working class boys and girls - who make up two-thirds of all schoolchildren receiving free school meals, a key indicator of deprivation
Nationally, 59 per cent of children reach that level, compared to 36 per cent on FSM.
The former headteacher set out eight recommendations to close the gap, including removing a school’s outstanding rating if FSM pupils fall significantly behind others and increasing the number of inspections it has.
Even those with small numbers of deprived pupils would be affected.
He also called for top teachers and heads to be centrally employed as National Service Teachers who could be parachuted into failing schools or areas.
In return, they would receive large pay rises and promotions would be fast-tracked.
Regional schemes where excellent headteachers would share their expertise with less successful schools were also needed, he said, and assessments of reception year pupils and post-16 students should be extended.
‘There are stark consequences for our nation if we do not act with sufficient urgency,’ Sir Michael added.
‘We will continue to lose our place as a competitive nation and hear great economic costs of failure.’
Ofsted has produced the reports every ten years since 1993 but the next report will now be produced in 2018.
Unions welcomed the focus on children from deprived backgrounds but questioned the chief inspector’s conclusions.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: ‘Ofsted’s repeated fault-finding and insinuation that the challenges faced by the education system are largely the result of teachers’ low expectations for their pupils are wholly unjustified.’
Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg said Labour would ‘ensure all schools work together to raise standards for every child’.
The Coalition government has introduced the pupil premium - an extra payment to schools per pupil on FSM - to close the achievement gap.
The Department for Education said it would be looking at the recommendations.
Since when have schools needed to be warned to help deprived children? ... Schools and their teachers have a DUTY to help children and if they have to be warned to do their job they bloody well deserve to loose their positions in favor of teaches that can!! - Fx
