Amanda Spielman's last speech at the Wellington Festival of Education

Introduction

Hello, and thank you all for joining me this morning. I do love speaking at this festival, I’ve been here many times, but this is my last speech as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector! So, I’ll be taking the opportunity to look back at my first speech too.

Current context

I want to start by acknowledging the complicated and challenging context around school accountability at the moment. The heartfelt reaction to Ruth Perry’s very sad death reminded us that the education sector may be huge, but it’s also tight-knit. Our sympathies of course remain with Ruth’s family and colleagues.

In recent months the debate about school accountability has gathered momentum. Accountability – and what that means for schools and teachers, pupils and parents – is always evolving. We are listening to the many voices inside and outside education, and we are playing our part in that evolution.

We have announced a set of measures to improve how we work with schools. We think they are proportionate and sensible changes that will make a real difference.

Purposes of education

I’ll come back to the changes and our approach to school inspection later on. But I’d like to start by reflecting on my first speech at this festival as Chief Inspector.

In that speech I described the purposes of education as I saw them. I said that ‘Education should be about broadening minds, enriching communities and advancing civilisation. Ultimately, it is about leaving the world a better place than we found it.’

A good education imbues learners with knowledge, and so promotes an enquiring mind – one open to new ideas and capable of ingenuity and creativity. A good education equips people to take on the challenges that face society.

I’m sure nobody here would disagree with that. But there are plenty of campaigns that seek to shape the curriculum around particular issues. And they often fail to recognise the space that already exists in the curriculum we have.

So, the sciences give children the grounding to go on to tackle climate change. History and PSHE can provide a richer understanding of social issues. Maths and computing can help them comprehend the possibilities and challenges of AI. Art and design and technology and music can open up new ways of thinking. And languages and geography can broaden children’s horizons and expose them to different cultures.

While we are busy worrying about the contentious issues on the front pages, it’s easy to forget that the foundations to address them are already being laid in schools. That’s not to say there isn’t room to improve, or that curriculums should not change or develop. But if we try to tailor every lesson too closely to a headline, children may leave school with prescribed solutions to yesterday’s problems but without the tools to tackle tomorrow’s.

And we must remember that there is only so much time in the school day. No matter how worthy the cause, hard choices have to be made. Schools are there to provide a good education and give children the best start. Of course, they can do more, but that should never come at the expense of their core mission. The more roles and agendas we pile on to schools, the more we risk losing sight of what they are really for: education.

Return to first speech

The purposes of education was one of the themes in that first speech. But it wasn’t the only one.

None of us could have predicted how the world would change in the years since 2017. But I think the priorities I outlined then have remained relevant and resilient.

I talked about how I wanted Ofsted to be a force for improvement.

I emphasised that we recognised the importance of leadership in schools – not just by the headteacher, but by all those responsible for leadership and governance.

I said I’d strengthen Ofsted’s research function and made clear that we’d make good use of our unique position and perspective. I always want to talk about what we know, not just about what we do.

I raised concerns with the government - about the inspection exemption for outstanding schools, and I’m pleased the government has done away with it.

And I also spoke about the illegal, unregistered schools which remain a significant concern. The damage they do, often to disadvantaged and marginalised children, cannot be ignored. We need the promised powers to help put them out of commission; and we need them as soon as possible.

I also began to set out our ambitions for a new inspection framework. One that discouraged ‘teaching to the test’ and a narrow view of education. And one that went beyond the data and really got under the bonnet of a school.

The biggest emphasis in that first speech, and in the inspection frameworkwe’ve brought in since, was the importance of curriculum and the real substance of education.

As I noted at the time, the system wasn’t encouraging schools to think enough about what they were teaching. It contributed to framing curriculum just in terms of timetables and qualifications.

Wider talk around curriculum

I think we have helped to shift the debate on this.

Back then I said that “curriculum can end up getting lost… Rather than carrying the weight it should, alongside teaching, assessment and leadership itself, it can end up as a needle in the haystack.”

I don’t think anybody would say that now. The needle’s been found. And curriculum is threaded right through our education system.

Education Inspection Framework (EIF)

And the main way we have helped to move this on is of course through the EIF. It’s the most evidenced framework that Ofsted has ever produced. And it has curriculum at its heart.

It’s moved us away from an over-reliance on data and so reduced the number-crunching burden on schools.

The thinking about curriculum also helped when the pandemic hit. Schools adapted and bridged curriculums when they needed to. And concentrating inspection on curriculum has helped us recognise the good work of schools even in the years in which we weren’t given the outcome data.

As an aside, it’s also been interesting to learn that the EIF is also influencing inspection in other countries.

Curriculum reports

We’ve also contributed directly to the understanding of curriculum through our series of research reviews and subject reports. The reviews translate the currently available research into useful insights for subject leads. And the subject reports will draw out the current national picture by subject.

The science report is out already, and reported on curriculum improvements that are helping children revisit and build their knowledge. But it also flagged the limited science education in some primary schools, as an area for improvement.

We will be publishing 2 more reports next week, on history and maths – with many more to follow in the autumn. Do look out for them. And you can also get a preview in our session later today.

Impact on education and the good work of teachers

This work on curriculum and prioritising substance is making a difference in schools. A clear idea of what children should know and by when has undoubtedly contributed to schools getting the show back on the road post-pandemic. And of course, the determined work of teachers putting this into practice, has helped children across the country catch up on much of what was missed.

If the clouds of the last few years have a silver lining, it’s in the renewed appreciation for schools, nurseries, and colleges and all those who work in them.

We understand better that being there, with those adults and with other children, is vital for children’s personal and social development, as well as their academic success.

But the pandemic has left us with challenges. More serious mental health concerns as well as more widespread anxiety and unhappiness. And an erosion of the social contract between schools and some parents around attendance - and also behaviour. I’m not suggesting there are quick fixes. It’s slow careful work to recover what we’ve lost.

But some of the worst fears about the impact on education are beginning to wane. Inspections are showing that the vast majority of schools are providing a good education and helping all children get the best start they can. The same is true in early years and in further education. Thanks to everyone working in education, we can start to be optimistic again.

But these early signs of recovery are still fragile. We need to avoid the temptation to overload schools, by seeing them as the first lever to pull in the face of any social challenge. “Teach it in schools” is a common refrain, but the pressure of treating schools as the solution to everything puts education at risk. We need teachers to concentrate on the real substance of what they are teaching. It’s what they do best and it’s working.

Complex position of an inspectorate

Our position as the inspectorate lets us see the wider trends. But we must use this carefully. It’s a powerful, but limited role in a wider accountability regime. We are only responsible for diagnosis. Others have the responsibility for support and improvement.

The great strength of any independent inspectorate is that it works on behalf of the people who use the service – in the case of education, for children and their parents. That’s where our impartiality really makes a difference. We are not policymakers, so we don’t have an imperative to defend policies. We have no need to sugar-coat the truth and that is our value to government and to society.

So, we must do the job we’re given. We must do it fairly and transparently. And we must do it in the best interests of children.

But because our power is delegated from parliament, our legitimacy only stretches so far. I am an appointed Chief Inspector, not a Minister with a democratic mandate. I am accountable to Parliament but not an elected member of it. Our independence is vital and must be protected; it lets us do our job effectively and speak openly and honestly. But we also exist within a framework created by the government of the day.

Role of grading and reports

So, to return to the discussion around accountability and the changes we’ve made. We know that some people are unhappy that we haven’t taken the step of abolishing, or significantly changing, the judgements we make about schools. These comments seem to focus particularly on the combination of the component judgements into an overall effectiveness grade.

We do know that for parents, grades are a useful way to get assurance about their child’s school, and that includes the overall effectiveness grade.

But I would never want parents to think that the overall judgement says all that needs to be said about a school. We make a set of judgements – about quality of education, about personal development, about behaviour, and about leadership. Taken together with the report narrative, they provide a rich and valuable picture. So much more goes into our reports than just the overall grade.

As I’ve frequently said at this festival and elsewhere, what sits underneath the overall judgement deserves greater attention.

And as well as serving parents, inspection has other purposes. The wider accountability system, framed in government policy, uses those overall grades to identify which schools are strong performers, which need help to improve, and which need that help urgently. This helps to guide resources: to individual schools, and also at local and regional levels. Unilateral changes by Ofsted would undermine that system.

Questions have been asked about grading for years. There is no simple answer, because the answers depend on the uses that are being made of inspection.

How we inspect

Of course, changes are possible in the future – and they may be needed as the education policy landscape changes. But inspection must continue to meet the needs of parents and of government. And it should be a fair, decent and helpful process for schools too.

Inspection will always be a testing experience. And when we’re talking about the education and safety of children, it has to be because what’s at stake is so important.

But our inspectors are very aware of the reality of school life – they are all drawn from it. Many still serve in schools and inspect part-time. They all understand the work. My priority has been to make sure that our inspections are based around professional dialogue. I want all schools to feel that it is a process that’s done with them, not to them.

Future challenges

And I do want to spend a few minutes considering the future challenges and opportunities for the whole sector.

I’ve talked about the many demands for teachers to take on new roles, teach new things, promote certain views. The job of education is complicated and difficult enough, without also expecting schools to shoulder new burdens from every corner of society.

Low attendance is still a problem and means many children are missing out on vital education. We know that schools are working hard to improve attendance, but it will be a long hard slog. It’s a myth that Ofsted has fixed expectations about attendance – we are recognising the work that schools are doing here, with support from other agencies. We must make sure that support is sustained.

Post-16 education is often neglected, especially as public attention is almost always drawn to schools. It is now normal for young people to attend college only part-time. For 17-year-olds to get half as much teaching as 15-year-olds cannot be right.

Longer term, accountability needs to evolve to keep up with the changes to how the education sector is organised. More and more schools are part of multi-academy trusts. Many decisions are not taken in individual schools, but that’s still where inspections happen. We are already seeing the difficulties this is creating. It needs to be addressed.

Future opportunities

These are all issues that can be resolved. And as I’ve said, there are signs that we can be cautiously optimistic again.

I’ve talked about pandemic recovery and the benefits of a resurgent interest in curriculum.

And there’s growing policy coherence in teacher development. The golden thread from initial teacher training, through the early career framework, and on to NPQs sets a clear path from novice to expert. It shows promise both for ensuring a high-skilled teacher workforce, and for improving co-ordination between the parts of the system.

Of course, we need long-term, sustainable solutions to teacher recruitment and retention. Reducing teacher workload has to be part of that picture. The EIF has already helped by reducing the need to generate reams of data.

And in recent years we have moved away from the idea that teachers need to create every lesson plan from scratch. This sort of simplification can be a huge help. Making good use of bought-in schemes and textbooks, sharing the load, and moving some decision making upstream can all help teachers concentrate on their students and their teaching, rather than creating and re-creating resources.

And there is lots going on in improving pedagogy and assessment. I could devote a whole speech to that but it’s exciting to see how live and active the sector is, really fizzing with new ideas.

So overall I am optimistic about the future of education.

And as well as sharing some of the reasons for optimism, I also want to encourage it. We need to talk up teaching. I’m certainly not downplaying the challenges, but we can’t afford to discourage the next generation of teachers. The public discourse around the profession really matters. Everything we have been through in recent years has only served to underline the difference teachers make to young lives. It is a vital job – and we need to bring on the teachers of the future.

Closing and thanks

Given the setting for this festival, inevitably I have talked about schools more than about other phases of education. But I do want to acknowledge the strong foundations that are being laid in the early years; the excellent work of many further education providers; and the work of social care colleagues in supporting and protecting children.

So, to close, I want to thank once again the teachers and carers, leaders and managers, support staff and administrators. I know it’s hard at the moment, but your resilience is remarkable and deserves recognition.

I also want to thank my colleagues and all our inspectors. The professionalism, understanding and consideration they show every day is inspiring. And not just our own His Majesty’s Inspectors. The Ofsted Inspectors who balance their regular jobs in schools with their Ofsted work, deserve recognition. They use their valuable time, not just in their own school or college or nursery, but also to help others.

And thanks again to our hosts here today. It’s always a pleasure to attend and speak here.

Thank you very much.