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Today the Liberal Democrats announce plans that
would abolish Ofsted and create widespread reform
in how school and pupil performance is
judged.
Ofsted will be replaced with a new Inspector of
Schools who will report on a broad array of
qualities including pupil welfare, the promotion
of equality of opportunity and teacher workload,
sickness and retention, as well as attainment
measures.
The new body would have jurisdiction over both
state and independent schools, grading each
school either ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ or
‘requires support’ every three years.
Plans put forward by the Liberal Democrats at the
Spring Conference will also see the abolition of
SATS at Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 to reduce
stress caused to teachers and pupils. A new a
system of examination would focus on moderated
teacher assessment and lighter touch testing.
Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson
MP
said:
“For far too long we have put up with a school
system that fails both children and the wider
economy. Students are taught to think like second
rate robots, when to compete in an AI world they
need not just to parrot content but to use that
content creatively and in a way that can be
adapted.
“These reforms represent a culture change in the
way we run our schools. The current over-emphasis
on high-stakes testing has lead to a system which
overlooks many important elements of the
development of a child. Ofsted only encourages
this and is in our view too broken to be
fixed.
"Parents want to know their children’s well-being
is looked after and that they are receiving a
broad education, which equips them for adult
life, including creativity and the arts, SRE,
financial literacy and first aid skills.
“We need an inspectorate and measure of success
which recognises these values, empowering each
individual child to be the best they can and want
to be.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
The full motion as passed by conference reads
Conference believes that:
A. Education is core to
our Liberal Democrat Values.
B. It opens the mind,
fosters understanding and tolerance, and empowers
our children and our communities to be the best
they can be.
C. Every child deserves a
great start in life so they are equipped to shape
their own future, and are determined to make sure
that the education system finds and unleashes the
best in everyone.
D. Education helps break
down the unfair divisions in our society, it
ensure a productive, competitive economy and it
overcomes intolerance.
E. Despite the
excellent work of schools, parents and children,
persistent levels of educational inequality mean
far too many children leave school without the
skills and knowledge they need to succeed.
F. Restrictive school uniform
policies followed by many schools reinforce
negative gender stereotypes, with girls often
forced to wear restrictive and objectifying
uniforms. This is detrimental for pupils of all
genders and severely detrimental and exclusionary
for non-binary and transgender pupils.
Conference regrets that:
i) The
Conservative government’s spending plans continue
to underfund education.
ii) Excessive
bureaucratic demands and constant changes in
policy place an unnecessary workload on
teachers.
iii) Pressure to pass
exams restricts schools’ ability to focus on
developing a wider education: on the arts,
creativity and skills for work and life.
Conference endorses policy paper
128, Every Child Empowered: education
for a changing world, as a statement of
Liberal Democrat policy to meet these challenges.
Conference particularly calls for:
1. An end to
Conservative cuts to education including:
a) Working towards parity of
per-pupil funding between post-16 and 5-16
funding, and commit to at least protect per-pupil
funding in real terms from 5-19.
b) Protection of the pupil
premium.
2. Support for
early years education includinng
a) Increasing the early years
pupil premium from £300 per year to £1000.
b) Ensuring all early years
settings have a training programme for staff,
with the majority of staff who are working with
children to either have a relevant qualification
or be working towards one; each setting should be
Graduate-led.
3. Boosting the
readiness of children to learn and supporting
household budgets by extending free school meals
to all primary-age children.
4. Action to
improve the quality of teaching and boost the
morale of teachers by:
a) Supporting the Chartered
College of Teaching.
b) Requiring all teachers in
state schools to be Qualified Teachers (or be
working towards Qualified Teacher Status).
c) Providing 50 hours per year
of high quality Continuing Professional
Development.
5. Delivering a
more coherent and accountable structure for state
schools in England by:
a) Giving local authorities
with responsibility for education the remit and
resources to act as Strategic Education
Authorities for their area, including
responsibility for places planning, exclusions,
admissions including in-year admissions, and SEND
functions.
b) Abolishing Regional Schools
Commissioners and give local authorities with
responsibility for education the task of
promoting high standards across the state
sector.
c) Creating a level playing
field by requiring MATs to undergo external
inspection and allowing local authorities to open
new Community Schools where needed.
d) Introducing a new 'duty of
candour' on all schools, including academies,
free schools and Multi-Academy Trusts, similar to
that which applies to suppliers of services in
the NHS.
6. Modernising the
curriculum by:
a) Requiring all state schools
including academy and free schools to teach a
revised national curriculum.
b) Including a ‘curriculum for
life’ (eg. RSE, Citizenship, First Aid, Financial
Literacy) and ensuring every child has access to
high quality, independent careers advice.
c) Scrapping mandatory SAT
tests at KS2 and replacing them with a
combination of a moderated teacher assessment at
the end of each phase and a lighter touch
standardised test to ensure consistency.
7. Maintaining high
standards while reducing unnecessary distortions
in the system arising from the current
accountability framework by:
a) Replacing the existing
Ofsted with a reformed independent inspection
system which should focus on judging whether
school leaders are capable of leading improvement
and an assessment of the long term success of the
whole school, looking at pupil and teacher
well-being as well as results.
b) Replacing existing
government performance tables (‘league tables’)
of schools with a broader set of indicators
including more qualitative data about pupil
wellbeing.
c) Scrapping existing broad a
mandatory SATs tests at both KS1 and KS2, and
replacing them with a moderated teacher
assessment at the end of each phase and some
lighter-touch testing.
d) Have decisions to intervene
in schools or change their governance
arrangements normally be made by the Local
Authority or MAT, ending the presumption that a
temporary dip in results will trigger
academisation or re-brokering of schools already
functioning as academies.
8. Improving the
way the system treats pupils with Special
Education Needs and Disabilities by:
a) Screening for children to
identify trauma and neglect in early years, and
proactively provide early and evidence-based
interventions to stop the trauma becoming
entrenched.
b) Supporting measures to
reduce the number of children with special
educational needs who are excluded from school –
these children are six times more likely to be
excluded than children with no SEN.
c) Emphasising SEND provision
in inspections.
9. Giving greater
support to the mental health of pupils by:
a) Developing a mental health
care pathway beginning in schools that links with
local mental health services.
b) Establishing a specific
individual responsible for mental health in
schools, who would provide a link to expertise
and support for children experiencing problems
and would also take a lead on developing whole
school approaches to mental wellbeing.
Conference also calls for schools to be required
to provide inclusive, non prescriptive,
gender-neutral school uniform policies and for
adequate training for school staff on how to
review and improve their school uniform policies.
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