Raising expectations of children and parents, high
standards for teachers and tackling bad behaviour: how schools in
‘left behind’ areas can improve
415 schools in England are ‘stuck’ in a cycle of low
performance and need better and more tailored support to improve,
a new Ofsted report has found.
In Fight or flight? How ‘stuck’ schools are overcoming
isolation, Ofsted defines stuck schools as those that have not
been judged good or better since September 2006, and have had at
least four full inspections during that time. Currently, the 415
schools that fall into that definition serve 210,000 pupils but
have potentially left two whole cohorts of children without a
good education.
Stuck schools say they struggle with a combination of
issues: isolation, meaning it’s hard to recruit and keep good
teachers; poor parental motivation, meaning children are not
encouraged to learn or even attend school at all; and unstable
pupil populations, meaning the year groups are constantly
disrupted.
However, we found that other stuck schools with all of
these issues were able to ‘unstick’ themselves by focusing on a
few core areas: high academic standards, getting behaviour right
and improving governance.
Stuck schools are typically in deprived areas, where there
might have been a decline in traditional industry and a lack of
cultural opportunities. They are often in towns or small cities
with a neighbouring major city that is more attractive to
teachers, and has more jobs and opportunities. Sometimes they are
simply isolated in very remote areas. The three areas with the
highest proportion of stuck schools are Derby, Southend-on-Sea
and Darlington.
Ofsted’s research found that some stuck schools had a deep
and embedded school culture, resistant to change, with staff not
believing that it was possible to overcome the factors that stood
in the way of children receiving a great education. Other schools
were chaotic and continually changing. For example, one school
had been under the leadership of 14 different headteachers in 10
years.
Stuck schools have been inundated with improvement
initiatives from central and local government over the years, few
of which have proved successful. By contrast, schools that have
improved have been able to identify their specific needs and get
support tailored to those needs. It’s clear that identifying what
has gone wrong is vital to then getting it right.
Ofsted is well-placed to help these stuck schools diagnose
the issues through its new inspection framework, and so to help
the school and its partners to get on with improving the school.
But we also need to increase the depth of diagnosis we give these
schools. We are recommending that the government funds Ofsted to
trial a longer, deeper inspection approach with some of these
schools, with the aim not of passing judgement but of enabling
support to improve. We have made good progress with the
Department for Education already.
HM Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said:
“Stuck schools are facing a range of societal problems such
as cultural isolation, a jobs market skewed towards big cities
and low expectations from parents. However, we have shown that
schools in these places can still be good or better by holding
teachers to high standards, tackling bad behaviour and getting
the right leadership in place. Our inspectors have found that the
majority of schools in challenging areas are providing children
with a good education that sets them up to succeed in later
life.
“What the remaining stuck schools need is tailored,
specific and pragmatic advice that suits their circumstances –
not a carousel of consultants. They are asking Ofsted to do more
to help, and we agree.”
