SUMMER COURSE 2001; 5 JULY 2001 Porto.

School evaluation; the experience of OFSTED in England.

Tim Key
Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools
Head of the Standards and Research Unit, OFSTED

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak to your summer conference in Porto. I am very pleased to be able to describe the English experience of school inspection. I am aware that there is a great deal of debate about the value of regular independent inspection of schools and colleges in Portugal, and I hope the experience from England will prove of interest and value to you.

Her Majesty's Inspectors of schools have been inspecting schools in England for over 150 Years and reporting to individual schools on their strengths and weaknesses, and to ministers in the government on how well the education system is performing. However, there have rarely been more than 200 HMI, and there are nearly 25,000 schools in England. Most schools, therefore, were never visited by HMI, and most teachers never had an inspector observe them teach.

The 1990s were years of significant educational reform in England. Amongst the reforms was the establishment in1992 of the Office for Standards in Education, known as OFSTED, which is the office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of schools in England.

The role of OFSTED is to contribute to the improvement of standards of achievement and the quality of education through regular inspection, public reporting and informed advice. In brief; improvement through inspection.

OFSTED's full time staff include Her Majesty's Inspectors, who draw on inspection evidence to report on good practice in schools and on a wide range of educational issues.

The two main functions of OFSTED are:

- to establish and maintain a system for regular inspection by independent inspectors of all state-funded schools in England;

- to advise the Secretary of State on the standards and quality of education in schools in England.

The educational reforms of the 1990s were driven by a growing public concern about the quality of education in England. In particular:

- There was seen to be too much variation in schools' performance. Some schools were recognised as excellent; in others it was clear that standards, quality and often behaviour were poor.

- Standards of literacy and numeracy - reading, writing and mathematics - were too low. Too many pupils were transferring from their primary school to secondary education unable to cope with the demands of the secondary school curriculum.

- Too many pupils were reaching the end of compulsory education at the age of 16, with no qualifications. This placed them at a great disadvantage in the work place, and employers complained about the poor levels of basic skills held by the many young people who did not go on to college or university but began to look for work. Indeed, employees also complained about poor literacy and numeracy skills of those who had received a college education.

Finally, this was a time when international comparisons were being made, particularly about the achievement of pupils in mathematics and science. International comparisons formed an important impetus in the drive to raise standards, by increasing awareness of different approaches to teaching across the world. It was clear that English pupils at the age of nine and thirteen were falling behind pupils of the same age in countries in the Pacific area, such as China, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, and closer to home, in countries such as Switzerland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

These concerns about poor levels of educational achievement led to key policy initiatives in the 1990s:

- devolution of management responsibilities to schools. This was an initiative known as 'Local Management of Schools'; it redefined the role of headteachers and governors of schools, and greatly reduced the power and responsibility of Local Education Authorities. Finance and responsibility for many decisions including staffing, were devolved to individual schools, leaving local educational authorities with a role in supporting, particularly the less effective schools, rather than managing them.

- choice and diversity. The issues of providing choice and diversity for parents and their children play a role growing in importance in the agenda of educational change in England. Increasingly, parents have the right to choose to which school they send their children, and they are supported by access to inspection reports on every school in England. In addition, at secondary level, there has been a move to establish specialist schools, particularly in the field of technology (known as City Technology Colleges), but also specialist secondary schools with particular strengths in modern foreign languages, the arts, and - for the future - business studies. There is also a move to increase the number of schools, particularly those sponsored by the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.

- In the early 1990s a national curriculum was established, setting out which subjects must be taught to all pupils from the age of five to sixteen. For the first time national programmes of study for all subjects, with the exception of religious education, were established, with defined levels of attainment to be achieved by pupils at particular ages, principally 7, 11, 14 and 16. For the first time, pupils at the age of 7 and 11 were to take nationally established tests in English, mathematics and science. The results of these tests are sent to pupils' parents; the results at school level contribute to the public's understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of individual schools. They also form important performance indicators for inspectors, who can use the results to establish how high standards are in a school, whether standards are improving over time, and how well a school is performing when compare with the national picture or schools in similar circumstances.