英格兰Ofsted的Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw 说在公立小学年年继续改善的同时，公立中学停滞不前甚至在走下坡路。
Secondary school standards falling with tens of thousands of pupils attending failing schools： A report by Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw claims 170,000 pupils are at secondary schools rated inadequate - the lowest rating available。
他说有13个council的中学比较差，在这些council的父母完全有理由担心他们孩子的中学教育问题。
Sir Michael Wilshaw names 13 councils whose schools are judged to be performing poorly：Tameside, Middlesbrough, Barnsley, East Riding, Stockton-on-Tees, Bradford, Blackpool, Doncaster, Oldham, St Helens, Hartlepool, Derbyshire and Isle of Wight。除了一个Council外其它都是在North的。
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Ofsted chief warns of growing failure in England’s secondary schools ： Launching Ofsted’s annual report, Sir Michael Wilshaw names 13 councils whose schools are judged to be performing poorly。
The chief inspector of schools has warned that good teachers are in short supply in the areas of greatest need, as he revealed details of growing failure in England’s secondary schools, with tens of thousands more pupils attending schools condemned as inadequate.
Launching his annual Ofsted report, Sir Michael Wilshaw said the nation should be worried about a growing divide between primary and secondary schools.
“In too many cases, pupils are leaving their primary schools with good literacy and numeracy skills … But the culture they encounter at too many secondary schools often demotivates and discourages them,” he said.
The report reveals that while primaries continue to forge ahead, progress in secondaries has “plateaued” after years of improvement and is now in danger of going into reverse. Wilshaw said schools were not doing enough to challenge their most able pupils, and poor behaviour in class was in some cases making learning impossible.
He also highlighted continuing concerns about poor achievement among white British children, describing it as “particularly troubling”. He added: “I’m sad to say that there is no sign of the gap between them and other ethnic groups narrowing.”
Although the overall proportion of good or outstanding secondaries is unchanged from last year, Wilshaw warned that the proportion of failing schools had gone up, with 56 more in special measures than a year ago. In addition, 170,000 children are being taught in secondary schools that are deemed inadequate – Ofsted’s lowest category –, which is 70,000 more than in the previous year.
Wilshaw named and shamed 13 local authorities where parents “will rightly worry” about poor performance, where children have a less than 50% chance of attending a good secondary school.
All but one were in the north: Tameside, Middlesbrough, Barnsley, East Riding, Stockton-on-Tees, Bradford, Blackpool, Doncaster, Oldham, St Helens, Hartlepool, Derbyshire and Isle of Wight.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest expand Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer/Antonio Olmos In a speech in London, Wilshaw warned that problems in teacher training and recruitment were causing difficulties – a veiled dig at the government’s push to move teacher training away from university courses and towards its School Direct programme, where trainee teachers are taught in approved schools with high ratings.
He said he was increasingly concerned about the falling number of trainees joining the profession, and their uneven distribution throughout the country.
“This is a pressing issue. More teachers will be needed to match the substantial increase in the number of school-aged children expected over the next 10 years. We also face a major challenge getting the best teachers in the right schools.
“Good and outstanding schools with the opportunity to cherry-pick the best trainers may further exacerbate the stark differences in local and regional performance. The nation must avoid a polarised education system where good schools get better at the expense of weaker schools.”
Ofsted’s annual report states bluntly that “good teachers are in short supply where they are needed most” with the worst-performing regions having the greatest problems in attracting and retaining high-calibre teachers.
Wilshaw said struggling schools in academy chains were no better off than those within weak local authorities.
“Schools marooned in partnerships without effective networks find it hard to improve and just as hard to sustain improvement,” Wilshaw said, putting himself at odds with government policy that wants more schools to join academy chains.
In what will be seen as a clash with the Department for Education, the report also criticises recent changes to teacher training, stating: “The allocation of teacher-training places needs to ensure that there is sufficient supply of high quality teachers to meet the needs of disadvantaged areas.”
Wilshaw returned to a familiar theme, highlighting the damage that low-level disruption causes to learning in classrooms.
“Inspectors found too many instances of pupils gossiping, calling out without permission, using their mobiles, being slow to start work or follow instructions, or failing to bring the right books or equipment to class.”
He said that such seemingly minor infractions “cumulatively create a hubbub of interference that makes teaching and learning difficult and sometimes impossible”.
Unions reacted angrily to the chief inspector’s findings and rejected his assertion that improvement in secondary schools had stalled.
Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Ofsted’s annual report backs up the fact that we have the highest proportion ever of good and outstanding schools. Even when measured against the very high bar we have now, 71% are good or outstanding. Those schools are educating many hundreds of thousands of young people who are benefiting from a great education.
“ASCL rejects the assertion that improvement in secondary schools has stalled. Ofsted has failed to recognise that overall attainment by 16-year-olds is effectively capped by the current GCSE awarding process. As student attainment is the critical element in the Ofsted grading, it is no surprise that the proportion of schools graded good or better is relatively unchanged.”
A Department for Education spokesperson defended the government’s record on recruiting the best teachers, saying: “We now have more teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before, with record levels of top graduates entering the profession – one in six now holds a first class degree. And the prime minister this week announced that 17,500 maths and physics teachers will be trained over the next five years over and above current levels.
“We want the best and brightest teachers in our schools, and lots of them. That is why we are offering increased bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free to top graduates training in priority subjects, including physics and maths, and prestigious Scholarships for trainees in maths, physics, chemistry, and computing.
“We always allocate more places than are needed to ensure a high-quality supply of teachers across England’s classrooms, we never expect to fill to 100% of allocated places, and we are confident we will be able to meet future demand for teachers.”
Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, said Ofsted’s report was a damning verdicton the government’s education policies and warned of a crisis brewing in schools.
“Simply converting a school to a different structure is not the answer to raising standards. As Wilshaw says, the quality of leadership and teaching is key. The challenge is also reiterated in terms of rural areas, coastal areas and market towns, outside metropolitan areas.
“This report is clear, there are still too many children receiving a below-par education. While we have plenty of reasons to celebrate success in our school system, we can see stagnation across secondary school performance. The way to address this is equally clear: by raising the quality of teaching in every classroom, in every school.
“It is also the case that this report is a damning verdict on David Cameron’s failure to deliver more high quality teaching, in all our schools. His policy to allow unqualified teachers into the classroom – leading to a 16% increase this year – means we have the lowest entry requirements in to teaching anywhere in the developed world. Combine this with the government’s failure to meet teacher recruitment targets for three consecutive years and we see a crisis brewing in our schools.
“To give every child the best start in life, we need to deliver a world-class teacher in every classroom, and that is Labour’s priority. Under a future Labour government, all classroom teachers will have to become qualified teachers and be required to update their subject knowledge and teaching practices as a condition of remaining in the classroom. Labour will end the watering down of teaching standards that is harming our children’s life chances.”
Secondary school standards falling with tens of thousands of pupils attending failing schools http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/secondary-school-standards-falling-tens-4782109