英格兰总校监(Chief Inspector)说公立中学在走下坡路,公立小学在继续改善。

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。

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/10/ofsted-chief-growing-failure-england-secondary-schools

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

Sir Michael Wilshaw说学校走下坡路主要问题出在学校的领导(包括校长和Local Council的教育部门)

Ofsted chief blames poor leadership for rise in failing secondary schools Sir Michael Wilshaw’s comments come as Ofsted’s annual report finds increasing number of schools in special measures

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/10/ofsted-chief-poor-leadership-rising-number-failing-secondary-schools

The head of Ofsted has blamed the lack of good leadership in schools across the board for the increasing failure of secondary schools after years of improvement.

Speaking before the publication of Osted’s annual report, Sir Michael Wilshaw said it made no difference whether schools were free or academies, the key factor was leadership.

“The people who make a difference are the leaders,” Wilshaw told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “More autonomy means they can get on and make better schools, but if you’ve got poor leadership, it doesn’t work. It comes down to leaders.

“The big challenge for the future is to get better people into our schools, better teachers.”

Wilshaw also defended Ofsted’s record of inspection and said it would inspect good schools more regularly to ensure there was no dip in quality.

In his third annual report published on Wednesday, Wilshaw will say secondary schools in England are failing in increasing numbers, with more falling into special measures and tens of thousands more pupils attending schools condemned as inadequate.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest expand Pupils attend a maths class at a secondary school in Glasgow, Scotland. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images While primaries continue to flourish, according to Ofsted, progress in secondaries has “plateaued” after years of improvement – and is in danger of going into reverse – with the overall proportion of good or outstanding schools unchanged from last year.

At the other end of the scale, Wilshaw warns that the proportion of failing secondary schools has gone up, with 56 more in special measures than a year ago. The total is up from 91 to 147.

Of particular concern will be the 170,000 children taught in secondary schools that are deemed inadequate – Ofsted’s lowest category – which is 70,000 more than in the previous year.

The findings will be disappointing for the government, whose academy programme will inevitably come under further scrutiny in the light of these results.

As improvement in secondary schools falters, critics will point out that just over half (56%) of secondaries are academies, compared with 13% of primary schools, which according to the report are continuing to improve. But in a speech in central London to launch the report, Wilshaw will call on critics to move on from the “sterile” debate about school structure, which he describes as “yesterday’s argument”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest expand Primary school pupils answer questions in a classroom in Bristol. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images “Most people recognise that school autonomy is a good thing. Almost all schools, regardless of status, now enjoy far more freedom than they did in the past,” Wilshaw will say.

“Where schools are failing, it is not because they are local authority schools or academies, or because they are part of a multi-academy trust or because they stand alone. They are failing because they haven’t got the essentials right: governance and oversight is weak, leadership is poor, misbehaviour goes unchallenged and teaching is indifferent. If our education system is to continue to progress we need to concentrate on the basics of why schools and colleges fail and why they succeed.”

The figures for failing secondaries are relatively small but they will nevertheless be worrying, and Wilshaw will use his speech to highlight poor leadership, indifferent teaching and weak governance as some of the contributing factors. Wilshaw is expected to say that in an increasingly autonomous school system, effective oversight is more important than ever.

The problems facing struggling schools, he will argue, are often compounded because they are “isolated” and without meaningful support and challenge, whether from their local authority or their sponsor.

“These schools are deprived of effective support when times are bad. They are left unchallenged when they flirt with complacency. In many cases they are totally insulated from effective governance. They are bereft of good leadership and teaching practice. They remain apart from schools that could partner them.”

Wilshaw has been engaged in a well-publicised row with the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, in which he has repeatedly demanded more powers to inspect and grade management of academy chains. Currently Ofsted can inspect only the schools run by the chains, not their administration.

Morgan is adamant that Ofsted already has sufficient powers, and has said: “I am not in the business of passing legislation for powers that already exist.”

In his annual report, the chief inspector will acknowledge that many secondaries are doing a “superb job” – proportionately there are more outstanding secondaries than primaries. But in a third of local authority areas in England, fewer than 70% of secondaries are either good or outstanding, while in 13 areas children have a less than 50% chance of attending a good or outstanding secondary school.

Primaries have thrived, Wilshaw will say, because headteachers have focused on behaviour, the quality of teaching – in particular the teaching of phonics – teachers’ professional development and improved communication with parents.

Commenting before the report, David Simmonds, of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, called for an independent review of Ofsted. “Ofsted is intended to be a key part of the improvement of schools, and in the case of academy schools are the only people councils can call on to intervene when there are signs that standards are slipping.

“As well as asking questions of schools, Ofsted has questions to answer about whether its regime is bringing about the improvement we need to see.

“Mums and dads want to know someone has their finger on the pulse of schools. That can’t be done from Whitehall. It is time for an independent review of Ofsted so we can be confident in judgments which at the moment seem to change at a moment’s notice.”

The Department for Education said: “We share Sir Michael Wilshaw’s ambition to keep raising standards in secondary schools but we should acknowledge we have seen incredible improvements in recent years, all achieved against the backdrop of Ofsted’s much tougher inspection framework which leaves no room for underperforming schools to hide.

“We now have more than 1 million more children now being taught in good or outstanding schools since 2010. This has been accomplished by acting swiftly on underperformance, encouraging high-quality schools to open and unleashing a wave of teaching talent across the country through our excellent teaching schools.

“Thanks to this approach and the hard work of teachers more pupils than ever before have the chance to attend a good or outstanding local school.”

实际上现在的孩子也比以前难管教多了呀,那么多的外界因素能引起孩子的注意力。以前可没现在这么多诱惑。

太多paper work, 太官僚,导致一线教职工不能专心教学。

今天,我家来个朋友搞教育的

她说,政府现在是试图让reception学yr1的课程,以此类推

她觉得现在的英国小孩好可怜,压力越来越大

我觉得不是小孩压力大,是很多不用功的老师压力大。

这完全是懒惰老师的借口,要说paper work多私校老师的paper work才多,但也不影响他们的第一线教学啊。

孩子难管完全是父母的过错。

同意,只是觉得现在孩子比我小时候多了好多要分心的地方,孩子总是难以抵制各种诱惑。自制力比我小时候强多了哈哈。