Leadership Key To Standards Drive, Says Ofsted

Strong leadership at every level is critical if England wants to have a world class education and skills system, Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills said today.

Wilshaw, who launched his first annual report, said that leadership in schools, in colleges and in local authorities was key to driving up standards and ensuring all young people get the good education they deserve.

There were nearly 25,000 inspections carried out during 2011/12 of early years and childcare, schools, colleges and adult learning and skills.

They found schools in England are getting better – although there is still a long way to go before the nation catches up with the best in the world.

There are wide variations in the performance of schools across different local authority areas, leading to serious inequities for children in some parts of the country.

Ofsted has identified major concerns with the quality of provision in the post-16 Learning and Skills sector, especially in colleges, which are not adequately preparing young people for the world of work.

Sir Michael said: "Heads are now in the driving seat in a way I could only have dreamed of 20 years ago. They now have more autonomy and more control over their resources than ever before.

"A growing number of heads are also committed to improving schools beyond their own through cluster and federation arrangements.

"Academies are also making a difference. Most of the sponsored academies that we have inspected are better than the poor quality schools they replaced."

Addressing inequities for children he said: "This is completely unacceptable.

"That’s why I intend, from January, to use Ofsted’s new regional structure to inquire further into areas that are performing badly. We need to find out what is happening, and inspect where necessary. We will also work with local areas to support them and help them link up with best practice."

(GK)