the 2019 education inspection framework...ofsted strategy 2017–22 the curriculum at the heart of...

The 2019 Education Inspection

Framework

Jason Howard HMI

Essex Headteachers’ Conference, 2019

The curriculum

“I want to reassure you that there will not be an Ofsted-approved curriculum. Instead, we are interested in why you make the decisions, whether your decisions are translating into practice, and how you know they are having the intended effect. The starting point for many schools is the National Curriculum. For those using academy freedoms to go beyond it, we’ll want to talk about what that looks like.”

Ofsted strategy 2017–22

▪ The curriculum at the heart of inspection.

▪ No need to produce progress and attainment data ‘for Ofsted’, helping reduce unnecessary workload.

▪ All pupils should have access to a high-quality education.

Education inspection framework: the consultation outcomes Slide 3

‘A force for improvement through intelligent, responsible and focused inspection and regulation’

The new framework

Why is a focus on curriculum necessary?

1. Because knowledge allows comprehension, i.e. understanding

2. Because knowledge is generative (sticky)

3. Because skills are dependent on specific knowledge

4. Because knowledge empowers

4

The curriculum will be at the heart of the new framework

Ofsted’s working definition:

▪ ‘The curriculum is a framework for setting out the aims of a programme of education, including the knowledge and understanding to be gained at each stage (intent);

▪ for translating that framework over time into a structure and narrative, within an institutional context (implementation), and

▪ for evaluating what knowledge and skills pupils have gained against expectations (impact/achievement).’

The case for change

▪Accountability matters, but the system as currently constructed can divert schools from the real substance of education

▪What young people learn is too often coming second to delivering performance table data

▪ The data focus leads to unnecessary workload for teachers

▪ Teaching to the test and narrowing have had the greatest negative effect on the most disadvantaged and the least able

▪ It is therefore time for Ofsted to stop making separate judgements about pupil outcomes. Any conversation about pupil outcomes should be part of a larger conversation about the quality of education they receive.

What do we mean when we talk about progress?

What does it mean to ‘get better’ at languages, mathematics, history or English?

Has the content of the curriculum been learned long term?

‘Learning is defined as an alteration in long-term memory. If nothing has altered in long-term memory nothing has

been learned.’

Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory (Vol. 1). Springer Science & Business Media.

Knowledge does not sit as isolated ‘information’ in pupils’ minds.

10

▪ curriculum design, coverage, appropriateness and delivery

▪ teaching (pedagogy)▪ assessment (formative and summative)▪ attainment and progress

(including national tests and assessments)▪ reading▪ readiness for the next stage of education.

Quality of education judgement

The new quality of education judgement puts the real substance of education, the curriculum, at the heart of inspection.

Inspectors will have a connected, educationally focused conversation, incorporating:

Vocabulary size matters

Findings of the Hart and Risley landmark study: Over four years, researchers recorded the accumulated number of words an average child experienced.

Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Paul H Brookes Publishing.

Professional family:

45 million words

Working class family:

26 million words

Family receiving welfare:

13m words

Schooling is crucial for increasing the breadth of children’s vocabulary

•Around 90% of vocabulary is only really encountered when reading and is not used in speech.

•Much fiction does not give access to the more academic vocabulary and syntax used for high-level GCSE, A level and beyond.

•Academic texts provide exposure to complex vocabularyand ideas that must be grasped in order to achieve academic success.

Stanovich, K. E. (1993). ‘Does reading make you smarter? Literacy and the development of verbal intelligence.’ Advances in child development and behavior, vol. 24, pp. 133 –180.

12

Knowledge stored in long-term memory frees up space to think...

‘Because experts already know a great deal one might suppose they would learn very little when they look something up, whereas the novice, with so much to learn, would learn more... But in fact it’s the expert who learns more that is new, and learns it much faster… because the human mind is able to assimilate only three or four new items before further elements evaporate from working memory... Experts... need pay attention to only one or two novel features that can be easily integrated into their prior knowledge.’ Hirsch, Why Knowledge Matters (2016)

13

Skill: the capacity to perform, drawing on what is known

Examples of desirable cognitive skills:

▪analysis

▪evaluation

▪problem-solving

▪creativity

▪independence.

Slide 14

Skills are dependent on specific knowledge

Since the 1940s we have known from researchers that human skills tend to be domain-specific and do not transfer readily from one domain to another.

If people are very skilled in one area this won’t make them skilled in another area or domain.

Willingham, D. T. (2007). ‘Critical thinking’. American Educator, 31(3), 8–19.

15

How can we check progress over time?

We can see if useful, well-chosen knowledge is building over time and enabling progress through a carefully sequenced curriculum.

This means building knowledge of:▪ vocabulary▪ events, people and places▪ concepts▪ procedures.

…which have been carefully selected because they are the most ‘powerful’ (useful or transferable) knowledge.

16

Knowledge deficitsaccumulate when layered on top of one another in a curriculum sequence. This accumulation of dysfluency (gaps) limits and may even prevent acquisition of complex skills that depend on them.This problem is called ‘cumulative dysfluency’.

What happens when pupils don’t learn the knowledge they need?

Fisher, W. W., Piazza, C. C., & Roane, H. S. (Eds). (2011). Handbook of applied behavior analysis. Guilford Press.17

Inspection model for quality of education


Curriculum intent; Inspectors may.....

▪ “what we want is a dialogue to understand your thinking and how you’re making sure that the curriculum gives every child a full, deep, rich education.” HMCI 21 June

▪ Speak with leaders, including subject leaders and governors;▪ Talk me through the principles of your key stage 1, 2 or 3 curriculum.

▪ Show me how you have adapted it to meet the needs of your cohorts.

▪ Show me how it builds upon pupils’ prior knowledge.

▪ How does it fit into pupils’ educational journey?

Education inspection framework: the consultation outcomes

What will be included in the

deep dives?

Slide 20

Discussions with pupils

Discussions with

teachers

Discussions with

curriculum leaders

Visits to a connected sample of lessons

Scrutiny of pupils’ work

Discussions with senior

leaders

Deep dives; inspectors may….

▪ “We are interested in why you make the decisions, whether your decisions are translating into practice, and how you know they are having the intended effect.” HMCI 21 June

▪ Talk with phase / subject leaders about the impact they expect.

▪ Explore how you check the curriculum is having the desired impact on disadvantaged pupils or those who are lower ability.

▪ Talk with pupils. Establish how well prepared they are for the next stages of their education.

▪ Talk with governors about their understanding of the impact. How do they know?

Examples of the sorts of questions inspectors or you might ask about curriculum quality

Intent:

How far do leaders consider what children need to learn and the order to teach it?

Implementation:

Is the curriculum for each subject designed, over time, to maximise the likelihood that children will remember and connect the steps they have been taught?

Impact

How well are children learning the content outlined in the curriculum?

Sapienta Education Trust 30 April 2019 Slide 22

Education inspection framework 2019: the consultation outcomes Slide 23

New inspection judgements

Quality of education

Personal development

Behaviour and attitudes

Leadership and

management

Overall effectiveness

The judgement areas: ‘personal development’ and ‘behaviour and attitudes’


Separate judgements for ‘personal development’ and ‘behaviour and attitudes’


Personal development, welfare and behaviour



Personal development; behaviour and attitudes

▪ Importance of personal development – including ‘developing responsible, respectful and active citizens who are able to play their part and become actively involved in public life as adults’

▪ Also character development ‘which we define as a set of positive personal traits, dispositions and virtues that informs their motivation and guides their conduct so that they reflect wisely, learn eagerly, behave with integrity and co-operate consistently well with others.’ Lots of this doesn’t happen at school…


‘Our second judgement is personal development. It’s about what the school does for children’s broader development. It’s about the school playing their part –along with parents and others – in children learning to be good citizens, confident and resilient, able to take on the challenges of the future. I should say, with personal development, that we’re not attempting to judge the outcome. We’re looking at what schools are putting in to it and how they’re approaching it’

(HMCI 8 June 2019)


‘Our third judgement, behaviour and attitudes, is about getting the environment right. Is this a school in which pupils can learn? It’s about creating a calm, ordered environment where children can flourish and achieve their potential. It’s about how the school responds effectively to low-level disruption and bullying. It’s essential: if a level of bad or disruptive behaviour is normalised, then children have less chance to learn.’

(HMCI 8 June 2019)

Leadership and management

‘And our fourth judgement, is leadership and management, essentially the same judgement as it is now. This is about the way that leaders – and of course governors and trustees - support and help their people, and about how they work with them to improve their subject knowledge and their teaching, including the essential behaviour management. And it’s about integrity: recognising those who do the right thing for their pupils, and who resist the temptation to take short cuts. It’s about doing the right thing.’

(HMCI, 8 June 2019)

Leadership and management

▪ ‘If a school has shortened key stage 3, inspectors will look to see that the school has made provision to ensure that pupils still have the opportunity to study a broad range of subjects…in Years 7 to 9.’

▪ EBACC – ‘It is…important that inspectors understand what schools are doing to prepare for [the government’s target] to be achieved, and they should take these preparations into consideration when evaluating the intent of the school’s curriculum.’

▪ ‘Inspectors will be interested in the conclusions drawn and actions taken from any internal assessment information, but they will not examine or verify that information first hand.’

Keep our focus on safeguarding, reflecting Ofsted’s latest thinking

Our inspection of safeguarding will continue to be built around three core areas:

▪ Identify: are leaders and other staff identifying the right children and how do they do that?

▪ Help: what timely action do staff within the provider take, and how well do they work with other agencies?

▪ Manage: how do responsible bodies and staff manage their statutory responsibilities, and in particular, how do they respond to allegations about staff and other adults?

Safeguarding will hold the same weight across all remits.

Governance

▪ Support and challenge role remains a central inspection focus

▪ Understanding of curriculum intent, implementation and impact

▪ Speaking to Trustees - stand-alone academies

▪ If delegated powers to a LGB in a MAT, which powers sit where? Inspectors will ask to speak to LGB members and trustees

▪ New sub-bullet in ‘inadequate’ for L&M: important that governors understand leaders’ analysis of any pupil movement

▪ Attendance – inspectors will look out for any use of inaccurate register codes

Changes to section 8 inspections



Proposal: Increase section 8 inspections from one to two days

Slide 34

Changes to S8: what people said

▪Responses to this proposal were mixed.

▪More than a third of respondents supported the proposal, but more than half of respondents did not support the proposed changes.

▪This response looked different when broken down by school phase; secondary leaders were more positive


Overall percentage of respondents

12

23

9

19

37

1

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agreeor disagree

Disagree

Stronglydisagree

Don't know

Changes to S8: what people said

▪ Among those who supported the proposal, there was a recognition that inspecting and reporting on the curriculum would require greater breadth and depth of activities on inspection.

▪ More respondents from secondary schools agreed with the proposal than those from primary schools.

▪ The main concern from those working in the smallest schools was that a two day section 8 inspection would be a similar experience to a section 5 inspection, especially taking into account the proposal about the on-site preparation.


▪ Increasing the length of section 8 inspections from one day to two days for most schools.

▪ Schools with 150 or fewer pupils on roll will continue to receive a one day inspection.

▪ The two day inspection will apply to all special schools and pupil referral units.


What we are doing in response

On-site preparation


Education inspection

framework:

Slide 39

On-site prep: what people said

▪Nearly three-quarters of those responding to the questionnaire disagreed or strongly disagreed with this proposal.

▪ It was supported by approximately one-fifth of respondents.

▪Feedback from schools that experienced this proposal through our programme of pilots was generally positive.


Overall percentage of respondents

7

12

6

12

62

1

Strongly agree

Agree

Neither agreeor disagree

Disagree

Stronglydisagree

Don't know


▪ We have listened to the concern about this proposal and we will not introduce on-site preparation.

▪ To keep the benefits, we will introduce a 90-minute telephone call between the lead inspector and the headteacher, or their nominated delegate, during the afternoon before inspection begins.

▪ This will enable professional dialogue to begin about the education provided by the school and facilitate planning the inspection together.

What we are doing in response

the 2019 education inspection framework...ofsted strategy 2017–22 the curriculum at the heart of...

Documents