Will bringing school inspections in-house drive up standards at Ofsted?  Ofsted has announced that from September 2015, it will no longer contract with Inspection Service Providers (ISPs) for the delivery of school inspections.  All inspections of schools and colleges will be managed in-house to give the watchdog more control over selection, training and quality control.  The move follows claims that too many inspectors “lack the necessary skills” or experience to make fair judgments about the education system.

Piloting new approach to recording evidence about the quality of teaching during inspection – It was announced earlier this week that from 9 June 2014, Ofsted is piloting a new approach to the recording of evidence about the quality of teaching during some school inspections.  You can find out more about the pilot here: Inspecting without grading teaching in each individual lesson

Ofqual getting rid of ‘soft’ subjects – Ofqual has announced plans to axe GCSEs and A-levels in 24 subjects, including home economics and engineering.  The regulator has published a list of courses to be scrapped within three years over concerns they lack academic rigour.  Ofqual has also told exam boards that they must radically toughen up 73 other courses including ancient history, business studies, classical civilisation, economics, general studies, law, media studies and psychology.

NCTL publishes research on Headteachers’ performance management

The National College for Teaching and Leadership recently released a report on research it had commissioned into the effective performance management of Headteachers. The report contains a good summary of the process of performance management and suggestions of good practice and you can use this link to access it Headteacher performance: effective management

The researchers have identified 20 ‘challenges’ which face governing bodies and provide recommendations on how to tackle them.  While for many governors the challenges will be well understood, the document does set them out in one place: these include setting objectives which knit together individual and school development; identifying and interpreting appropriate performance information; mutual respect and trust, and clear roles; and developing the capacity of the Governing body with regards to Headteacher performance management (HTPM). The report says that some of the hardest things to manage are how to identify and tackle under performance and how to reward system leadership.

At the end of the report is a list of what the researchers have identified as the ten characteristics of effective HTPM.

Pupil premium awards for the next two years

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, and the Schools Minister, David Laws, announced the 2015 and 2016 Pupil Premium Awards last week.  These are an opportunity to showcase innovative and effective practice and to give public recognition to schools that are excelling in raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.  Up to 500 schools will receive prizes. There will be a top prize of £250,000 for secondary schools and £100,000 for primary and special schools.  In addition there are regional awards and smaller ‘qualifier’ awards (for up to 300 primary and 100 secondary schools.

The assessment criteria have been changed to so that the awards reflect sustained improvement over time in raising attainment of disadvantaged pupils.  To win the larger prizes, schools will need to provide evidence of implementing effective strategies to improve achievement.

The 2015 Pupil Premium Awards are being run by the Department for Education in partnership with TES. Schools can find out more about the 2015 Pupil Premium Awards at www.pupilpremiumawards.co.uk.  The awards ceremony will be held in March 2015.

Regional Schools Commissioners:

During the Easter holidays, the appointment of six of the eight new Regional Schools Commissioners was announced.

The two as-yet unfilled posts are for the North region and East Midlands & Humber. The DfE have said that it would be appointing commissioners for its North and East Midlands and Humber regions “shortly”.

Graham Stuart, the Education Select Committee Chairman, told The Yorkshire Post that it was more of a concern that two of these posts remain unfilled “with each passing month” but that the DfE might be taking time to ensure it got the right people in place.

In addition, the all-male list of those announced to date has attracted criticism from some observers for its apparent lack of diversity.

Meanwhile, an internal DfE document leaked to the Guardian appears to give new details on the precise role of Commissioners, including:

• Commissioners will approve or reject DfE intervention plans in “underperforming” academies, recruit academy sponsors and “pause” the expansion of those not felt to be doing well;
• Commissioners will be “advocates for the academies programme” as a whole;
• Commissioners will be tasked with building “relationships with key players in their region – Ofsted directors, sponsors, dioceses, local authorities, teaching schools and alliances”.

Universal free school meals

The School Food Plan has produced a Q&A for Headteachers about the introduction of universal free school meals and much of this will also be of interest to governors. This can be found at http://www.schoolfoodplan.com/qa-for-head-teachers/

What next for Careers Guidance?

The DfE has released new guidance for schools, aimed at inspiring pupils to pursue ambitious careers by using inspirational employers and business leaders as mentors.

The guidance states that a school’s careers and inspiration guidance strategy should:

• Offer mentoring and coaching, inspirational speakers, workplace and higher education visits, networking events and careers fairs;
• Use initiatives that help to forge links between schools and employers, such as Business in the Community, Career Academies and Inspiring the Future;
• Ensure pupils have information on the full range of education and training options;
• Measure the effectiveness of their careers and inspiration activity by using official data on the education, training and employment of previous pupils.

The guidance highlights the innovative careers guidance already offered by Woodham Academy in Newton Aycliffe, where employers working in the local business park are invited to discuss careers with their pupils. This led to conferences between their 14-year-old pupils and local employers, and an Apprenticeship Challenge day involving speed-networking sessions with businesses and employers mentoring pupils.