Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 6 December 2011.

• National College to revise qualification to make sure heads get the right skills
• Qualification to become non mandatory in bid to make it a mark of quality

From next year, prospective headteachers will be able to take a new enhanced qualification to prepare them for the rigours of the job.

The current qualification – the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) – is to be overhauled to allow prospective head teachers from all types of schools the chance to develop the best skills for the job.

All first-time headteachers in the maintained sector are currently required to hold the NPQH. As signalled in the Schools White Paper ‘The Importance of Teaching’, the National College was asked to review the qualification to ensure it matches the best in the world, learns from other leading qualifications such as MBAs, meets the highest standards for leadership development and is based on what is required to be an effective head teacher.

In the light of the review, Ministers have today announced that:

• NPQH will become optional with effect from early 2012 – subject to the Parliamentary process – and developed for all prospective heads in both the maintained and the non-maintained sector such as academies and independent schools.
• The bar for entry and assessment for the qualification will be raised.
• The content made more demanding through the introduction of a core curriculum focusing on the key skills of headship including leadership of teaching and learning, and with a greater emphasis on behaviour.
• The revised qualification will be launched in spring 2012 with the first participants starting in September 2012.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

The highest-performing education systems are those where government knows when to step back and let heads get on with running their schools.

Our reforms are centred on giving great head teachers the skills they need and the professional autonomy to make a difference to thousands of young lives.

We want to create a qualification for those about to become head teachers that will help them develop the key skills needed to take on this challenging and rewarding role. It will start them on the journey to becoming outstanding lead professionals. We also want to ensure the NPQH remains a highly regarded and sought-after qualification.

Steve Munby, Chief Executive at the National College, said:

Raising the bar will help to drive up the standard of school leadership in this country even further.

The current NPQH is already highly regarded and sought-after but, in a rapidly changing education sector that is becoming increasingly diverse and autonomous, no qualification can stand still.

We believe the new non mandatory NPQH will be ranked alongside the best leadership development in the world and become the mark of quality that governing bodies and academy boards choose to rely on when appointing head teachers and principals, as only the most talented candidates will get through.

The NPQH was introduced in 1997 to prepare those keen to become head teachers. In 2008, the qualification was revised to target those within 12 to 18 months of becoming a head teacher and then became mandatory in 2009 for all first-time head teachers working in the maintained sector.

To date, around 35,000 have graduated with the qualification and just over half – around 58 per cent – of current heads in maintained schools hold the NPQH.

The National College, working with key stakeholders including existing head teachers, will revise the content of the new NPQH:

• All participants will have to pass five modules of which three are compulsory and focus on leading pupil behaviour, developing leadership skills and managing teacher performance.
• Trainee head teachers will be required to undertake a school-based and a placement related assignment and spend more time on the placement, increasing from a minimum of five days to nine days.
• It will place more emphasis on the role of an applicant’s line manager in providing a reference and ‘sponsoring’ the applicant through the programme as we know from research that the best way to spot a future head teacher is to watch them working, and handling a range of leadership issues.
• The new NPQH will now link more closely to Masters and other postgraduate qualifications and so allow trainee heads to move more seamlessly onto a higher degree if they wish.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 2 December 2011.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb today said the use of calculators in primary schools would be looked at as part of the national curriculum review.

He warned that too many children had come to rely on calculators – and that their mental and written arithmetic had suffered as a result. He said calculators should only be introduced once pupils had a thorough grounding in basic maths, including knowing times tables by heart.

Mr Gibb pointed to evidence from around the world. In the best-performing education systems calculators are used only in the equivalent of upper primary schools.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

We need to look at the use of calculators in primary schools.

Children can become too dependent on calculators if they use them at too young an age. They shouldn’t be reaching for a gadget every time they need to do a simple sum.

They need to master addition, subtraction, times tables and division, using quick, reliable written methods. This rigour provides the groundwork for the more difficult maths they will come across later in their education.

You can’t expect children to cope with complicated quadratic equations if they don’t know their times tables by heart.

Without a solid grounding in arithmetic and early maths in primary school, children go on to struggle with basic maths skills throughout their school careers. It also means they leave school without the knowledge they need to complete everyday tasks in their adult lives.

The use of calculators in primary schools must be appropriate.

Background

From Nick Gibb’s speech in a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday 30 November 2011:

Mr Speaker, we are currently reviewing the National Curriculum to give teachers greater professional freedom over how they organise and teach their subject. The review will be informed by best international practice, and will draw on other evidence about the knowledge children need to deepen their understanding at each stage of their education.

Alongside this review we are looking at how arithmetic is taught in school by engaging in an informal dialogue with maths professionals. Some key areas of consensus are emerging, namely that there needs to be a renewed focus on quick recall of number facts such as multiplication tables and the importance of consistent, efficient methods of calculation being taught throughout the school.

Statistics

Provisional Key Stage 2 statistics show that one in five 11-year-olds failed to reach the expected level in maths this year.

The importance of maths

There is a growing demand for people with high-level maths skills to become the scientists and engineers of the future, and an increasing need for people with intermediate maths skills in a whole range of disciplines. It is the Government’s intention that within 10 years the vast majority of young people will study maths from 16 to 19.

Ofsted

The recent Ofsted report ‘Good practice in primary mathematics: evidence from 20 successful schools’; clearly shows the importance of pupils knowing multiplication tables properly in order to develop fluency in calculation.
Most of the top schools examined only introduced calculators at the very upper end of primary, and then only for checking the answers for calculations carried out by hand. Often this is at a time when pupils are practising the written methods for long multiplication and division, fractions and percentages.

International evidence

The international evidence is also clear. High-performing jurisdictions around the world limit the use of calculators in the primary maths classroom.

The UK is falling behind internationally in maths.

Over the last 10 years:

• the UK has fallen from 8th to 28th in maths in the PISA tables.
• PISA also shows that pupils in Shanghai are around two-and-a-half years ahead of their peers in the UK in maths.
• pupils from Singapore and Hong Kong are regularly introduced to some mathematical concepts much earlier than their counterparts in the UK.
• the TIMMS study of maths in 2007 shows that pupils in Massachusetts, Singapore and Hong Kong go on to out-perform pupils in England in international league tables at age 10 and age 14.
• use of calculators continues to be common in Year 5 in England’s maths classrooms. The 2007 TIMMS study found that only two per cent of Year 5 pupils in England were not allowed to use calculators compared to the international average of 54 per cent.
• guiding principles for the Massachusetts, Singapore and Hong Kong curricula state that calculators should not be used as a replacement for basic understanding and skills. Moreover, the fourth and sixth grade state assessments in Massachusetts (the equivalent in England of Years 5 and 7 respectively) do not permit the use of a calculator. Elementary students learn how to perform basic arithmetic operations without using a calculator.

Technology

The Government supports the use of technology to enhance teaching across all subjects:

• in their recent report, the Joint Mathematical Council for the United Kingdom made clear that the school maths curriculum should include the use of digital technologies for modelling and problem solving. They highlight that existing software such as dynamic graphing and geometry tools, spreadsheets and simulation packages provide a wide range of opportunities for learning mathematics, and they conclude that digital technology is important to “develop the next generation of innovators, creators, scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians on which our future well-being and economy depends.”
• work is being done by, among others, the Li Ka Shing foundation and the Stanford Research Institute on a pilot programme to use interactive software to support the teaching of maths.
• computer games developed by Marcus Du Sautoy are enabling children to engage with complex mathematical problems that would hitherto have been thought too advanced for them to tackle at that age.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 22 November 2011.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb today welcomed the broad findings of Raising Ambition and Tackling Failure – The Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2010/11.

However, he warned that it highlighted significant areas of concern in the school system and said the Government’s reform programme, white paper and Education Act 2011 would address them.

Commenting on the main education findings:

On academies

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Ofsted is clear that the best academies are transforming education standards with strong leadership, teaching and ethos. There is growing evidence that academies are successfully weakening the link between poor education and deprivation. That is why we continue to target the academy programme at underperforming and failing schools, with the Pupil Premium providing extra money for schools with children from the poorest homes.

Our long-term ambition is for academies to be the norm in the school system. Teachers and heads should control schools and have more power over how they are run day-to-day. academies succeed because they have the freedom and power to set their own direction.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other international evidence is clear that school autonomy is the key driver of higher education standards. Academies’ GCSE results are rising consistently far faster than the rest of the school system, often from a low starting point and in challenging circumstances.

On coasting / underperforming / declining schools

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

There are still far too many underperforming schools making painfully slow improvements. It is worrying that Ofsted finds that 800 schools are stuck steadfastly at a satisfactory rating in inspection after inspection. It’s a real concern that some schools with very able intakes are merely coasting instead of making sure students achieve their full potential. And outstanding or good schools cannot afford to take their foot off the pedal simply because they have had a strong inspection result.

Our reforms are designed to raise standards across the board – by freeing up teachers to get on with the day-to-day job in the classroom but making sure there is stronger, clearer accountability to the public.

No school can ever afford to rest on its laurels or be complacent. Pupils’ time at school is short so they suffer if heads don’t strive to drive up standards year after year. We will not let mediocre performance continue unchecked and we are clear that there will be no hiding place for schools that are not making the progress they should. The Prime Minister has been clear in recent weeks that we will shine a light on schools which are content to muddle through.

We’re bringing in a tough new inspection regime from January targeted at the weakest performing schools; those that are making slow or no progress; and those at risk of falling back, while taking a lighter touch for high performing schools. We’ve overhauling league tables and bringing in fairer, tougher new standards – so schools are not just measured on raw results but also on the progress pupils of different ability levels make. The Education Act gives ministers clear new powers to step in where schools are merely treading water.

On behaviour

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Behaviour is still not good enough nationally, particularly in secondary schools and in the most deprived areas. We’re bringing in new powers to restore the authority of teachers; transforming the quality of alternative provision for the worst behaved pupils; and strengthening up sanctions to deal with persistent absentees. We know that poor discipline is forcing good staff out of the profession – an issue our reforms will get a grip on the issue.

Ofsted is right to draw a critical link between weak teaching and poor behaviour. It’s common sense that where teaching doesn’t engage pupils – they can lose attention and disrupt the class. That is why we are raising teaching standards and making sure the new inspection regime focuses explicitly on schools where children switch off because classes are not good enough.

On teaching quality

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Effective teaching is central to determining whether or not a pupil succeeds at school. The new streamlined inspection regime will focus far more time on classroom observation and assessing teaching quality, instead of inspectors having to look at too wide range of issues.

We have set out clear plans to raise teaching quality across the board. We’re recruiting the brightest and best into the profession with bursaries up to £20,000 to attract top-class science, maths and languages graduates. We’ve strengthened entry requirements – only funding training places for graduates with a 2:2 or better and are stopping unlimited re-sits of basic numeracy and literacy tests. We’ve set up the first 100 Teaching Schools to drive up quality of initial teacher training and their ongoing career development. We’ve overhauled teacher standards so now there is a sharper focus on the key elements of teaching, including subject knowledge. We’ve set up a £2 million scholarship programme for existing teachers, backed up by stronger continuous professional development.

 Background

On 13 September 2011 Education Secretary Michael Gove said in his speech to the National College:

It is a worry to me that so many schools that are still judged as ‘outstanding’ overall when they have not achieved an outstanding in ‘teaching and learning.’ I intend to ask the new Chief Inspector to look at this issue and report back to me with recommendations.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 14 November 2011.

• Ministers dispel health and safety school trip myths

Teachers must no longer be discouraged from taking children on school trips because of misplaced health and safety concerns, Education Secretary Michael Gove and Employment Minister Chris Grayling have said.

A myth-busting statement, prepared by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), has been published for schools and local authorities – explaining what teachers should consider when organising trips. The statement dispels myths about legal action and encourages all schools to ditch unnecessary paperwork, ensuring that precautions are proportionate to the risks involved.

Newly revised health and safety guidance for schools has also been published by the Department for Education, summarising how the existing health and safety law affects schools, local authorities, governing bodies, and staff – particularly in relation to school trips. This advice has been slashed from 150 pages of unduly complex information to just eight pages.

At the moment, many schools wrongly believe that:

• written risk assessments – some totalling up to 100 pages – must be completed for every activity that takes place outside of school, such as visits to museums
• teachers must ask parents to complete written consent forms for every school trip or visit.

The new guidance clarifies these myths and urges a common sense approach, making it easier for schools to give pupils more opportunities to learn outside of the classroom.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

Children should be able to go on exciting school trips that broaden their horizons. That is why we are cutting unnecessary red tape in schools and putting teachers back in charge.

This new, slimmer advice means a more common sense approach to health and safety. It will make it easier for schools to make lessons more inspiring and fun.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said:

Memories of our school trips stay with us. Learning outside the classroom brings the curriculum to life and is essential to our children’s development. We cannot let confusion over health and safety requirements deprive them of the opportunities we had.

I want to dispel the myths and remind schools, teachers and local authorities that a disproportionate fear of prosecution should not get in the way of common sense.

The revised guidance:

• summarises the legal duties of head teachers, governing bodies and local authorities on health and safety, and covers activities that take place on and off school premises
• makes clear that a written risk assessment does not need to be carried out every time a school takes pupils on a regular, routine local visit, for example to a swimming pool or museum.
• tackles myths and teachers’ fears about being prosecuted by making the law clearer
• clarifies that parental consent is not necessary for pupils to take part in the majority of off-site activities organised by a school, as most of these activities take place during school hours and are a normal part of a child’s education.

The fear of prosecution is often cited as an obstacle to arranging school trips, but action is rare. In the past five years, only two cases have been brought by the HSE for breaches of health and safety law in relation to school visits and this was where there was evidence of recklessness or a clear failure to follow sensible precautions.

To help schools further, the Department for Education has also developed a ‘one-off’ parental consent form, which covers activities outside the normal school day. These include residential visits in school holidays and at weekends, adventure activities, off-site sporting fixtures outside the school day, and all off-site activities for nursery schools which take place at any time. The consent form will cover all activities and will only need to be signed once, when a child enrols at the school.

Schools will then only need to inform parents in advance of each activity and give them the opportunity to withdraw their child from the activity if they wish, rather than conducting bureaucratic form-filling exercises for every school trip.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 14 November 2011.

• Court houses and Department for Education offices could house new schools
• Total number of new school applications approved reaches 87

The first ever special and alternative provision free schools have been approved to open from September 2012. Approved plans include a new school for vulnerable young people to be run by Everton Football Club.

The 8 new Free Schools – including 3 special schools and 5 alternative provision schools – join 79 others that are due to open from next year onwards.

Like Academies, Free Schools have greater freedoms than local authority run schools, giving teachers the power to make decisions that are right for local children. Free Schools will help raise standards for all children, particularly those living in disadvantaged communities.

Six government or publicly owned sites have also been identified as being suitable to house Free Schools – including 2 Department for Education offices and 4 court houses. They are:

• Balham Youth Court, London
• Haringey Magistrates Court, London
• Mid-Sussex Magistrates Court, Haywards Heath
• Sutton Coldfield Magistrates Court, Sutton Coldfield
• Department for Education, Mowden Hall, Darlington
• Department for Education, Castle View House, Runcorn.

Groups can apply to open schools in these – and other – government buildings that are surplus or under-used, where appropriate. The government also wants more surplus or under-used public buildings to make space available to Free Schools.

The first special Free Schools are being set up by passionate and talented groups, who want to improve state education provision and choice for families with children with special education needs (SEN) and disabilities. Too often, parents struggle to find a special school that meets the needs of their child.

New alternative provision Free Schools will allow more children, who would not receive the right education in a mainstream school, to get a good education. Pupils that attend alternative provision schools are some the most vulnerable young people in society. They include pupils who have been excluded, are ill, have been severely bullied or are teenage parents. Current provision is very mixed, and the vast majority of pupils leave alternative provision without the qualifications they need for employment or further study.

Three special schools and five alternative provision schools have been approved today. They are:

• Rosewood school, Southampton (Age 2 – 19 special school)
• City of Peterborough Academy special school, Peterborough ( Age 4 – 18 special school)
• The Lighthouse School, Leeds (Age 11 – 19 special school)
• Derby Pride Academy, Derby (Age 11 – 16 alternative provision school)
• Harmonize Academy, Liverpool (Age 13 -19 alternative provision school)
• Stone Soup Learns, Nottingham (Age 11 – 19 alternative provision school)
• Everton in the Community Free School Trust, Liverpool (Age 14 – 19 alternative provision school)
• East Birmingham Network, Birmingham (Age 13 – 16 alternative provision school)

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

No child – regardless of their circumstances – should be denied an excellent education that is close to home. An education where teachers are free to decide what is best and where standards are high.

Through Free Schools, we are breaking down barriers to make this a reality for some of the poorest and most vulnerable children in the country. The good schools lottery must end.

Recent statistics show that just 1.4 % of children in alternative provision in 2009/10 achieved 5 or more GCSEs at grade A*-C, or equivalent, including English and mathematics. This compares with 53.4 % in all schools in England.

Along with Free Schools, the Government’s behaviour adviser, Charlie Taylor, is also looking at other ways of improving alternative provision in England.

In addition, groups wishing to open Free Schools, University Technical Colleges (UTCs) and Studio Schools from September 2013 will be able to access the application form and guidance from the Department’s website from today. The New Schools Network is also on hand to provide support to Free Schools groups throughout the application process.

Successful Free School applications for those wishing to open from September 2013 will be announced in July 2012. Successful UTCs will be announced in May 2012.

David Moyes, Manager of Everton FC, said:

This would represent a fantastic opportunity for Everton Football Club and its charitable arm, Everton in the Community, to further extend its reach into a wide variety of communities across the Merseyside region. It would, unquestionably, provide a real chance for some less-privileged, less-fortunate children to embrace – and to benefit from – a high-quality education.

Barry Day, Chief Executive of the Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust, said:

We are delighted that this Special Free School application is proceeding to the pre-opening stage. The group greatly looks forward to offering a new special school, co-located with a mainstream school to support the Government’s agenda for further integrated special provision within other settings.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 11 November 2011.

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Children’s Minister Sarah Teather set out the plans in a consultation on changes to free early education.

The consultation includes proposals to:

Make the free entitlement to 15 hours per week of early education more flexible, so it can be taken between 7am and 7pm, and spread across two days instead of the current three days.
Use the criteria which is used for free school meals to decide which disadvantaged two-year-olds should qualify for free early education,
Include two-year-olds who are looked after by the state in the eligibility criteria for free early education.
Slim down statutory guidance for local authorities from 100 pages to fewer than 20 pages.
Under the plans, up to 140,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds will be entitled to 15 hours a week of free early education. The announcement follows the Government’s commitment, made by the Deputy Prime Minister in October 2010, to extend 15 hours of free early education – currently available to all three- and four-year-olds – to disadvantaged two-year-olds from September 2013.

Nick Clegg said:

I want us to give every child the best possible start – so free education for toddlers from the most disadvantaged homes will now be a right and not a privilege. Crucially the extra care will be flexible and easy to access. Parents across the country are bending over backwards to balance work and home. The Coalition wants to help in whatever way we can.

Sarah Teather, Children’s Minister, said:

Our priority is to increase social mobility by helping children from the poorest backgrounds in their earliest years. High quality early education is the key to making a difference early on in a child’s life. It’s crucial for their healthy development and means they’re not falling behind before they have even started primary school.

We want more children to be able to access their full early education entitlement. Too often, the most disadvantaged children don’t get what they are entitled to. It’s important we target early education at those who stand to benefit the most.

We also want to make the entitlement more flexible, so that children don’t miss out on early education and parents can help balance their work and family life more easily.

All 152 local authorities in England have been delivering a targeted offer of between 10 and 15 hours of free early education to some of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds since September 2009. The extension of 15 hours to all disadvantaged two-year-olds will mean an increase in the number of places across the country, from 20,000 per year to around 140,000 per year.

The Department is funding 15 trials in 18 local authorities to test approaches to expand free early education for disadvantaged two-year-olds. The trials are looking at the challenges that local areas face to deliver the expansion as well as helping them to share learning and best practice across the country. The trials will run until 31 March 2012.

The Department is also consulting on how to improve the way in which local authorities tell parents how they are ensuring sufficient childcare places in the local area. An annual report to parents would replace the overly bureaucratic childcare sufficiency assessment that local authorities must currently do every three years.