24th December 2014 1:00
By Blue Tutors
Ofsted’s annual report is set to claim that secondary schools have failed to make appropriate progress, and many have “stalled”. Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw will state that nearly a third of secondary schools have been found to be not good enough. However, he will also acknowledge that primary schools have fared much better.
The report into outcomes of inspections in 2013-14 will claim that over 80% of schools are now rated as good or outstanding, with much of this progress been driven by primary schools. However, the warnings come for secondary schools, with an additional 50 schools falling into special measures compared with last year.
In the secondary tier, only 71% of schools were classed as good or outstanding, compared with 82% of primary schools.
Regional differences also raise concern. The report states that there are 13 local authorities where the chances of a family getting a good or outstanding school drop below 50%.
Sir Michael will suggest that the improvements seen in primaries are being driven by good leadership, compared with “poor and inconsistent” leadership preventing secondaries from making similar progress. He will also attribute this stalling to low-level disruption and “weak governance and oversight”.
The study will also suggest that teaching in the further education sector has improved, but that many college courses still fail to provide their learners with skills that are desired by employers or needed by the economy.