EBacc target ‘out of our hands’ – feature from Schools Week

Home / Stakeholder News / EBacc target ‘out of our hands’ – feature from Schools Week

EBacc target ‘out of our hands’ – feature from Schools Week

Published: Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019 at 9:45 AM

Ofsted’s decision to check schools are entering enough pupils for the EBacc suggests the inspectorate has a preferred “academic” curriculum and undermines school autonomy, say headteachers.

They also say the proposal is unfair as a shortage of modern foreign language teachers takes a school’s ability to hit the government’s target out of its hands. Ofsted plans to introduce a new “quality of education” judgment that will allow inspectors to focus more on curriculum.

'Ofsted has made great moves to shift us away from accountability measures and place an emphasis on schools making their own decisions'

The draft schools inspection handbook says that “schools taking radically different approaches to the curriculum will be judged fairly”. However, it later says “at the heart of an effective key stage 4 curriculum is a strong academic core: the EBacc”. Inspectors will also check “what schools are doing” to prepare to meet the government’s national target that 90 per cent of pupils sit the EBacc “core” GCSEs by 2025. Those preparations will be taken “into consideration” when evaluating a school’s curriculum.

Ian Widdows, the founder of the National Association of Secondary Moderns, said the plan was “disappointing”. “Ofsted has made great moves to shift us away from accountability measures and place an emphasis on schools making their own decisions. “But this looks like a step backwards from all that. This one-size-fits-all is very blinkered.”

It comes as a survey by Teacher Tapp found that a third of teachers think an inspection isn’t long enough to judge curriculum quality, and that only 4 per cent believe inspectors can judge a curriculum “well”. A study three years ago warned that 3,500 more languages teachers would be needed to meet the EBacc goal, yet the government has repeatedly failed to hit teacher trainee targets. Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is nonsensical to judge schools on factors that are clearly outside their control.” When judging quality of education, inspectors will assess the intent, implementation and impact of a school’s curriculum. They will check “curriculum leadership” shown by heads, including that the curriculum is “planned and sequenced” and equips pupils with “cultural knowledge”.

Inspectors will look at how the curriculum is implemented and consider pupils’ results, their work and their destinations, says the handbook. Two years ago the government scrapped its target for 90 per cent target of pupils to be studying the EBacc by 2020, shifting it to 2025. Last summer only 38 per cent of pupils sat the EBacc.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/ebacc-target-out-of-our-hands-say-heads/

What our members say

Ofsted Inspection Training – "Four days well spent! Supporting the development of our school under the guidance of a skilled trainer with a wealth of experience across the primary range was invaluable."

Primary Subject Networks – "The content in the sessions covers all aspects of high quality practice in Maths and it makes me reflective on my practice in class and how I lead and help develop other teachers."

Primary Subject Networks – "Meeting other subject leaders and sharing, makes me feel better about what we are delivering and that we are on the right track."

Develop your A level Teaching – "It was really nice to be able to talk to other A level German teachers as there aren’t very many and we could share our experiences."

Contingent Talk with Books – "Such a worthwhile project for Early Years, which you can see working right in front of your eyes. Well-planned and organised project, fantastic expert who inspires us all."

Get Hounslow Reading – "The biggest impact has been on our teachers’ enthusiasm for reading/books and their knowledge of high quality texts, finding innovative ways to engage readers through displays, book talk and story time."

Secondary Subject Networks – "There are so many useful takeaways from the meeting to help improve teaching and learning and they are things which can easily be put into place after the meeting."

Get Hounslow Reading – “There can be no doubt of the enthusiasm of Hounslow teachers and impact of their hard work on growing a Reading for Pleasure practice in their schools over this academic year. Many teachers said that the time to talk and share practice was what they valued most highly.” Charlotte Raby – Programme Facilitator

Secondary Subject Networks – “I really enjoy the content and the supportive group of fellow geography leaders discussing ideas in a non-judgmental, relatively informal way. The group certainly helps each other and fundamentally discusses relevant topics which are benefiting me.”

Get Hounslow Reading – "Very informative and helpful. A lovely chance to reflect. Excellent, enthusiastic delivery which would inspire anyone! You are very knowledgeable and sessions are well-organised. Thank you!”

Challenging Behaviour Training – “Great training, thank you for all your expertise and advice. I learnt lots of things about different ways that can affect pupils’ behaviour and how to deal with different situations."

Deep Dive Subject Leader Training – “Thank you for the very detailed and thorough subject leader checklist. It is an extremely useful and much necessary exercise. It's been an eye opener. Thank you”

Develop your A Level Teaching – “A much appreciated forum to apply pedagogy to a subject specific domain, with such rich professional talk after the keynotes in the Economics breakout session.”

Contact us

The success of the Hounslow Education Partnership depends, in part, on good communication so please do get in touch to give us your feedback or about anything else you would like to discuss.

Email: info@hounsloweducationpartnership.co.uk

EBacc target ‘out of our hands’ – feature from Schools Week