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Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. The hon. Gentleman is talking about a court decision. That is nothing to do with the report and it is not a matter on which I would want him to dwell.
Mr. Clappison: Of course I accept your ruling, Mr. Deputy Speaker. All I say is that parents will look to Ministers to keep their promises.
The Minister for School Standards (Ms Estelle Morris): Let me put on the record my appreciation for the work done by my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon, North (Mr. Wicks) and the Committee in producing the report. They took on a challenging task, given the nature of the evidence and the enthusiasm of some of those who attended the meetings. They have come up with a thoughtful report, which looks back but which mostly looks forward, to the way in which we can build on Ofsted's success.
I assure all concerned that the Government will reflect on the report and produce a formal reply in due course, so tonight I will only touch on a few of the points that have been made, especially bearing in mind the remarks of my hon. Friends the Members for Denton and Reddish (Mr. Bennett) and for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody).
This is probably one of those issues on which Government and Opposition Front Benchers will not argue a great deal. That is to some extent a sign of Ofsted's success; it is now part of the education landscape, and our debates are about its future and how to improve it, not about whether it should exist at all. We must remind ourselves that it is not very long since the debate in the education profession outside the House was about whether there was a need for external inspection.
It is good that everybody in the education service now acknowledges that external inspection is right, helps to identify both weaknesses and good practice and gives us a wealth of information on the basis of which we can make judgments and policies; but as there are still a small--and I believe dwindling--minority of people outside the House who do not believe in external
inspection, it is right that we should take every opportunity to reconfirm how important it is in the effort to raise standards.
Mr. Waterson:
Can the Minister imagine a Labour Government ever introducing Ofsted?
Ms Morris:
Of course I can. It is a shame that the hon. Gentleman could not keep his comments in line with the atmosphere that has pervaded this debate. Ofsted is a good news story. The Labour party never voted against it. It behoves us as a Parliament to improve on the good start that has been made and not to back-track into political point scoring.
I welcome and endorse the report's comments about the need for external inspection. I want to put on record my thanks to Chris Woodhead and all the inspectors and staff at Ofsted who got it up and running. We all bring our personal style to our jobs, and heaven forbid that senior jobs should be done without any personal style. Because of the opposition from the profession at the start of the process, it certainly needed somebody with the determination and vision of Chris Woodhead to get Ofsted off the ground and ensure that it stayed on track. It is to his credit and that of his staff that we are able to say today that it is rooted in our education system and plays an essential role in it.
It is interesting to compare my experience of being inspected as a teacher with the experience of the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Mr. Willis). The difference is that the hon. Gentleman entered the House five years later than I did, so he taught under Ofsted. Both my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Devonport (Mr. Jamieson) and I left teaching in 1992 and we discussed the fact that we had never taught in a school that had had a full inspection. I spent 18 years teaching, and my hon. Friend spent 20--he is clearly a great deal older than me. Somebody mentioned 50 years, but I want to make it clear that that does not apply in our case. I welcome the fact that there are now regular inspections.
The need to praise teachers is absolutely crucial. There are many outstanding teachers in this country. I join the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough in paying tribute to what he and I experienced last night at the national teaching awards, which were a celebration of excellence and a long overdue recognition of the contribution that teachers make day in and day out. I congratulate the winners and all those who entered, as well as the National Teaching Awards Trust and the BBC, which has shown its commitment to public broadcasting at the highest level.
We must get the balance of pressure and support right. We all do that in our own ways. We know as politicians that criticism makes headlines and praise often does not. When the chief inspector praises schools, as he does each year in the list of outstanding schools in his annual report, it may make regional headlines but it does not make national headlines. I make a plea to those who have responsibility for reporting education news to give as many column inches to the successes as to the criticisms.
There is a bit in all of us that picks up the criticisms and not the praise. I plead with the teaching profession not to be so defensive and to accept that it, like any profession, will have members who are good and members who are poor. I ask it to rejoice in the success of its good members and to join in criticising the performance of its weak members.
Two groups of people suffer when we have weak teachers: the pupils and the teachers who have to pick up the pieces when they take the children the next year. I hope that the profession will come to value Ofsted because it pinpoints poor practice and allows good practice to be praised.
It is important to remember that Ofsted has not stood still since its start. We almost do not need five-yearly reviews. Some of the changes that we have made to the Ofsted system in the past two years include feedback to teachers on lessons that have been observed. That is now in place. We have introduced a limit on the daily amount of observation to which any individual teacher can be subject. Several hon. Members mentioned the reduced notice period--from five terms to two--and that is now in place. The summary reports, which make key information available to parents, are now in place. Inspection reports on the second round can now comment on the progress made since the report on the first inspections.
Inspection contractors will be named in reports and the details of any areas where they lead will be given. The quality standards for inspections were introduced from September last year. We also have a new complaints procedure that has been strengthened by the appointment of an independent adjudicator. The House will know that the Government have made plans to identify coasting schools, which lurk in the middle of the performance tables and can get too complacent, so that we can determine whether they need to make further improvements. The period of notice for school inspections will be reduced to about six weeks and shorter inspections will be introduced for schools which, on the evidence, are doing well.
We must remember that Ofsted is constantly evolving, as it should. That fact, together with Ofsted's role as a central part of the education service, is much to be welcomed. I again put on record the contribution that Ofsted and the chief inspector make in working with us so that we can improve the system.
The Committee's report contains much that we wish to reflect on and take forward. Almost every hon. Member who has spoken mentioned pupil mobility, which is a challenge to which Parliament and those in the education service outside the classroom have only just turned their minds but which teachers have had to cope with for many years. Some of our schools have year groups with up to 70 per cent. pupil mobility in one year. Many of those mobile pupils bring a range of challenging behaviour--some are refugees or do not have English as their first language. Some are mobile because of family breakdown, and suffer from the insecurity that can bring. It must be
right for an inspection of such schools to recognise those circumstances. We are working with Ofsted so that as we develop the framework we can collect and report information about pupil mobility.
I also listened carefully to the comments that were made about special schools. I shall reflect on those comments, but the key message must be that we expect as much from children in special schools as we do from children in any other school. I do not want to go back to a system in which one looks for good care in special schools, not robust education. In getting the balance right, we might have been harder than some people wanted, but I will bear in mind the points made by many hon. Members that the measurement of progress in special schools sometimes needs finer judgment than measuring progress in mainstream schools.
I am not persuaded of the case for snap inspections. One of the features of an Ofsted inspection is the process of preparation for it. I agree that such preparation should not be manic, but schools should have a feeling of anticipation and a wish to get their ship in order before the inspection. Our survey showed that schools welcomed a notice period of four to six weeks. However, in some instances, such as cases of bullying, we might want to ensure snap inspections, so that misdemeanours or poor practice could not be hidden. I will reflect on that point and ensure that such inspections are possible.
The hon. Member for Croydon, North talked about a professional dialogue. I hope that, as we move into the second round of Ofsted inspections, we will have the opportunity to celebrate schools that have made progress since the first round of inspections. I also hope that we will have an education service--at Ofsted level, at Government, local and national level, and in the classrooms--that can use the inspection service to have the essential professional dialogue that has been needed for so long.
My hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, West (Valerie Davey) was right when she said that the Ofsted inspection identifies weakness. It does not by itself raise standards, but by putting weakness into the public domain it leaves it to the rest of us--policy makers and teachers--to ensure that we use that information to raise standards for children. Ofsted plays a key role in that and I offer my thanks to everybody who enables that organisation to run so smoothly and effectively, and my thanks and congratulations to the Committee and all those who have participated in the debate today.
Question deferred, pursuant to paragraph (4) of Standing Order No. 54 (Consideration of estimates).
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