Appendix III
List of conclusions and recommendations from the
Sixth Report from the Education and Skills Committee, Session
2002-03,
HC 531.
Inspection and reporting
1. We remain concerned
that the apparent interpretation of the term satisfactory has
shifted and caused confusion and concern among teachers and parents.
It must be understood that satisfactory performance represents
work that is adequate in all respects in the context in which
it takes place.
2. In continuing the
debate on satisfactory teaching care needs to be taken in the
presentation of the arguments on the quality of provision so as
to ensure that the discussion takes place in a constructive, rather
than accusatory, manner. All teachers should be supported to improve
further while those who demonstrate the best practice should be
encouraged to take their skills into the schools in challenging
circumstances, where they may make the most significant contribution
to raising pupil achievement.
Early years inspection
3. While we acknowledge
the legal constraints placed upon HMCI regarding disclosure of
information relating to the investigation of complaints against
child-care providers, we remain concerned that parents who are
denied access to this important information about their child-care
provider, may, for understandable reasons, lose faith in both
their providers and the system of inspection. The handling of
requests for information about complaints, where providers do
not consent to disclosure, will be important in this regard and
we look forward to HMCI's proposals on this issue. If a change
in the law is required it should be brought forward as soon as
possible.
Post-compulsory education
4. We encourage Ofsted
to continue to work with colleagues in the post-compulsory sector
to develop appropriate value-added measures, and we recommend
that such measures should be incorporated into the revised framework.
5. We shall be returning
to the issue of skills education in a forthcoming inquiry and
will therefore take great interest in the operation of the Learning
and Skills Council at national and local levels.
6. The Learning and
Skills Council will have a crucial role in promoting and coordinating
services to meet the needs of all students in post compulsory
education and in bringing to an end the historical focus on the
needs of the most able students. Ofsted's scrutiny of the LSC's
work in this area will be of great importance in evaluating their
progress.
7. The quality of
education for students in some independent specialist colleges
is a matter of grave concern given the extreme vulnerability of
many of the students involved. We urge the Government to act to
strengthen provision in these areas. The Government should also
consider the extent to which the regulatory framework governing
the provision of education in independent specialist colleges
is sufficient to meet the needs of their students.
8. The Government
should take careful note of Ofsted's findings on the operation
of work-based learning in the post compulsory sector when developing
its proposals for work-based learning in compulsory education.
Local education authority inspections
9. We believe that
a comparison of the different methods of intervention in LEAs,
and an assessment of the educational effectiveness of intervention
in general, would be valuable. We recommend that Ofsted include
these exercises in its programme as soon as possible.
Pupil behaviour and attendance
10. If pupils are
not in school, their learning is unlikely to progress. That the
strategies put into place to address this issue have had relatively
little impact on the level of unauthorised absence is a matter
of great concern and we therefore ask the Government to set out
its action plan for improving attendance in future years.
11. We recommend that
the Government clarifies its intentions with regard to the use
of pupil referral units (PRUs). Clear guidance is needed on the
placement of pupils with special needs in PRUs and the appropriate
resources for them.
Ofsted's duties under the Race Relations Amendment
Act 2002
12. We encourage Ofsted
to continue its work to incorporate the positive duty to promote
race equality into the full range of its activities and to ensure
that this intention extends to the practice of each and every
inspector. We will revisit this issue in future sessions with
HMCI.
Ofsted's advisory role
13. While the benefits
of the data collected during inspections are no doubt at the disposal
of the DfES, we encourage HMCI to use the evidence from inspection
and contained in the Ofsted database more widely in the public
domain, to inform emergent thinking, as well as commenting in
more depth on established policies and initiatives.
The work ahead
14. We welcome Ofsted's
future programme of work and look forward to scrutinising it through
our regular meetings with HMCI and other colleagues from the inspectorate,
particularly in light of the expansion of the work of Ofsted.
We will also want to consider the cost effectiveness of the inspection
regime given that the number of schools performing well is increasing
year on year.
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