Examination of Witnesses (Questions 40-47)
MR DAVID
MOORE, MS
MICHELE ELLIOT
AND MR
DENYS ROBINSON
10 MAY 2006
Q40 Chairman: David, everything you
have said is absolutely sweet reason, but why is not Ofsted doing
more about it? You recognise the problem. It is not reported.
You do not seem to have encouraged more than 6% of schools to
keep a register, so we do not really know the stats. Surely Ofsted
should be much more active in this than you have been?
Mr Moore: I think that Ofsted
is very active in it, but we do not make policy; we merely report
back to the Department.
Q41 Chairman: Come, on David! You
go into schools; part of your job is to assess the overall culture
and effectiveness of the education in that school. If loads of
kids are not learning because they are being bullied, or even
because they are bullying, surely that is an Ofsted responsibility?
Everything you have said has been first-class. I have to say that
I have been very impressed by what you have said, but it does
not seem to reflect what Ofsted is doing on the ground.
Mr Moore: I think it is what Ofsted
is doing on the ground.
Q42 Chairman: Why is it only 6% of
schools? You go in; the school does not have a policy on bullying;
schools do not have a proper system of reporting. Why are only
6% doing it, if Ofsted is doing its job?
Mr Moore: They are figures that
are given that people say have been said. It is not hard evidence.
Chairman: It leaves me with a feeling
that Ofsted could do a lot better. Wind up, Stephen.
Q43 Stephen Williams: I will wind
up briefly. What single thing could the DfES do to improve this
situation—from each of the three of you? Is it to do with
collecting statistics? Is it a particular policy a school needs
to have in place, or what?
Mr Moore: The one thing they could
do would need the support of people like yourselves: that headteachers
have to ensure that there is proper training for their teachers,
and not just leave it all the time to initial teacher training
to try and resolve that problem, in the short space of time they
have. It is an ongoing issue and it has to be regular, updated
training of people.
Ms Elliot: I think the one thing
that schools could do would be to ensure that, say, every pupil
had something—and this is actually done by one of your MPs,
Dan Norris—
Q44 Chairman: A very good MP, if
I may say so.
Ms Elliot: Yes, and I agree.
Q45 Chairman: Universally admired!
Ms Elliot: He is going to absolutely
love that!
Q46 Chairman: He is sitting behind
you.
Ms Elliot: Is he? No, he is not!
This is just an example. It was done in his constituency, locally.
Argos is now going to pay for this to go across the entire country.
That is good practice. The same with this, which is a DVD that
we developed. It is now going to every secondary school in the
country, to give them exactly what they can do. Not a method.
Here is a smorgasbord of things that work. Kidscape, which is
tiny, had to go out and find the money to send this out. I have
only 10 members of staff. It would have been very nice for the
DfES to send this out free to every school, and to every primary
school. We have just raised the money to do a DVD for primary
schools. So the reality is practical things. Let us do things
that actually get to the children, so that we do not keep getting
the calls from these distressed parents, saying, "My kid
has attempted suicide, aged nine, because they're being bullied".
Mr Robinson: High-quality in-service
training, paid for from the top, either by the DfES itself or
by the local education authority. There is really no substitute.
Q47 Chairman: Thank you very much.
That was an excellent session. We learnt a lot. I am sorry if
I was being bit hard on you there, David.
Mr Moore: That is all right. I
am used to it.
Chairman: We have to be hard on Ofsted.
Again, thank you very much. We have learnt a lot, and we are now
going to talk to some heads about bullying.
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