Buckinghamshire County Council Improving Schools Programme Spring Term 2012 Network Meeting Using the New Ofsted Framework as a Tool for School Improvement.

Buckinghamshire County Council

Improving Schools Programme

Spring Term 2012 Network Meeting

Using the New Ofsted Framework as a Tool for School Improvement

Cathy Tracy and Sarah Leonard


Outline of the morning

• We will be exploring:– The new Ofsted framework– The implications of planned changes to inspections– How to make best use of the Ofsted framework to

secure focused and effective school improvement planning

– Recent school experiences of inspection


The new Ofsted framework

• The new Ofsted framework became operational in January 2012

• Buckinghamshire School Improvement Service is in the midst of providing extensive training on the framework which many of you will have already accessed or will be planning to do so

• Therefore, the focus of today is to provide the opportunity to use the expertise in the room and to give you more time to look at how your school improvement plan – the RAP – can be shaped to respond to the framework and the demands outlined within.


Changes from Ofsted• A new Ofsted framework from January 2012• The following proposals:

– Schools cannot be judged ‘outstanding’ unless teaching is also deemed ‘outstanding’

– A single judgement of ‘requires improvement’ will replace the current ‘satisfactory’ judgement and ‘notice to improve’ categories

– Schools will only be deemed to be providing an acceptable standard of education where they are judged to be ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’

– Schools judged as ‘requires improvement’ will be subject to a full re-inspection earlier than is currently the case


Changes from Ofsted

• The following proposals:– A school can only be judged as ‘requires

improvement’ on two consecutive inspections before it is deemed to require ‘special measures’

– Inspections will be undertaken without notice being provided to the school

– Inspectors should undertake an analysis of an anonymised summary – provided by the school – of the outcomes of the most recent performance management of all teachers within the school as part of the evidence for a judgement on leadership and management.


A review of judging overall effectiveness

• Using the summary evidence you have been given, identify how the grid would be completed for each school. Which judgement would be given for ‘overall effectiveness’?


Judging overall effectivenessOVERALL EFFECTIV

ENESS

Achievement

Teaching Behaviour

Leadership

SMSC Climate for

learning

Next steps in educatio

n

G1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2

G2 2 2 2 2 2 2/3 2

G3 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2 3/2

G4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4


Changes from Ofsted

• “We need clear and demanding criteria for a school to be judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’. A good school should have at least good teaching and an outstanding school should have outstanding teaching. Good and outstanding leadership of teaching and learning drives improvement and knows that the culture of the school and the progress of the pupils depend on it.”

HMCI February 2012

• Therefore, in order to secure a ‘good’ overall– teaching and learning must be good – leadership and management must be good


And the broader context...

• “The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.”

• “The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction.”

• “High performance requires every child to succeed.”Barber and Mourshed (2007) How the World’s Best Performing School Systems Come Out on Top


The impact of high quality teaching...

• Studies that take into account all the available evidence on teacher effectiveness suggest that students placed with high-performing teachers will progress three times as fast as those placed with low performing teachers.Barber & Mourshed (2007) How the World’s Best Performing School Systems Come Out on Top

• At the primary level, students placed with low-performing teachers for several years in a row suffer an educational loss which is largely irreversible.Barber & Mourshed (2007) How the World’s Best Performing School Systems Come Out on Top

• The performance gap between students assigned three effective teachers in a row, and those assigned three ineffective teachers, was 49 percentile points.

Haycock (2008) – Achievement in America. Can we Close the Gaps?


...cannot be overestimated

• In some educational systems, by age seven, children who score in the top 20 percent on tests of numeracy and literacy are already twice as likely to complete a university degree.

• In England, students failing by 11 have only a 25% chance of meeting expected standards by 14.

• Failure to reach the appropriate standard by 14 reduces the chances of achieving an expected minimum set of school-leaving qualifications to just six percent.


Teaching and learning – a closer look

• The statements you are being given are all taken from the ‘good’ grade descriptor in the new Ofsted framework for teaching and learning.– Review each statement with your school team and

consider which of these you feel currently applies and which require development.

– Compare your responses with those on your table. Are there particular aspects which are harder or easier to secure?

– Feedback to the group



• Consider your palette of monitoring and evaluating tools. – Which will be most effective in allowing you to make

an accurate judgement about the degree to which each of these statements is in place?

– Review with those on your table and consider who will do the monitoring and evaluating and what might be undertaken. Try to identify the single most powerful strategy and, acknowledging that pupil progress data trumps all, avoid listing this one!


Triangulating judgements about teaching and learning

Judging the quality of a

teacher over time

Pupil progress and attainment

data

Lesson observations – consider the balance of

judgements and developmental conversations

Diagnostic learning walks

Work and planning scrutiny

Professional discussion and

attitudesPupil voice

Judging the quality of teaching and learning over time



• Now consider professional development within the school. – Using the smaller number of statements you have on

your tables, consider how you would generate a programme of professional development to secure each one.

– This information will be shared with the group and distributed as an instantly accessible ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ action plan on the ISP website.


The new Ofsted framework for school improvement• Having reviewed these aspects of the framework in

depth, now consider your own RAP for the remainder of this term or the summer term.

• What will the teaching and learning section include in relation to the statements from the framework?

• Stick to tried and tested ISP principles:– identify the smallest thing that will make the biggest

different– do one or two things well – and embed them for long

term school improvement– consider the balance between actions for individuals

and actions for the whole staff


Coffee


Judging the quality of leadership and management• When evaluating the quality of leadership and

management at all levels, including, where relevant, governance, inspectors must consider whether the school’s leadership:– demonstrates an ambitious vision for the school and

high expectations for what every pupil and teacher can achieve, and sets high standards for quality and performance.


Judging the quality of leadership and management• improves teaching and learning, including the

management of pupils’ behaviour • provides a broad and balanced curriculum that: meets

the needs of all pupils; enables all pupils to achieve their full educational potential and make progress in their learning; and promotes their good behaviour and safety and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development

• evaluates the school’s strengths and weaknesses and uses their findings to promote improvement

• improves the school and develops its capacity for sustaining improvement by developing leadership capacity and high professional standards among all staff


Transformational and instructional leadership

Transformational Leadership

Instructional Leadership

Moral Leadership

Harris et al. (2003) - Effective Leadership for School Improvement


What is transformational leadership?

• Setting directions – vision building, goal consensus and the development of high performance expectations

• Culture building in which people are motivated by moral imperatives

• Building relationships with the whole school community• Setting school culture


What is instructional leadership?

• The model of leadership which places an emphasis on the development of others and invests in capacity building.

• It develops intellectual and professional capacity for teachers which influences the social and academic capital of pupils.


The power of instructional leadership

• 0.00

• 0.05

• 0.10

• 0.15

• 0.20

• 0.25

• 0.30

• 0.35

• 0.40

• 0.45

• Mean Effect• Size estimate

• Transformational• Leadership

• Instructional• Leadership

• Leadership Types


Five dimensions of instructional leadership


The impact of instructional leadership

• Meeting more ambitious standards requires more expertise

Robinson et al. (2009) – Knowledge and Instructional Leadership

• The teachers recognised effective headteachers as those who communicated their personal vision and belief systems by direction, words and deeds. Effective headteachers modelled learning behaviour and were prepared to ‘roll up their sleeves’ to demonstrate teaching and learning. This behaviour built respect and trust because staff believed that the headteachers were developing their potential.

Harris et al. (2003) – Teachers’ Perceptions on Effective School Leadership


The impact of instructional leadership

• In the most effective school systems, headteachers were recognised as drivers of reform and excellent instructors who spent most of their time coaching teachers.

• ‘Technical excellence’ is still something required of effective leaders because it allows them to be instructional: ‘good knowledge of pedagogy and assessment for learning’, which leaders both provide themselves and in which they build capacity in others.

Barber and Mourshed (2007) How the World’s Best Performing School Systems Come Out on Top


The broader context

• “Being a teacher is about helping children to learn. Being a principal is about helping adults to learn.”

Headteacher interview, USA

Barber and Mourshed (2007) How the World’s Best Performing School Systems Come Out on Top

• One crucial aspect, without which the above would not be so effective, is the quality of leadership. The majority of the headteachers spread the credit for success widely. However, in talking to school staff, pupils, parents and, in many cases, governors, there was no denying the pivotal role of the headteacher in creating the ethos of the school and exercising strong pedagogical leadership.

Ofsted - Twenty Outstanding Primary Schools – Excelling Against the Odds


The broader context


Judging the quality of leadership and management• effective strategies for improving teaching, including,

where relevant, the teaching of reading and improving behaviour, including:– seeking out and modelling best practice– monitoring the quality of teaching and learning and

acting on its findings– developing staff through dialogue, coaching, training,

mentoring and support – leading a coherent programme of professional

development– leading curriculum development– training


Judging the quality of leadership and management• ensuring that the curriculum:

– is broad and balanced and meets the needs, aptitudes and interest of pupils so that it promotes high levels of achievement and good behaviour and promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development


Judging the quality of leadership and management – self reflection

• Consider the statements from the Ofsted framework and review your own performance in relation to each. These will not be shared.

• Now consider the same questions in relation to the whole senior leadership team. This might be undertaken post-by-post or by considering the work of the team as a whole. Where would you rate yourselves against these criteria?


Leadership and management – a closer look

• Undertake a similar exercise with your senior leadership team. This could be completed independently with someone reviewing the findings, or completed together in discussion.

• Home in on one or two key statements and develop through the RAP

• Focus on one or two key statements and set aside time for discussion as a standing item at leadership meetings

• Try playing ‘Mr. and Mrs.’ with the statements• Use as a 360O survey of performance


The new Ofsted framework for school improvement• Having reviewed these aspects of the framework in

depth, now consider your own RAP for the remainder of this term or the summer term.

• What will the Leadership and Management section include in relation to the statements from the framework?

• Stick to tried and tested ISP principles:– identify the smallest thing that will make the biggest

different– do one or two things well – and embed them for long

term school improvement– consider the balance between actions for individuals

and actions for the whole staff


Recent inspection experiences


Dates for future meetings:

• Thursday 14th June, 2012» 9.15am – 12.30pm TLC

Buckinghamshire County Council Improving Schools Programme Spring Term 2012 Network Meeting Using the New Ofsted Framework as a Tool for School Improvement.

Documents

outstanding school

good school

school improvement cathy

ofsteda new ofsted framework

outstanding teaching

good teaching

learning drives improvement

overall effectivenessusing