The interim report was published of a study which focused on the critical relationship between school leadership, in particular headteacher leadership, and improved pupil learning outcomes.
Source: Christopher Day et al., The Impact of School Leadership on Pupil Outcomes: Interim Report, Research Report RR018, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Dec
A paper used government administrative data to replicate 'contextual value added' (CVA) and other key performance measures for schools in England, in order to investigate the extent to which league tables provided the information necessary to support parental choice on the basis of school effectiveness. Although CVA did provide a more accurate measure of school performance or effectiveness, school rankings based on CVA were largely meaningless: almost half of English secondary schools were indistinguishable from the national average.
Source: Deborah Wilson and Anete Piebalga, Accurate Performance Measure But Meaningless Ranking Exercise? An analysis of the English school league tables, Working Paper 07/176, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Dec
A report said that there was evidence that the inspection process produced more favourable judgements on schools in affluent areas and with students with above-average attainment on entry. The schools inspectorate needed to develop a more robust inspection system that gave due credit to the challenges faced by school leaders in difficult socio-economic circumstances.
Source: Next Steps: The future of inspection of schools and colleges, Association of School and College Leaders (0116 299 1122)
Links: Report | ASCL press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Dec
A report said that government education reforms introduced between 1992 and 2006 accounted for only one-third of the increase (from 35 to 58 per cent) in the number of pupils gaining 5 or more good (A*-C) grades at GCSE. The specialist schools programme had had very little impact on overall exam results (although specialist schools with a large percentage of pupils from low-income families appeared to have gained the most from the programme). Increased competition between schools had raised GCSE exam results by over 4 percentage points.
Source: Steve Bradley and Jim Taylor, Diversity, Choice and the Quasi-market: An empirical analysis of secondary education policy in England, Lancaster University Management School (01524 594285)
Links: Report | LUMS press release | Lancaster University press release | Nuffield Foundation press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Nov
The Prime Minister said that minimum standards in England's schools would be raised, with all schools needing to have 30 per cent of their pupils achieving 5 good GCSEs by 2012-13 including English and maths. Schools which failed to meet that target could face being taken over by interim management boards, or by other successful schools including independent schools, or being turned into academies. He also announced plans to overhaul the apprenticeship system, to make training more widely available.
Source: Speech by Gordon Brown MP (Prime Minister), 31 October 2007
Links: Text of speech | TDA press release | LGA press release | NASUWT press release | PAT press release | CBI press release | NUS press release | Telegraph report | FT report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Oct
An article examined the problems for value-added analyses of school performance caused by ignoring the fact that many pupils moved school between the time that they took the prior test or examination and the time that they took the outcome test.
Source: Harvey Goldstein, Simon Burgess and Brendon McConnell, 'Modelling the effect of pupil mobility on school differences in educational achievement', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 170 Issue 4
Date: 2007-Oct
An independent public consultation found strong support for the work of primary schools in England, and general agreement about what was right and wrong with recent educational policy: but it also found deep anxiety about the condition of childhood, and the society and world in which children were growing up.
Source: The Primary Review, Community Soundings: The Primary Review regional witness sessions, Faculty of Education/University of Cambridge (01223 767523)
Links: Report | Summary | Primary Review press release | Cambridge University press release | Unicef press release | Citizenship Foundation press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Oct
An article highlighted a greater willingness among new teachers to engage with both the language and the methods of government-led initiatives designed to establish and raise performance standards in teaching and learning.
Source: Anne Storey, 'Cultural shifts in teaching: new workforce, new professionalism?', Curriculum Journal, Volume 18 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Oct
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that 246 schools in England were in special measures at the end of the 2007 summer term, up from 208 at the same time the previous year.
Source: Data on Schools Causing Concern, Summer Term 2007, HMI 20070032, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Oct
The annual report of the education inspectorate said that the general picture for schools was 'encouraging'. Of 6,848 schools inspected in 2006-07, 14 per cent were judged outstanding, up from 11 per cent in the previous year. A further 46 per cent were good and 34 per cent satisfactory. The proportion of all schools judged inadequate fell from 8 per cent to 6 per cent, and the proportion of inadequate secondary schools had fallen from 13 per cent to 10 per cent. But the gap between the outcomes for those pupils with most advantages in life and those with the least was not reducing quickly enough.
Source: The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills 2006/07, HC 1002, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | DCSF press release | TDA press release | NASUWT press release | ATL press release | CPAG press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government announced (in its 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review) revised performance targets for schools in England for the three years from 2007-08 to 2010-11. They included targets for the proportion of children going up by at least two national curriculum levels from their starting points in each key stage; for schools to narrow the attainment gap between the poorest performers (at foundation stage) and the rest; and to narrow the gap in educational achievement between children from low-income/disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers.
Source: Meeting the Aspirations of the British People: 2007 Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review, Cm 7227, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | PSA Delivery Agreement 10: Raise the educational achievement of all children and young people and PSA Delivery Agreement 11: Narrow the gap in educational achievement between children from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558)
Links: Report | Summary | PSA Agreements | Hansard | HMT press releases | BBC report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the work of the education and children's services inspectorate. It noted the Committee's concern about the increased complexity of the enlarged Ofsted's objectives and remit: but it said that there were 'very clear benefits' in having a single inspectorate for children and learners.
Source: Government Responses to (1) the Committee's Fifth Report, 14-19 Diplomas, and (2) Eighth Report, The Future Sustainability of the Higher Education Sector: International aspects; and Government and Ofsted Responses to the Committee's Sixth Report, The Work of Ofsted, Fifth Special Report (Session 2006-07), HC 1033, House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2007-Oct
A report said that productivity in publicly-funded education services was estimated to have increased, on average, by just 0.1 per cent per year between 1996 and 2006, using a new quality measure. The government published a paper providing supporting evidence.
Source: Public Service Productivity: Education, Office for National Statistics (0845 601 3034) | Contribution of Schools to Every Child Matters Outcomes: Evidence to support education productivity measures, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | ONS press release | DCSF supporting evidence | BBC report | Telegraph report | FT report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report on the economic performance of the United Kingdom said there had been recent improvements in standards in the most disadvantaged schools, but that pupils in the middle and lower half of the distribution continued to perform particularly poorly relative to students in countries with the best performing education systems. Overall, socio-economic gaps in the education system remained large – possibly because local authorities and schools were not distributing deprivation funds as intended by the central government, resulting in outcomes which could be seen as inequitable.
Source: Anne-Marie Brook, Petar Vujanovic and Marketta Henriksson, Economic Survey of the United Kingdom 2007, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (+33 1 4524 8200)
Links: Summary | Times report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Sep
A report said that academies continued to make rapid progress in improving results in deprived areas. But the percentage of pupils from deprived backgrounds in academies (or the schools they replaced) had fallen from 42 per cent in 2002 to 36 per cent in 2006.
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Academies Evaluation: 4th Annual Report, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | DCSF press release | Telegraph report | FT report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs expressed concern at the increasing complexity and bureaucracy of the inspectorate for schools and children's services, following a widening of its remit to include local councils, children's homes, and adult learning and fostering agencies.
Source: The Work of Ofsted, Sixth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 165, House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | ATL press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jul
A study found that extended schools led to better exam results, particularly for disadvantaged children. At key stage 4 (age 16), the percentage of pupils in extended schools achieving five or more good (A*-C) passes at GCSE increased by just over 5 per cent between 2005 and 2006, compared to a 2.5 per cent increase in the national average over the same period. (GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education; extended schools provide a range of community services, outside core school hours.)
Source: Colleen Cummings et al., Evaluation of the Full Service Extended Schools Initiative: Final Report, Research Report 852, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | DfES press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jun
A report said that England's schools had improved since 1997: but it was hard to say by how much - because monitoring had been in the hands of government, which had a vested interest in talking of success. It called for a new independent body to monitor the performance of England's school system, both over time and relative to other countries.
Source: Alan Smithers, Blair?s Education: An international perspective, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
A think-tank report said that claims of school improvement under the Labour government were little more than shameless moving of the goal posts. The dramatic and unprecedented rise in all major national test results was a 'sham': improvements had been largely manufactured by lowering test standards, narrowing the school curriculum, and forcing teachers to teach only for the next test.
Source: Anastasia de Waal and Nicholas Cowen, Artificial Achievement: 'Blair's school legacy is a sham', Civitas (020 7401 5470)
Links: Report | Civitas press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jun
An article used data on school exam results for 147 English local education authorities between 1998 and 2003 to test whether performance improvement was influenced positively by the presence of a target. The results were consistent with the view that clear and quantified strategic priorities led to better organizational outcomes.
Source: George Boyne and Alex Chen, 'Performance targets and public service improvement', Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Volume 17 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jun
The government published a report which identified the common features of 20 schools where more than 9 out of 10 pupils made 'excellent' advances between the ages of 7 and 11. These included precise knowledge of how each child was performing, a culture that ensured bright pupils were not bullied and where there was no 'anti-intellectualism', and high expectations by staff.
Source: Making Great Progress: Schools with outstanding rates of progression in key stage 2, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | DfES press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jun
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that there had been a 5 per cent rise in the number of schools in England judged to be 'failing': by the end of the spring term 2007, 256 schools were in 'special measures', compared to 243 schools at the end of 2006.
Source: Data on Schools Causing Concern, Spring Term 2007, HMI 20070019, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | Guardian report | BBC report | FT report
Date: 2007-May
A think-tank report examined what had become of the 656,000 pupils who were aged 7 in 1997 (the first year of the Labour government) and who took their GCSEs in 2006. 7,000 pupils were missing from education in their final year; 30,000 pupils were either missing or not entered for GCSEs; and nearly 60,000 pupils did not obtain any GCSEs, through not turning up to their GCSE exams, not passing any exams, not being entered for GCSE exams, or disappearing off the school roll. (GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education)
Source: Chris Skidmore, Nick Cuff and Charlotte Leslie, Invisible Children, Bow Group (020 7431 6400)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
The government published new guidelines designed to ensure that effective and early action was taken to improve weak and failing schools.
Source: Statutory Guidance on Schools Causing Concern, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Guidance | DfES press release
Date: 2007-May
Three linked reports reviewed the impact of the school inspection system. The first assessed the extent to which schools felt that the new inspections regime (since 2005) had contributed to school improvement. The second provided an overview of the impact of inspections and regulatory activity across education and care settings. The third presented findings from a survey of secondary school pupils. Of around 1,500 schools surveyed, more than three-quarters felt that inspections contributed to school improvement or were likely to did so in the future.
Source: Tami McCrone et al., Impact of Section 5 Inspections: Maintained schools in England, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833) | Review of the Impact of Inspection, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills | Ipsos MORI, Schools Omnibus 2007 (Wave 13), Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | Report (3) | OFSTED press release | ASCL press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-May
Northern Ireland's chief inspector of schools warned that too many young people were leaving school with weak literacy and numeracy skills.
Source: The Chief Inspector?s Report 2004-2006, Education and Training Inspectorate (028 9127 9726)
Links: Report | Summary | BBC report
Date: 2007-Apr
The education inspectorate in Wales outlined the way schools in Wales needed to change to meet learners' needs. Schools would need to co-operate increasingly with other schools, colleges, service providers, training organizations and workplaces.
Source: Transforming Schools: A discussion paper, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales (029 2044 6446)
Links: Discussion paper | HMCIETW press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Mar
A paper said that the impact of the specialist schools programme on GCSE exam results had been seriously overestimated by the government and its agencies. Educational resources could have been used more efficiently and cost-effectively by targeting schools which had a high proportion of pupils from poor families: in practice, a high percentage of the funding had been channelled into schools that were already performing well in terms of their GCSE exam performance. (GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education)
Source: Jim Taylor, The Impact of the Specialist Schools Programme on Exam Results, Working Paper 2007/007, Management School/Lancaster University (01524 594285)
Links: Paper | Lancaster University press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Mar
A report said that the specialist schools programme was having a positive long-term impact on secondary school achievement. Specialist schools and academies performed better than non-specialist schools on both raw results and on a value-added basis.
Source: David Jesson and David Crossley, Educational Outcomes and Value Added by Specialist Schools: 2006 Analysis, Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (020 7802 2300)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Mar
An audit report said that most academies had made good progress in improving exam results, and the programme was on track to deliver good value for money. Performance was rising faster than in other types of schools although results in English and maths were relatively low. Academies had cost more to build than other schools: but most academy buildings were high quality.
Source: The Academies Programme, HC 254 (Session 2006-07), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | DfES press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Regeneration & Renewal report | Children Now report
Date: 2007-Feb
A new book said that raising standards across the whole range of schools required a move from individual school improvement efforts and short-term objectives to a sustainable system-wide response that sought to re-establish a balance between national prescription and schools leading reform.
Source: David Hopkins, Every School a Great School, Open University Press (01280 823388)
Links: Summary
Date: 2007-Feb
A think-tank report said that children were developing a sophisticated understanding of new technologies such as the internet outside formal schooling, gaining creative and entrepreneurial skills: but schools were failing to develop these skills, with many attempting to limit children?s online activity.
Source: Hannah Green and Celia Hannon, Their Space: Education for a digital generation, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Demos press release
Date: 2007-Jan
The education inspectorate in Wales Published its annual report for 205-06. It expressed concern about the low number of pupils leaving schools in Wales with good qualifications in core subjects.
Source: The Annual Report of Her Majesty?s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales 2005-2006, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales (029 2044 6446)
Links: Report | HMCIETW press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Jan
Researchers found that at key stage 2, in both 2004 and 2005, schools in the 'Primary Leadership Programme' (designed to raise standards in English and mathematics) demonstrated greater progress in both English and mathematics than the comparison group of all primary schools not in the programme.
Source: Pauline Wade, Tami McCrone and Peter Rudd, National Evaluation of the Primary Leadership Programme, Research Report 820, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Jan
The education inspectorate said that the number of schools in special measures increased from 208 on 31 August 2006 to 243 on 31 December 2006. It said that it had 'raised the bar' of expected performance for schools, because what was considered good ten years previously was not considered good any longer.
Source: Press release 31 January 2007, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: OFSTED press release | Data | NASUWT press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan
School-level data was published for GCSE and A-level results in England in 2006. The proportion of pupils achieving 5 good (A*-C) GCSE passes increased compared to 2005: but around 500 state secondary schools - more than in 1 in 7 - failed to meet a proposed target of at least a quarter of GCSE pupils gaining 5 good grades in subjects including maths and English.
Source: Press release 11 January 2007, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: DfES press release | GCSE Tables | Post-16 Tables | NASUWT press release | ATL press release | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Jan