Archdiocese of Westminster Headteachers' Conference Christine Gilbert, HMCI 15 July 2008

Inspecting community cohesion Raising standards, improving lives ‘When you understand someone else’s culture, you’re more likely to respect them.’ - Lower 6th form pupil quoted in ‘Diversity & Citizenship Curriculum Review’ (Ajegbo, Kiwan & Sharma 2007)

Inspecting community cohesion Raising standards, improving lives The duty on schools is to promote community cohesion (from September 2007) The duty must be linked to the leadership of the school, as it is on the governing body This duty is linked to the effectiveness of the school’s provision – what it is doing about it The duty to inspect schools’ contribution to community cohesion starts from September 2008 The school should not be judged according to the local community, but according to what it is contributing

What is community cohesion? Raising standards, improving lives Diversity appreciated and valued Common values Sense of belonging Strong and positive relationships Equal life opportunities Knowing rights and responsibilities Trusting each other and local institutions Shared vision for community Shared access to English Many definitions are being produced……

Inspecting Community Cohesion – all dimensions The different social dimensions of community Ethnicity and culture Religious and non-religious Socio-economic Engagement & Ethos Equality & Excellence The Global Community Teaching, Learning & Curriculum UK Community Community in which school is located The school’s contribution can be grouped under these headings. School Community The different scales or geographical dimensions of “community”

Inspecting community cohesion Raising standards, improving lives Inspection can be built around three key questions: What does the school know about the communities it serves? How has it used that knowledge to promote community cohesion and serve the needs of its users? How does it know whether its strategy is successful?

Inspecting community cohesion Raising standards, improving lives Typically, inspectors may look at data from the SEF, RAISEonline (+ other) to identify issues about e.g. ethnicity, deprivation, attendance of groups, other indicators Engage with school leaders about their understanding, strategies and evaluation of impact

Inspecting community cohesion Raising standards, improving lives Typically, inspectors may: examine evidence on curriculum - e.g. work on ‘citizenship strand 4’ – teaching and learning - e.g. strengths/weaknesses – skills/confidence in teaching ‘difficult/uncomfortable topics’ – ideally by observation. examine evidence on equity and excellence – e.g. initiatives to promote achievement of groups and supporting data; participation rates; attendance at parents meetings (& who is/is not represented); governing body (likewise) observe learners/staff working, playing, socialising – ethos and engagement – analysis of racist incidents; makeup of exclusions. Does reality match with school’s perception? critical: talk with learners – attitudes, behaviour, meaningful interaction

Inspecting community cohesion: in summary Raising standards, improving lives Leaders understand the duty Sound knowledge of school and local community needs Relevant strategy to meet needs School promotes understanding and meaningful interaction Accurate understanding of impact of its work and how it might improve All groups are integrated into life of school/community Learners demonstrate understanding, appreciation and trust

Inspecting community cohesion – preparation Raising standards, improving lives draft guidance developed and tested over last 3 terms trials last summer – inconclusive wide consultation and engagement further trials this spring – range of schools – 64 schools –more conclusive and very useful training this term for HMI and AIs monitoring schedule for autumn 2008 / spring 2009

Inspecting community cohesion: spring term 2008 trials Raising standards, improving lives tested further the draft guidance, inc. grade criteria involved HMI/AI gained feedback from inspectors on grades, use of guidance and manageability gained feedback from headteachers on schools’ understanding, the process and its manageability identified clear areas of strength and where improvements in process and practice are needed, inc. manageability

Spring trials: evaluation carried out through 5 key questions Raising standards, improving lives Were the trial community cohesion judgements secure and well-substantiated by sufficient, robust evidence capable of withstanding challenge? Was the draft inspection guidance material helpful in coming to a sound judgement? Was it possible to make the judgement alongside all other inspection judgements? Was it possible to draw appropriately on the views of pupils in making the judgement? Do our planned arrangements enable inspectors to accurately and fairly judge how well schools contribute to community cohesion?

Inspecting community cohesion: the trials Raising standards, improving lives Trials were successful Judgements “made sense” Most CC judgements robust and well founded The issues raised by some inspectors and schools warrant action…

Inspecting community cohesion: follow-up to the trials Raising standards, improving lives Amend SEF to have a discrete section on community cohesion (questions matching the inspection guidance) Extra planning time for RTI Inspection guidance amended to: emphasise need for canvassing learners’ views highlight importance of schools’ identification of needs Keep under review – monitor next year

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives All schools will have been inspected under section 5 by August 2009 and we are developing new arrangements A formal three month consultation period on the proposals for new arrangements ends on 11 August

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives Inspections will be proportionate to risk and focused on improvement The health check A stronger focus on well being. ECM indicators – these are contentious: The Children’s Plan, published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), sets out the intention to ‘develop strong school level indicators that taken together measure a school’s contribution to pupil well-being’ and to ‘ask Ofsted to reflect these indicators in designing the cycle of inspection starting in 2009’. Ofsted is considering how to approach these but has made no firm decision.

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives An increased focus on the achievement of different groups of children and young people, teaching and learning and the capacity to improve Capacity: we will monitor where capacity is no better than satisfactory. Self-evaluation is important; a school that doesn’t know its strengths and weaknesses is unlikely to be able to put in place well targeted plans, which lead to improvement. Inspectors will look closely at the targets the school is setting itself and its pupils and ask whether they are sufficiently challenging, whether they are realistic, and whether the resources being allocated to them are likely to lead to their achievement. Grade descriptors: We will retain the 4 point scale and intend to clarify the grade descriptors for each grade. We will define clearly what criteria constitute each grade threshold. We will introduce absolute performance indicators which define inadequate and which all schools will have to achieve to be judged satisfactory. The report: will contain recommendations setting out what actions the school needs to take to improve. So for example, where a school is satisfactory the recommendations will concentrate on what the school must do to become good. Of particular importance will be the clarity of recommendations; they must leave schools in no doubt about what needs to be done.

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives Clarity about grade criteria and the introduction of grade thresholds The 2006 Act that set up the new Ofsted also set out the purposes of the new organisation. One of the three key purposes of Ofsted is to take account of the views of users. The new arrangements will place parents’, pupils’ and staff views at the heart of the process. This is particularly important if inspection is to become a six year event in the better schools. Users’ views: We intend to gather users’ views, nationally through a survey and locally in collaboration with local authorities. This information will be benchmarked and shared with local authorities and schools and reported in ‘health checks’ and inspection reports. Surveys will also provide important indicators of parents’ and pupils’ perceptions of schools’ contributions to ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes, such as whether children feel safe or how well the health of children and young people is promoted. Ofsted will be discussing these options with the DCSF over the coming months. In addition, more attention will be given to the ways in which schools engage with parents, pupils and the community, gathered their views and take action on them. These arrangements will supplement the parental questionnaire currently used in school inspection. Ofsted is currently benchmarking the responses to these questionnaires in order to compare the views of parents in one school with those of another.

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives The involvement of the senior management team in the process Partnerships: There are a number of partnerships which have an impact directly on the outcomes children and young people achieve in the school where they are registered. We are keen to ensure that these are drawn into the accountability framework. A number of measures will be put in place to do this. The first will be to strengthen the school self evaluation form, by grouping the questions on partnership into a single section and asking about the school’s engagement in and/or contribution to wider partnership working in the following: school improvement 14-19 implementation those pupils at risk of exclusion or excluded extended services. Schools working in partnership will be asked to demonstrate how well they understand the experience the learner is getting across the partnership, and how working in partnership results in high quality teaching, better learning and more effective outcomes for the learner. Where a school has a close partnership with another institution, we will ensure that wherever possible the inspection of members of the partnership is conducted at the same time. Inspecting a specific focus: An inspection may have a particular focus; this could be specific to a locality, for example, where a Comprehensive Area Assessment identifies a weakness within an area, such as provision for looked after children. We trialled this in the regions last term and the evaluation of this work will help us to develop the methodology.

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives Testing the views of parents annually Capturing the views of children and young people Capturing the views of school staff Partnerships: There are a number of partnerships which have an impact directly on the outcomes children and young people achieve in the school where they are registered. We are keen to ensure that these are drawn into the accountability framework. A number of measures will be put in place to do this. The first will be to strengthen the school self evaluation form, by grouping the questions on partnership into a single section and asking about the school’s engagement in and/or contribution to wider partnership working in the following: school improvement 14-19 implementation those pupils at risk of exclusion or excluded extended services. Schools working in partnership will be asked to demonstrate how well they understand the experience the learner is getting across the partnership, and how working in partnership results in high quality teaching, better learning and more effective outcomes for the learner. Where a school has a close partnership with another institution, we will ensure that wherever possible the inspection of members of the partnership is conducted at the same time. Inspecting a specific focus: An inspection may have a particular focus; this could be specific to a locality, for example, where a Comprehensive Area Assessment identifies a weakness within an area, such as provision for looked after children. We trialled this in the regions last term and the evaluation of this work will help us to develop the methodology.

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives Defining accountability through inspection - co-ordinated inspections of federations and partnerships Partnerships: There are a number of partnerships which have an impact directly on the outcomes children and young people achieve in the school where they are registered. We are keen to ensure that these are drawn into the accountability framework. A number of measures will be put in place to do this. The first will be to strengthen the school self evaluation form, by grouping the questions on partnership into a single section and asking about the school’s engagement in and/or contribution to wider partnership working in the following: school improvement 14-19 implementation those pupils at risk of exclusion or excluded extended services. Schools working in partnership will be asked to demonstrate how well they understand the experience the learner is getting across the partnership, and how working in partnership results in high quality teaching, better learning and more effective outcomes for the learner. Where a school has a close partnership with another institution, we will ensure that wherever possible the inspection of members of the partnership is conducted at the same time. Inspecting a specific focus: An inspection may have a particular focus; this could be specific to a locality, for example, where a Comprehensive Area Assessment identifies a weakness within an area, such as provision for looked after children. We trialled this in the regions last term and the evaluation of this work will help us to develop the methodology.

Changes to school inspection Raising standards, improving lives No notice inspection Partnerships: There are a number of partnerships which have an impact directly on the outcomes children and young people achieve in the school where they are registered. We are keen to ensure that these are drawn into the accountability framework. A number of measures will be put in place to do this. The first will be to strengthen the school self evaluation form, by grouping the questions on partnership into a single section and asking about the school’s engagement in and/or contribution to wider partnership working in the following: school improvement 14-19 implementation those pupils at risk of exclusion or excluded extended services. Schools working in partnership will be asked to demonstrate how well they understand the experience the learner is getting across the partnership, and how working in partnership results in high quality teaching, better learning and more effective outcomes for the learner. Where a school has a close partnership with another institution, we will ensure that wherever possible the inspection of members of the partnership is conducted at the same time. Inspecting a specific focus: An inspection may have a particular focus; this could be specific to a locality, for example, where a Comprehensive Area Assessment identifies a weakness within an area, such as provision for looked after children. We trialled this in the regions last term and the evaluation of this work will help us to develop the methodology.