1. Peter Mortimore

2. What do we expect of education? Do schools need to improve? Australian reforms English reforms Other system models including Finland & USA Some comparative data A way forward Conclusions.

3. Skills for employment Knowledge Respect A trained mind Empathy and imagination Appreciation Character.

4. No Done a good job up to now - why mess with them? Yes National economies need to improve Too many young people are handicapped by school failure All institutions need to keep improving or they start to decline.

5. Tough action against failing schools Sacking principals & teachers Individual school report cards We should not tolerate underachievement Parents should vote with their feet – move their children out of unsatisfactory schools.

6. Strengths Designed to improve childrens achievement Intended to lessen achievement gap Weaknesses Overly focused on accountability & dominated by testing Possibly imbued by anti-teacher attitudes Insufficiently radical.

7. Ongoing since 1988 Removal of local authority powers Abolition of HMI & creation of OFSTED Changes to Teacher Training National Curriculum New types of schools –Technology, Faith, Specialist and Academies Marketisation of schooling based on League Tables High stakes assessments.

8. Qualifications Competitive entrance Testing as part of learning Testing as part of accountability National monitoring High stakes testing.

9. [Base line testing@ age 5] Key stage SATs@ 7, 11,(14) GCSE@ 16 Intermediate A/S levels@ 17 A levels@ 18 On average each student will take over 100 formal tests or examinations (Bethan Marshall)

10. Teaching to test Turning learners off Unreliability Collusion and even cheating Stressed children/parents Huge costs Lack of reliability Negative effects of league tables on all aspects of schooling.

11. Denmark Interdisciplinarity Flemish Belgium Freedom to experiment Norway Comprehensive 16-19 education Scotland & Wales Increasingly different to English model.

12. Comprehensive system No streaming or setting No inspections or national testing 5 year university based teacher education Trust and esteem.

13. Great aspirations Every child will get a good start… Raise standards to exceed global ones… Methods Encourage debate Sensible use of resources Confront data – Hold schools accountable District Report card – paradox.

14. PISA 2000 - 2006

16. PISA 2006 Readers below or at Level 1

20. Order Country AVERAGE RANK (LOWEST = BEST) 1Netherlands4.2 2Sweden5 3Denmark7.2 4Finland7.5 7Norway8.7 11Germany11.2 14Poland12.3 16France13 20USA18 21UK18.2

21. Quality Equity Within a lifelong learning perspective Max autonomy within clear limits Contestability of curriculum/methods Constant search for improvement.

22. Optimistic, ambitious & fair Teaching seen as a worthwhile profession High quality teacher education Balanced collaboration & competition Constant opportunities for experiment & innovations.

23. Universal preschool education Reading recovery Support for immigrants groups and minorities Second chance opportunities Adopting a general culture of evaluation.

24. Build on strengths of existing system Work with teachers not against them Include the pupils in the planning Evoke a culture of evaluation in all schools Ensure that needs of disadvantaged are addressed Use tests to support learning not for accountability Establish monitoring procedures Reserve powers of intervention Encourage innovation & experiments Avoid league tables.

25. Post script The scope of effective schooling I had nothing but my school; but having my school, I had everything Ernest Barker 1953 And its limits Education cannot compensate for society Basil Bernstein 1970 The challenge for schools & school systems To do all that is possible (and a little bit more) within the context of a societys culture.