Tag Archives: Ofsted

Progress 8 and the North East

Posted on January 29, 2018 by

Schools in North East England are under attack again. According to Progress 8 scores, its schools are the least effective in the country, with the highest percentage coming ‘below the floor’. But Progress 8 is a flawed and misleading measure. … Continue reading →

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Will anything but a boycott stop the tests?

Posted on July 11, 2017 by

The Reclaiming Schools network has played a significant role in exposing the damage caused by high-stakes testing, including our pamphlet ‘The Mismeasurement of Learning‘, widely circulated in the NUT and elsewhere, various series of blogposts carrying detailed analysis from specialist … Continue reading →

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Tower block tenants – the people who didn’t matter

Posted on July 2, 2017 by

The possibility of a tower block catching fire and burning out within the hour was a nightmare never to be contemplated. And now it has happened. Words cannot describe the experience of Grenfell Tower residents, living and dead, as they … Continue reading →

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Progress 8 another unfair measure

Posted on February 24, 2017 by

In a recent post Progress 8 – another attack on working-class schools  we drew on Education Datalab research to show how this supposedly fair measure is weighted against schools serving poorer communities. This is because young people growing up in poverty … Continue reading →

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Progress 8 – another attack on working-class schools

Posted on January 21, 2017 by

Progress 8 was supposed to be fair. It has become just another way of hammering schools with the most disadvantaged students. Its designers clearly took care to avoid some of the problems with counting 5 A*-Cs, which often led to a concentration … Continue reading →

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Grim up north?

Posted on December 1, 2016 by

In his final report as Ofsted’s chief inspector, Michael Wilshaw chose to launch again into a polemic about the poor quality of schools in the North of England. The data he used needs more serious analysis. In recent months, Wilshaw has … Continue reading →

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Primary arts are in trouble

Posted on October 5, 2016 by

by Professor Pat Thomson, University of Nottingham The national curriculum guidelines affirm the value of cultural education for all children. The arts – including art and design, music, dance, drama and media arts, design and technology – are an integral … Continue reading →

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