Early secondary school teaching a concern
Sir Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted chief, warned that schools need to show Key Stage 3 the ‘priority it deserves’ or they would not see an improvement in GCSE results.
Ofsted’s survey, ‘Key Stage3: the wasted years?’, includes evidence from over 1,900 inspections, interviews with 100 school leaders, 14 school visits, and almost 11,000 questionnaire responses from pupils.
Wilshaw determined that the deployment of staff and resources is regularly skewed towards the upper age ranges, with one in five inspection reports identifying secondary early years education as an area for improvement.
Wilshaw commented: “Today’s report demonstrates that too many secondary schools do not give provision at Key Stage 3 the priority it deserves. Inspectors have found that pupils often leave primary school with good literacy and numeracy skills, confident and eager to learn, but their progress then stalls when they start secondary school.
“The importance of a good start to secondary school education cannot be overstated. School leaders need to have a clear understanding of their pupils’ achievements in primary school and build on them effectively from the day they start secondary school life. Key stage 4 results will not improve until Key Stage 3 is given a greater priority by school leaders.”
Brian Lightman, the Association of School and College Leaders general secretary, said: "Schools have no choice but to focus more of their resources in this direction, while balancing this demand against the need to give 11- to 14-year-olds a good foundation at secondary level."
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