Tag Archives: ofsted

Clegg says no to childcare ratio changes. My question is: why’s it the Government’s job to dictate them?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 6th June 2013 - 9:45 am

Nick Clegg’s statement is categorical — the Coalition is abandoning plans to allow nurseries and childminders in England to look after more children. Revealed in January by Conservative children’s minister Liz Truss, the idea that the ratio for under 2s, for example, could increase from 1:4 to 1:6 was always going to be controversial. Here’s Nick:

“One of my absolute top priorities in government is to deliver better quality, more affordable childcare for parents up and down the country. I will relentlessly champion and pursue policies that deliver that –

…

Posted in News | Also tagged childcare, children, liz truss, nick clegg and nursery premium | 29 Comments

How Ofsted outperforms the Department for Education in the email stakes

By Mark Pack | Wed 20th February 2013 - 5:55 pm

Yesterday I blogged about how only a third of emailed newsletters and circulars sent out by the Department for Education to schools and teachers are read by the recipients.

I also mentioned that you could choose who to blame for the low readership rate:

Who is to blame for this? If nothing else I suspect these figures are a good test of your political instincts: are you already thinking the blame lies with Michael Gove and the Department for Education for not making their messages more compelling or with the teachers who aren’t reading them in greater numbers?

One way of helping …

Posted in News | Also tagged education, michael gove and schools | 8 Comments

The pupil premium isn’t a quick-fix solution, it’s a long-haul policy

By Stephen Tall | Thu 20th September 2012 - 9:00 am

The pupil premium — additional cash targeted at the most disadvantaged children — is the policy of which Nick Clegg is proudest and with which he is most closely associated. The policy itself dates back to Julian le Grand in the 1980s (when it was touted as a progressive version of school vouchers) but it was Nick who put it firmly in the political mainstream as long ago as 2002 in a pamphlet he co-wrote based on experiences of it working within continental Europe.

Though the Tories nominally signed-up to the concept of a pupil premium in their 2010 …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged featured, julian le grand, nick clegg, pupil mpremium, schools and sutton trust | 7 Comments

Opinion: A serious blow to Gove’s Red Guard – How will the Lib Dems respond?

By Rebecca Hanson | Fri 23rd March 2012 - 12:36 pm

Michael Gove’s and Sir Michael Wilshaw’s plans to use Ofsted to drive up standards in schools have been much vaunted in the press recently.

Hit squads of inspectors started arriving in schools in January to force the ‘satisfactory’ schools into special measures and to force schools to rapidly rid themselves of their ‘satisfactory’ teachers. The fact that ‘satisfactory’ is a categorisation used for all qualities of service about which there is no cause for concern and which often includes highly regarded practices which don’t tick the boxes Ofsted has defined for higher classifications (especially in teaching) does not concern them.

But it is …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged education and schools | 44 Comments

Opinion: Ever greater centralisation is not the answer for failing schools

By Chris White | Sun 1st January 2012 - 9:50 am

“Troubleshooters are needed to spot failing academy schools around the country and sack incompetent headteachers, the new chief education inspector has said.” So reported the Daily Telegraph on 28 December. The article continued:

Sir Michael Wilshaw said ministers must set up regional early warning systems because by the time his Ofsted inspectors discover an institution is in trouble, it is too late.

As more and more secondary schools gain independence from town halls and become academies, it will also be difficult for the Department of Education to focus on improving individual schools.

Sir Michael said that to maintain standards, dozens of local commissioners

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Posted in Local government and Op-eds | Also tagged education and Michael Wilshaw | 13 Comments

Opinion: “The Importance of Teaching” White Paper – putting Lib Dem policy into action?

By James Kempton | Wed 24th November 2010 - 3:08 pm

After a year’s work in the run up to the General Election co-writing the Liberal Democrats’ Equity and Excellence education policy paper with other members of the 5-19 Education Policy Working Group, I opened the Coalition Government’s first education White Paper with understandable trepidation.

Nothing can be more important than giving every child a fair start in life, but the education system inherited from Labour offered some young people pretty much the best education system anywhere in the world, while leaving others ill-equipped, under-funded, and lacking the skills needed to get on in life.

The White Paper launched by the government today, called The Importance of Teaching takes as its starting point the unflattering international comparisons of the performance and skills of our pupils. Its critique of where and why the school system is underperforming is one that will be very familiar to most Liberal Democrats. It is a vision for a system based on excellence, underpinned by freedom and fairness: an education system which challenges low aspiration and achievement and where school-level innovation and diversity are seen as strengths to be welcomed.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged education, local government association, pupil premium and sats | 29 Comments

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Tag Archives: ofsted

Clegg says no to childcare ratio changes. My question is: why’s it the Government’s job to dictate them?

How Ofsted outperforms the Department for Education in the email stakes

The pupil premium isn’t a quick-fix solution, it’s a long-haul policy

Opinion: A serious blow to Gove’s Red Guard – How will the Lib Dems respond?

Opinion: Ever greater centralisation is not the answer for failing schools

Opinion: “The Importance of Teaching” White Paper – putting Lib Dem policy into action?

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Nick: "Jobs are right at the heart of the Lib Dems’ agenda"

"Lib Dems set to name 7 new peers for House of Lords"

EU in/out referendum bill - will Lib Dem MPs abstain?

The Morrissey Report: "No excuses" says Caron Lindsay

Tag Archives: ofsted

Clegg says no to childcare ratio changes. My question is: why’s it the Government’s job to dictate them?

How Ofsted outperforms the Department for Education in the email stakes

The pupil premium isn’t a quick-fix solution, it’s a long-haul policy

Opinion: A serious blow to Gove’s Red Guard – How will the Lib Dems respond?

Opinion: Ever greater centralisation is not the answer for failing schools

Opinion: “The Importance of Teaching” White Paper – putting Lib Dem policy into action?

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