Friday 26 March 2021

26 March 2021 Edurio publishes report on staff retention in academies

Edurio has published a report on staff retention in academies, based on their 'Staff well-being and working conditions' survey

The main conclusions are

- School leaders should evaluate both working conditions and relationships within their schools, as both areas have a strong link with staff retention

- In order to reduce staff workload, most gains can be found in reducing marking and assessment as well as data input and administrative tasks

- There needs to be a strong focus on building a culture of engagement for staff members, where their feedback is heard and seen to be taken into account

- Multi-academy trust leadership teams need to adapt interventions for the different conditions in each of their schools - a 'one-size-fits-all' solution for all schools in a trust is unlikely to help them retain staff

- Communication emerged as a key concern, with 11% of staff mentioning it as an area for improvement

Friday 19 March 2021

19 March 2021 Full Ofsted inspections not to return until September

The chief inspector of schools has announced that full graded Ofsted inspections will not return until September

Speaking at the Association of School and College Leaders virtual conference, Amanda Spielman said that Ofsted was discussing 'a sensible and proportionate next step before returning to our normal inspection programme in the autumn'

She went on to say that the current Education Inspection Framework is 'quite flexible for the situation we are in now with exams cancelled'  However, she admitted that there would be need for flexibility and transitional arrangements when inspections return



Friday 12 March 2021

12 March 2021 HMCI says that Ofsted recognises the relative strength of schools in poorer areas by rating leadership more highly

Speaking at the Northern Powerhouse Partnership's Education Summit on Wednesday, the chief inspector of schools, Amanda Spielman, says that Ofsted recognises the relative strength of schools in poorer areas by rating leadership more highly

She said that Ofsted has looked at the judgement profiles for schools with various levels of disadvantaged intakes, finding that the overall effectiveness judgements are on average lower for the most disadvantaged schools

But she went on to say that, compared with more advantaged schools, disadvantaged schools are quite a lot more likely to have Ofsted rate their leadership and management more highly than overall effectiveness - that shows how their relative strength is recognised in more difficult circumstances

The chief inspector warned that there is a 'deep and difficult tension between judging schools in terms of the experience children get and how well schools are doing with the hand they've been dealt'

She believes that whilst parents are interested in overall judgements, decisions about school interventions should be based on schools' relative performance which is reflected in the leadership and management judgement



Friday 5 March 2021

5 March 2021 Education secretary says that the government is 'looking at' how to get more schools into MATs

The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has said that the government would like to see 'far more schools' in multi-academy trusts by 2025 and is actively looking at 'how we can make that happen'

He told the Foundation for Education Development summit on 1 March that partnerships between schools were fundamental, especially in the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic

The government has previously used growth funding (such as the Trust Capacity Fund) to encourage more academies to be part of larger trusts

Mr Williamson told the summit that schools 'benefit from being in a strong family.  In other words, a multi-academy trust'