MORE schools were found to be failing last term, with one in ten judged to be inadequate and nearly 40 per cent no better than satisfactory, according to the Chief Inspector of Schools yesterday.
Maurice Smith, Ofsted’s new head, said that the proportion of schools in England added to the list of those causing concern was higher than average over the past three years.
The numbers rose from 7 per cent on average in the previous school year to 9 per cent last term. Mr Smith emphasised, however, that the increase in failing schools was in part because inspectors had “raised the bar” and the public now had higher expectations.
“The judgment that a school’s overall effectiveness is inadequate is never made lightly,” Mr Smith told head teachers in Manchester. “The performance of schools, and the public’s expectations of them, have risen: it is right that inspection should reflect that.”
After the 2,054 inspections carried out in the past autumn term, 85 schools were put in special measures, the lowest category for failing schools (77 were removed), and 120 were given a “notice to improve”. Eleven per cent were judged to be outstanding.
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As a result, schools in special measures rose to 244 by the end of last month, up from 242 at the end of August.
Mr Smith said that the number of schools made subject to special measures was considerably higher than the 42 failed in the same period in 2004 because far more schools had been inspected under the new “shorter, sharper” regime.
He also outlined plans to reform the inspection system from next September to make it more “proportionate”, focusing work on the worst schools and concentrating resources “where they are most needed and where inspection can have most impact in driving improvement”.