A third of northern schools below standards, warns Ofsted

Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has called for more attention to be paid to areas where too many schools are ‘languishing in mediocrity’. In particular the chief inspector outlined specific schools in northern areas which have ‘failed miserably year after year after year’.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan agreed more action was needed to ‘tackle pockets of underperformance’.

In addition to a north-south divide in school standards, in its annual report, Ofsted noted: an improvement in primary schools, but with weaker secondaries, teacher shortages affecting many schools, a need for better leadership in underperforming schools, free school standards ‘broadly in line’ with other schools, early education as ‘never stronger’ and a decline in prison education.

Wilshaw named 16 local authorities where less than 60 per cent of children attend good or outstanding schools and have below average ‘attainment and progress’ at GCSE with 13 in the North and Midlands.

Named local authorities include, Barnsley, Blackpool, Bradford, Derbyshire, Doncaster, Hartlepool, Knowsley, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Oldham, Salford, St Helens, Stoke on Trent, Isle of Wight, Swindon and South Gloucestershire.

Furthermore, the problems with the quality of schools in Bradford were so poor that Wilshaw has called for a commission of inquiry and a separate commissioner for education. Wilshaw voiced concerns that poor quality education could result in the alienation of young people, adding the ‘dangers of being alienated from British society are very great indeed’.

Wilshaw said: “This gap is a worrying one. We don't want to see a divided country after the age of 11. We've seen a significant difference in the quality of teaching between the South and the Midlands and the North, a significant difference in terms of the quality of leadership, and we need to worry about this as a nation.

"The mediocrity in secondary performance should be a national concern - and the mediocrity is residing mainly, but not exclusively, in the Midlands and north of England. If the 'northern powerhouse' is going to mean something, then we've got to improve educational performance in our secondary schools north of the Wash."

Roy Perry, chairman of the children and young people board at the Local Government Association, said ranking councils by school results ‘disguises the fact that over 60 per cent of secondary schools are now academies, leaving councils powerless to intervene early and build an improvement programme’.

He said: ”It is extremely worrying that over the last three years only 37 per cent of secondary schools have actually improved their Ofsted rating after becoming academies."

Nicky Morgan said: "More needs to be done to deliver educational excellence everywhere. That's why we are introducing new measures to transform failing and coasting schools, funding the best academy chains to share excellence in struggling regions in the North and creating a National Teaching Service - sending some of our best teachers to the areas that need them most."

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