Manchester and Liverpool school performance declining, Ofsted warns

Michael Wilshaw, Ofsted’s chief inspector, has voiced concerns about the declining secondary school performance and pupil attainment in Liverpool, Manchester and surrounding areas.

In a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Wilshaw cautioned that the Northern Powerhouse would ’splutter and die’ if young people in the regions were unable to obtain the appropriate skills to sustain it. He cited that three in 10 schools in Manchester and four in 10 in Liverpool had been ranked by Ofsted as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’.

According to official figures, the proportion of pupils in Manchester achieving 5 GCSEs grade A*-C, including English and mathematics, had decreased from 51 per cent in 2014 to 47 per cent. The percentage in Liverpool has also fallen from 50 per cent to 48 per cent.

Commenting on the government’s vision of a Northern Powerhouse, Wilshaw said: “Manchester and Liverpool are at the core of our ambitions for a Northern Powerhouse. They are the engines that could transform the prospects of the entire region. But as far as secondary education is concerned they are not firing on all cylinders. In fact they seem to be going into reverse.

“I am calling on local politicians, be they mayors, council leaders or cabinet members, to stand up and be counted, to shoulder responsibility for their local schools, to challenge and support them regardless of whether they are academies or not. I’m calling on them to be visible, high-profile figures that people can recognise as education champions. I am calling on them to make education in general – and their underperforming secondary schools in particular – a central target of their strategy for growth."

Councillor Rosa Battle, of Manchester City Council, said: "We've been working non-stop with schools over the last few years to improve outcomes in the city. The latest figures show the number of pupils now attending good or better schools in Manchester is the same as that nationally - with a rate of improvement on this measure over the last four years that far outstrips national improvement."

Nick Small, Liverpool City Council's cabinet member for Education, Employment and Skills, welcomed Wilshaw’s speech. He said: ”If our residents and our young people don't have the right skills for the jobs of the future then the Northern Powerhouse will be an empty political slogan.

"If we're going to balance the UK economy so that cities like Liverpool can contribute more to UK growth then we need more powers to influence the whole education and skills system to make sure we're delivering what Liverpool businesses want."

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