Teacher development key to better standards – inspector
PROFESSIONAL development of teachers is key to improving schools, the Chief Inspector for Education in Wales said following his annual report this week showing standards have remained broadly the same for seven years.
With education in the middle of a programme of changing qualifications and a new curriculum on the way the report showed some teachers lack confidence or knowledge to deliver in areas including numeracy and the Welsh language across the curriculum.
With cross curriculum learning a mainstay of Professor Graham Donaldson’s reforms for Wales, this and other areas highlighted in the report can be addressed by teachers learning from one another what works best, said Meilyr Rowlands.
His annual report for 2016-17, which comes at the end of a seven year cycle of inspections of education and training providers across Wales, does not show the rapid progress many would like to see.
But Mr Rowlands said school standards are where he expects them to be at a time of emerging change – although he wants improvement.
With the National Education Union already calling for a moratorium on Estyn inspections while the new curriculum – being phased in from 2022 – is implemented, what message does he take from inspections carried out during a time of flux with new GCSEs and A-levels and teachers primed for more changes?
“We always want to see things better than they are,” said Mr Rowlands.
“We want to improve things and I think what we need to ask is how best to do that and we are in the middle of a programme of change.
“That’s what comes out clearly looking at the last seven years.
“That change is continuing and education is changing a lot in Wales. It’s about making sure the building blocks are in place for long-term improvement.
“I think what we have seen is the clearest trend is shifting to a culture of self improvement and collaboration. I do think that is the right approach.
“All the theory says leadership is important to set the right culture. Self improvement is a bit of jargon but it means schools taking responsibility for their own improvement and working with others to share expertise and ideas and circulating that.
“What we are seeing more of than before is schools being ready and willing to collaborate. I’m not saying all schools share all the time but there’s a shift to a more collaborative culture.”
He said inspections showing only one in four schools delivering the Foundation Phase do it well, does not mean the rest are not providing good education for their youngest pupils.
“I think three quarters of primaries are delivering good old solid traditional education, but only a quarter have taken the Foundation Phase fully on board.
“We should be very proud of the Foundation Phase in Wales. It is innovative. There is a lot of research and consensus that pupils gain. Inspectors find pupils who have gone through it are prepared well for learning, so we would like to see more than a quarter of schools implement it fully.
“A lot of that is to do with schools not fully understanding what the Foundation Phase is all about. It is not a totally easy concept.
“Maybe there is not enough understanding
“When it was introduced in 2010 we perhaps did not have the collaborative culture as strongly as we do now. We want to see better staff development and I would expect it to get better and quicker now because of collaboration. Some schools are just dipping their toes into it.
“I think lessons can be learned from the Foundation Phase. Maybe there was not enough training for what is a complex issue. I think there are lessons to be learned from that.”
On literacy, numeracy, ICT and Welsh language in English medium schools, he says work is needed to drive up standards.
“It’s difficult to see how quick progression is but we have seen progress. There has been more progress with literacy than numeracy because the framework has been in place longer and numeracy started from a lower point. We do want to see all three - literacy, numeracy and ICT improve.
“There has been relatively little development (of Welsh in English medium schools) over the seven year period of the report. We have said there are shortcomings in Welsh in one third of English medium primaries and two third of English medium secondary schools.
“I think what that comes down to is that it’s quite difficult learning a language in a formal lesson. You need opportunities to practise across the curriculum or in informal situations.
“Clearly Welsh-medium schools manage it and bi-lingual schools manage it.
“There are cognitive advantages to be able to speak two languages. The challenge is not so much time but confidence of teachers
“I think we do need to support our teachers and they will welcome professional development.
“I would like to see less bureaucracy and more professional development.
“There is variability and there are areas we need to focus on and work to do. It won’t be traditional staff development, but collaboration and circulation of good practice.”