Eng: Ofsted's draft proposals for school inspection 2019 - fantastic for reading instruction!

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Eng: Ofsted's draft proposals for school inspection 2019 - fantastic for reading instruction!

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

'Ofsted' is England's inspectorate. For decades, HMI (Her Majesty's Inspectors) and Ofsted have noted the importance and need for phonics teaching and played an important part in contributing to the move towards properly evidence-informed reading instruction. For this thread, I intend to provide links to further Ofsted documents of reports and surveys featuring reading instruction which have contributed to essential information for teachers in England.

This Draft Consultation document makes it very clear that schools should be discharging their duty to fulfil evidence-informed reading instruction by following the guidance explicit in England's 2014 National Curriculum which is a statutory document (and guidance coming from the Department for Education):
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – January 2019

School inspection handbook

Handbook for inspecting schools in England under section 5 of the Education Act 2005
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... 180119.pdf
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: Ofsted's draft proposals for school inspection 2019 - fantastic for reading instruction!

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Here are some extracts from Ofsted's draft proposal:
DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION – January 2019

Page 25 Overview of research

http://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio ... f-research
page 26

Joint observation of lessons

84.The lead inspector will invite the headteacher, curriculum leaders and other leaders to take part in joint observations of lessons.

85.Inspectors will not take a random sample of lesson observations. Instead, they will connect lesson observation to other evidence: discussions with curriculum leaders, teachers and pupils, and work scrutiny. Inspectors will select subjects that are relevant to the focus of the inspection and observe lessons in which this subject is being taught. Lesson observation is not about evaluating individual teachers; there will be no grading of the teaching observed by inspectors. Instead, inspectors will view lessons across a faculty, department, subject, key stage or year group and aggregate insights from those observations to provide part of the evidence for an overall view of quality of education or behaviour and attitudes.
Teachers’ standards, Department for Education, July 2011

www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards
page 27

Work scrutiny

88.The lead inspector will invite curriculum leaders and teachers to take part in joint scrutiny of pupils’ work.

89.Inspectors will not take a random sample of books. Instead, they will scrutinise pupils’ books and other work across a faculty, department, subject, key stage or year group and aggregate insights to provide part of the evidence for an overall view of the quality of education, primarily around the ‘impact’ of the education provided. Inspectors will not evaluate individual workbooks or teachers. Inspectors will connect work scrutiny to lesson observation and, where possible, conversations with pupils and staff.

90.Work scrutiny is useful primarily for gathering evidence about the ‘impact’ of the quality of education. Inspectors can use work scrutiny to evaluate pupils’ progression through the curriculum. Work scrutiny will show whether pupils know more and can do more, and whether the knowledge and skills they have learned are well sequenced and have developed incrementally. Inspectors will synthesise what they find in order to contribute to their overall assessment of the quality of education across a faculty, department, subject, key stage or year group.
Page 42

Curriculum narrowing

161. Ofsted’s research into the curriculum has shown that some schools narrow the curriculum available to pupils, particularly in key stages 2 and 3. Our research shows that this has a disproportionately negative effect on the most disadvantaged pupils.60 It is appropriate that, in key stage 1, teachers focus on ensuring that pupils are able to read, write and use mathematical knowledge, ideas and operations. From key stage 2 onwards and in secondary education, however, inspectors will expect to see a broad, rich curriculum. Inspectors will be particularly alert to signs of narrowing in the key stage 2 and 3 curriculums. If a school has shortened key stage 3, inspectors will look to see that the school has made provision to ensure that pupils still have the opportunity to study a broad range of subjects in Years 7 to 9.
Pages 42/43

Sources of evidence specific to curriculum intent

164. Inspectors will draw evidence about leaders’ curriculum intent principally from discussion with senior and subject leaders. Inspectors will explore:

whether leaders are following the national curriculum and basic curriculum or, in academies, a curriculum of similar breadth and ambition

61 https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... k-for-key- stages-1-to-4/the-national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4

• how carefully leaders have thought about what end points the curriculum is building towards, what pupils will be able to know and do at those end points, and how they have planned the curriculum accordingly. This includes consideration of how the intended curriculum will address social disadvantage by addressing gaps in pupils’ knowledge and skills
• how leaders have sequenced the curriculum to enable pupils to build their knowledge and skills towards the agreed end points
• how leaders have ensured that the subject curriculum contains content which has been identified as most useful, and ensured that this content is taught in a logical progression, systematically and explicitly enough for all pupils to acquire the intended knowledge and skills
how the curriculum has been designed and taught so that pupils read at an age-appropriate level.
Implementation

167. In evaluating the implementation of the curriculum, inspectors will primarily evaluate how the curriculum is taught at subject and classroom level.

168. Research and inspection evidence suggest that the most important factors in how the curriculum is taught and assessed are that:

• teachers have expert knowledge of the subjects that they teach and, where they do not, they are supported to address these gaps so that pupils are not disadvantaged by ineffective teaching
• teachers enable pupils to understand key concepts, presenting information clearly and promoting appropriate discussion
• teachers check pupils’ understanding effectively, identifying and correcting misunderstandings
• teachers ensure that pupils embed key concepts in their long-term memory and apply them fluently
• the subject curriculum that classes follow is designed and delivered in a way that allows pupils to transfer key knowledge to long-term memory; it is sequenced so that new knowledge and skills build on what has been taught before and towards defined end points
• teachers use assessment to check pupils’ understanding in order to inform teaching
• teachers use assessment to help pupils embed and use knowledge fluently, develop their understanding, and not simply memorise disconnected facts
Page 44

1. Developing understanding, not memorising disconnected facts

169. Learning can be defined as an alteration in long-term memory. If nothing has altered in long-term memory, nothing has been learned. However, transfer to long-term memory depends on the rich processes described above. In order to develop understanding, pupils connect new knowledge with existing knowledge. Pupils also need to develop fluency and unconsciously apply their knowledge as skills. This must not be reduced to, or confused with, simply memorising facts. Inspectors will be alert to unnecessary or excessive attempts to simply prompt pupils to learn glossaries or long lists of disconnected facts.

The school’s use of assessment

170. When used effectively, assessment helps pupils to embed knowledge and use it fluently, and assists teachers in producing clear next steps for pupils. However, assessment is too often carried out in a way that creates unnecessary burdens for staff and pupils. It is therefore important that leaders and teachers understand its limitations and avoid misuse and overuse.

171. Inspectors will therefore evaluate how assessment is used in the school to support the teaching of the curriculum, but not substantially increase teachers’ workloads by necessitating too much one-to-one teaching or overly demanding programmes that are almost impossible to deliver without lowering expectations of some pupils.

172. The collection of data can also create an additional workload for leaders and staff. Inspectors will look at whether schools’ collections of attainment or progress data are proportionate and represent an efficient use of school resources, and are sustainable for staff. The report of the Teacher Workload Advisory Group, ‘Making data work’,62 recommends that school leaders should not have more than two or three data collection points a year, and that these should be used to inform clear actions.
Page 45

Sources of evidence specific to curriculum implementation

174. The following activities will provide inspectors with evidence about the school’s implementation of its intended curriculum:

• discussions with curriculum and subject leaders and teachers about the programme of study that classes are following for particular subjects or topics, the intended end points towards which those pupils are working, and their view of how those pupils are progressing through the curriculum
• discussions with subject specialists and leaders about the content and pedagogical content knowledge of teachers, and what is done to support them
• discussions with classroom teachers about how often they are expected to record, upload and review data
• observations of and interviews with pupils or classes who are following this curriculum in lessons, including scrutiny of the pupils’ work
• reviews of schemes of work or other long-term planning (in whatever form subject leaders normally use them), usually in discussion with curriculum leaders.

175.
that they gather a variety of these types of evidence in relation to the same sample of pupils. Inspectors will also ensure that the samples of pupils they choose are sufficient to allow them to reach a valid and reliable judgement on the quality of education offered by the school overall.
Page 47

Sources of evidence specific to curriculum impact

180. Inspectors will gather evidence of the impact of the quality of education offered by the school from the following sources:

• nationally generated performance information about pupil progress and attainment. This information is available in the IDSR, which is available to schools and inspectors, and will be analysed for its statistical significance in advance by Ofsted’s data and insight team
• first-hand evidence of how pupils are doing, drawing together evidence from the interviews, observations, work scrutinies and documentary review described above (see ‘Implementation – sources of evidence’)
• nationally published information about the destinations to which its pupils progress when they leave the school65
in primary schools, listening to a range of pupils read
• discussions with pupils about what they have remembered about the content they have studied.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: Ofsted's draft proposals for school inspection 2019 - fantastic for reading instruction!

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Further extracts:
Page 49

Implementation

‘Good schools’

Intent

• Leaders adopt or construct a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and including pupils with SEND, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. This is either the national curriculum or a curriculum of comparable breadth and ambition. [If this is not yet fully the case, it is clear from leaders’ actions that they are in the process of bringing this about.*]
• The school’s curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment. [If this is not yet fully the case, it is clear from leaders’ actions that they are in the process of bringing this about.*]
• The curriculum is successfully adapted, designed or developed to be ambitious and meet the needs of pupils with SEND, developing their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence. [If this is not yet fully the case, it is clear from leaders’ actions that they are in the process of bringing this about.*]
• Pupils study the full curriculum; it is not narrowed. In primary schools, a broad range of subjects (exemplified by the national curriculum) is taught in key stage 2 throughout each and all of Years 3 to 6. In secondary schools, the school teaches a broad range of subjects (exemplified by the national curriculum) throughout Years 7 to 9, [or is in the process of transitioning to such arrangements.*] The school’s aim is to have the EBacc at the heart of its curriculum, in line with the DfE’s ambition, and good progress has been made towards this ambition.

Implementation

Teachers have good knowledge of the subject(s) and courses they teach. Leaders provide effective support for those teaching outside their main areas of expertise.

• Teachers present subject matter clearly, promoting appropriate discussion about the subject matter being taught. They check pupils’ understanding systematically, identify misconceptions accurately and provide clear, direct feedback. In so doing, they respond and adapt their teaching as necessary without unnecessarily elaborate or individualised approaches.
• Over the course of study, teaching is designed to help pupils to remember long term the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger ideas.
• Teachers and leaders use assessment well, for example to help pupils embed and use knowledge fluently, or to check understanding and inform teaching.

• Leaders understand the limitations of assessment and do not use it in a way that creates unnecessary burdens on staff or pupils.
• Teachers create an environment that allows pupils to focus on learning. The textbooks and other teaching materials teachers select – in a way that does not create unnecessary workload for staff – reflect the school’s ambitious intentions for the course of study and clearly support the intent of a coherently planned curriculum, sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning and employment.
• The work given to pupils is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum in being coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge.


Reading is prioritised to allow pupils to access the full curriculum offer.
• A rigorous and sequential approach to the reading curriculum develops pupils’ fluency, confidence and enjoyment in reading. At all stages, reading attainment is assessed and gaps are addressed quickly and effectively for all pupils. Reading books connect closely to the phonics knowledge pupils are taught when they are learning to read.
• The sharp focus on ensuring that younger children gain phonics knowledge and language comprehension necessary to read, and the skills to communicate, gives them the foundations for future learning.
• Teachers ensure that their own speaking, listening, writing and reading of English support pupils in developing their language and vocabulary well.
• Pupils’ work across the curriculum is of good quality.
• Pupils read widely and often, with fluency and comprehension appropriate to their age
and are able to apply mathematical knowledge, concepts and procedures appropriately for their age.
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Re: Eng: Ofsted's draft proposals for school inspection 2019 - fantastic for reading instruction!

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Extracts featuring the teaching of reading and its outcomes:
Pages 73 and 74

Evaluating the quality of early years education in school

1. Sources of evidence

259. Inspectors will particularly consider the intent, implementation and impact of the school’s early years curriculum. They will evaluate the impact that the quality of education has on children, particularly the most disadvantaged and those with SEND.

260. Inspectors will look at the achievement of children at the end of Reception over time, by the proportions reaching a good level of development. However, inspectors need to get beyond the data as quickly as possible to ascertain how well the curriculum is meeting children’s needs. This will be evident in how well children know and remember more. Inspectors need to make careful inferences about children’s current progress by drawing together evidence from a range of sources.

261. Inspectors will consider how well:

• leaders assure themselves that the aims of the early years curriculum are met and that it is sufficiently challenging for the children it serves
staff ensure that the content, sequencing and progression in the areas of learning, particularly in the specific areas of reading, writing and number, and shape, space and measure, are secured
staff teach children to read systematically by using synthetic phonics81 and books that match the children’s phonics knowledge
• staff develop children’s love of reading, through reading aloud and telling stories and rhymes

• children develop, consolidate and deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills across the areas of learning
• children demonstrate their attitudes and behaviours through the key characteristics of effective learning:
− playing and exploring
− active learning
− creating thinking and thinking critically

the content of the curriculum is taught in a logical progression, systematically and in a way that is explained effectively, so that it gives children the necessary foundations for the rest of their schooling.

[footnote]


81 Synthetic phonics teach children to recognise the sounds that individual letters and combinations of letters make. Pupils learn to blend these sounds together to read words. They go on to use this knowledge when writing. A systematic approach starts with the easiest sounds, progressing to the most complex.

Grade descriptors

Outstanding (1)

• The effectiveness of early years meets all the criteria for good securely and consistently. In addition, the following applies.
• The curriculum provides no limits or barriers to the children’s achievements, regardless of their backgrounds, circumstances or needs. The high ambition it embodies is shared by all staff.
The sharp focus on ensuring that children acquire a wide vocabulary, communicate effectively and acquire a knowledge of phonics gives them the foundations for future learning, especially in preparation for them to become confident and fluent readers.
• Over time, children consistently achieve highly, particularly those children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Those with SEND also achieve their full potential. Children successfully acquire the necessary foundations for the rest of their schooling.
• Children are highly motivated and are eager to join in. They share and cooperate well, demonstrating high levels of self-control and respect for others. Children consistently keep on trying hard, particularly if they encounter difficulties.

Good (2)

The school’s approach to teaching early reading and phonics is systematic and effective in ensuring that all children learn to read words and sentences accurately.

[Footnote]
82 Teaching should not be taken to imply a ‘top down’ or formal way of working. It is a broad term that covers the many different ways in which adults help young children learn. It includes their interactions with children during planned and child-initiated play and activities, communicating and modelling language, showing, explaining, demonstrating, exploring ideas, encouraging, questioning, recalling, providing a narrative for what they are doing, facilitating and setting challenges. It takes account of the equipment that adults provide and the attention given to the physical environment, as well as the structure and routines of the day that establish expectations. Integral to teaching is how practitioners assess what children know, understand and can do, as well as taking account of their interests and dispositions to learn (characteristics of effective learning), and how practitioners use this information to plan children’s next steps in learning and to monitor their progress.

• Staff are knowledgeable about how to teach systematic synthetic phonics and ensure that children practise their reading from books that match their phonics knowledge. They provide information to parents about how to help their children to read.
• Staff read to children in a way that excites and engages them, introducing new ideas, concepts and vocabulary.

Impact

o Children use their knowledge of phonics to read accurately. They read with increasing speed and fluency.
o Most children achieve the early learning goals, particularly in mathematics and literacy.
o Children develop their vocabulary and understanding of language across the seven areas of learning. They achieve well, particularly those children with lower starting points.

Page 78

Inadequate (4)

The effectiveness of the early years is likely to be inadequate if one or more of the following applies:

• A poorly designed and implemented curriculum does not meet children’s needs or provide the necessary foundations for the rest of their schooling.
• Leaders and/or staff have a poor understanding of the areas of learning they teach and the way in which young children learn.
• Assessment is overly burdensome. It is unhelpful in determining what children know, understand and can do.
Children cannot communicate, read, spell phonically decodable words as well as they should, and do not have basic fluency in number and shape, space and measure.
• The attainment and progress of children, particularly those children who are disadvantaged, are consistently low and show little or no improvement, indicating that children are underachieving considerably.

Page 84

Quality of education

272. Inspectors will focus primarily on the quality of education during a section 8 inspection of a good school. They will not be expected to cover all the criteria in the quality of education judgement. Instead, they will focus on a few key areas. Inspectors will:

• in primary schools, explore how well a broad range of subjects (exemplified by the national curriculum) is taught throughout each and all of Years 3−6. In primary schools where reading is weak, inspectors will focus first and foremost on reading

page 85

274. Inspectors will be clear that they are not able to gather the same depth of evidence on a section 8 inspection as a full team conducting a section 5 inspection, and they will not aim to do so. Nevertheless, they will always:

• observe a sample of lessons, following the guidance set out in Part 1 of this handbook (paragraphs 84-87). This will be a smaller sample than that gathered on a section 5 inspection
• scrutinise a sample of pupils’ work, following the guidance set out in Part 1 of this handbook (paragraphs 88-90). This will be a smaller sample than that gathered on a section 5 inspection
• interview teachers, pupils, leaders and those responsible for governance, following the guidance in paragraphs 91–102
explore how well pupils read, enabling them to access the full curriculum.

Page 87

Applying the EIF to the teaching of early reading in infant, junior, primary and middle/lower schools

283. During all inspections of infant, junior, primary and lower middle schools, inspectors will focus on how well pupils are taught to read as a main inspection activity. They will pay particular attention to pupils who are reading below age- related expectations (the lowest 20%) to assess how well the school is teaching phonics and supporting all children to become confident, fluent readers.

284. Inspectors will listen to several low-attaining pupils in Year 1 to Year 3 read83 from unseen books appropriate to their stage of progress. They should also draw on information from the school’s policy for teaching reading, phonics assessments, phonics screening check results and lesson observations.

285. In reaching an evaluation against the ‘Quality of education’ judgement, inspectors will consider whether:

Intent

the school is determined that every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities
• the school’s phonics programme matches or exceeds the expectations of the English national curriculum and early learning goals
• the school has clear expectations of pupils’ phonics progress term by term, from Reception to Year 2, and the school’s phonics programme aligns with these expectations
• the sequence of reading books shows a cumulative progression in phonics knowledge that is matched closely to the school’s phonics programme.


[footnote]
83 Wherever possible, inspectors should listen to children read in a classroom or in an open area with which pupils are familiar. The length of time a pupil has attended the school should be taken into consideration.

Page 88

Implementation

• the school has developed sufficient expertise in the teaching of phonics and reading that ensures consistency from one year to the next
• the assessment of pupils’ phonics progress is sufficiently frequent and detailed to identify any pupil who is falling behind the programme’s pace, so that targeted support can be given immediately
• reading, including the teaching of systematic, synthetic phonics, is taught from the beginning of Reception
• teachers have a clear understanding of how pupils learn to read
• teachers give pupils sufficient practice in reading and re-reading books that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they know, both at school and at home
• staff read aloud stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction that develop pupils’ vocabulary, language comprehension and love of reading.

Impact

all pupils, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations
• pupils are familiar with and enjoy listening to a wide range of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: Ofsted's draft proposals for school inspection 2019 - fantastic for reading instruction!

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Amanda Spielman at the 'Wonder Years' curriculum conference

The Chief Inspector discussed curriculum and Ofsted's proposed education inspection framework at 'The Wonder Years' Knowledge Curriculum Conference.

Published 26 January 2019
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ ... conference
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: Ofsted's draft proposals for school inspection 2019 - fantastic for reading instruction!

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

November 2019, Deputy Director for Early Childhood, Gill Jones, writes an important post about inspection focusing on a 'deep dive' into early reading instruction and its outcomes for all children:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1319&p=2694#p2694
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