One in 12 schools performing badly, says Ofsted

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) One in 12 schools in England has been judged to be performing poorly, a situation described as ''unacceptable'' by inspection body Ofsted in its annual report.

Figures yesterday from school inspections last year showed 13 per cent of secondary schools were inadequate, compared to seven per cent of primary schools.

''It is unacceptable that one in 12 schools was judged to be inadequate last year,'' said Christine Gilbert, the chief inspector of schools.

''While we recognise the challenges faced by secondary schools, especially those in disadvantaged areas, the proportion of secondary schools judged to be inadequate remains the greatest challenge to the education system,'' she said.

Poor leadership from heads and senior teachers was generally the underlying cause of a school's slide towards failure, she added.

But teachers' unions criticised the report and accused Ofsted of constantly changing its inspection criteria.

While eight per cent of England's 23,000 state-maintained schools were judged by Ofsted to be poor, 11 per cent of schools were regarded as ''outstanding'' and 48 percent were ''good''.

Compared with last year, the number of inadequate secondary and primary schools has risen, while the proportion judged outstanding has fallen.

But Gilbert said this was because inspectors had ''raised the bar'' in their reports under a revised inspection regime, rather than because of an overall decline in school performance.

She noted that the number of schools in special measures -- the most serious category -- had actually fallen to 208 from 242 the previous year.

But there were 312 schools which had been given ''notice to improve'', a new category introduced this year.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said direct comparisons with last year's Ofsted report were misleading.

''This report reflects the first year of the toughest inspection regime we have yet introduced,'' he said.

''Schools that may have been judged as good in previous years might only be judged as satisfactory now.

''However, we make no apology for raising the bar -- expectations are higher than ever and judgements need to be tougher than ever.'' Schools given the worst inspection reports face the possibility of closure if they do not improve within a year.

The NASUWT teaching union criticised Ofsted's report for its ''fascination with failure''.

''This is the same old tired annual report we have come to expect from Ofsted,'' said General Secretary Chris Keates.

''Year-on-year comparisons are meaningless as each year the goalposts change,'' he added.

The National Union of Teachers said head teachers often felt that inspection had become ''a type of Russian roulette following previous arbitrary changes by Ofsted to the rules on inspection.'' Last month a parliamentary committee said nearly one million children were getting a poor education.

The Public Accounts Committee based that judgment on a National Audit Office study which showed 1,557 schools in England were performing poorly, representing about four per cent of primary schools and 23 per cent of secondary schools.

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