“This report lays bare one of the starkest issues in our education system – that children and young people who would most benefit from being taught by our strongest teachers and leaders are the least likely to experience this.
“Teaching is a challenging profession in any environment. However, there is often far too little recognition of the additional challenges involved in working in some schools, and it is useful to see this highlighted in this report. Our accountability system has actively penalised those working in more deprived areas, making it more difficult to recruit teachers and leaders in disadvantaged areas who understandably feel the odds are stacked against them. In turn this means disadvantaged children are more likely to be taught by teachers who are less experienced or non-specialists, or in larger classes.
“The proposed changes to inspection and accountability go nowhere near addressing this situation. The inspection toolkits fail to take into account specific contextual challenges that will make it harder for leaders in some settings to demonstrate secure practice. Similarly, plans to require targeted intervention for schools with ‘concerning’ levels of attainment will create a de facto new floor target which would discriminate against schools serving more disadvantaged cohorts.
“We need an inspection and improvement model that properly recognises the different challenges faced by schools in different contexts. This must be backed by funding that reflects the varying levels of disadvantage in different communities, alongside a long-term strategy to improve recruitment and retention.”