Sir Michael Wilshaw, who is due to step down as Ofsted Chief Inspector at the end of the year, has spoken at the Festival of Education, Wellington College today about the failure of successive governments and school leaders to address the persistent low attainment of the nation’s poorest children.

Attainment gap between middle-class and disadvantaged pupils

While he accepts that the attainment gap between middle-class children and those on free school meals at primary school has improved, “a bit,” Sir Michael describes the gulf of attainment between disadvantaged children and their better-off peers at secondary school. “The needle is stuck,” he laments.Sir Michael blames the “political cross-fire” over the preceding decades between the right and the left for the current situation in England’s schools. He identifies the left-leaning “anti-academic nonsense” of the 70s and 80s as resulting in literacy levels for school leavers today being far worse than their parents’ and grandparents’. But also accuses the right of a “laissez-faire, market-based approach.”

Teacher shortages

Highlighting the latest teacher training statistics, Sir Michael lays bare the reality for schools in the most disadvantaged areas of England.“The prosperous South East region has over 458 trainee teachers per 100,000 pupils,” outlines Sir Michael. “Yet the East Midlands manages only 362 per 100,000 pupils with the East of England faring even worse with only 294 per 100,000. No wonder these last two regions are poorly performing. Schools in these areas find it more difficult to get good staff. Teacher supply follows well-resourced demand, not educational need.”In Ofsted’s Annual Report it was reported that disadvantaged communities have less access to good teaching than better-off ones.Sir Michael blames a poor national, strategic approach to teacher training. Outstanding schools train and retain the best candidates, he says, leaving schools where the need is greatest to “scramble” for the rest. He calls on the government to do more to direct talented teachers into the most challenging areas.  

In defence of school tests

Speaking to the assembled festival audience at Wellington College, Sir Michael pulled few punches as he highlighted the value he believes testing in primary and secondary schools brings to raising pupil attainment.“To those who bleat about the tyranny of testing, let me say this. Testing isn’t a burden; it’s an opportunity. It allows teachers to know where a child stands and what help they need. It gives the poor a passport to the prospect of a better life.”“Take testing and exams away and the poor can’t rely on the cultural capital or family connections that middle-class children possess. The irresponsibility of the anti-testing lobby in this regard is breathtaking. It is the disadvantaged who suffer from their thoughtless crusade.”

Technical skills shortage

The Ofsted Chief focused on the shortage of skills required from the nation’s school leavers in key sectors such as manufacturing, construction and utilities.“Employers, year after year, say that school leavers are not equipped with the technical skills that they are crying out for,” says Sir Michael. “We should have a curriculum that not only has a strong core but is flexible enough to meet the needs of those youngsters who want a technical pathway.”Sir Michael suggests that the government should insist that every major multi-academy trust should have a University Technical College and that these trusts should be inspected to ensure that the University Technical College does not become a “dumping ground” for the “difficult or disaffected” and that it delivers high quality pre-apprenticeship programmes to the age of 19.And finally, “We should be tough on feckless parents,” he says “who allow their children to break the rules - they need to be reminded – through letters, meetings and sanctions – that the way they bring up their children has profound implications for us all.”

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