The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills 2006/07

17 Oct 2007

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills, Christine Gilbert, in her annual state of the nation address said that not enough was being done to raise achievement and aspirations, particularly for children in public care - but that there was evidence that the gap can be narrowed.

"The gap between the outcomes for those with advantages in life and those with the least is not reducing quickly enough. Only 12% of 16 years olds in public care achieved five or more good GCSEs in 2006 compared with 59% of all 16 years olds. This cannot be right and we need to do more. There is no quick fix but providers should learn from what works".

Schools

The general picture for schools is an encouraging one. Of 6,848 schools inspected in 2006/07, 14% were judged outstanding, up from 11% last year. A further 46% were good and 34% satisfactory.

The proportion of all schools judged inadequate fell from 8% to 6% and the proportion of inadequate secondary schools has fallen from 13% to 10%.

Childcare

Of the 27,000 places offering childcare that were inspected during the year, around 60% provide good or outstanding care and early education for young children but 4% were judged inadequate. Proving that inspection can be a powerful tool for improvement, 82% of inadequate early education providers reinspected in 2006/07 had improved enough to be judged satisfactory or better.

Children's services and social care

The majority of children's services are working well together. Where these services are good, they make a real difference to children's lives and their life chances; but there are particular concerns.

Some 78% of local authority children's services were found to be good or outstanding and only 2% were inadequate. But Ofsted's annual report, and a previous report published by the CSCI, found a number of issues giving cause for concern. For example, children and families do not always get help early enough.

Of the 347 children's homes that have had full inspections since April 2007, over half were good or outstanding, and one in three was satisfactory. But too many, one in seven, were inadequate. Of the 55 inadequate homes, 53 have been given notices to improve and two face action to enforce improvements.

Further education and adult learning

Further education colleges continue to improve. We inspected 100 colleges and found 17% to be outstanding and 44% good. Only 3% were inadequate, down from 8% last year. But the proportion of colleges that are only satisfactory, at 35%, is still too high.

Adult learning continues to improve, but with some significant challenges remaining. It is good to see the adult skills sector is increasingly engaging successfully with employers and widening opportunities for learners.

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The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills 2006/07

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