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Press release: National Strategies are having a positive impact in primary and secondary schools

But more needs to be done if real gains are to be made in raising standards further

The Office for Standards in Education has today published two reports, The Secondary National Strategy: an evaluation of the fifth year and Primary National Strategy: an evaluation of its impact in primary schools 2004/05. Inspectors found that the National Strategies are bringing about improvements, but those pupils with below average standards in literacy and numeracy are not receiving the help they need quickly enough.

Overall The Primary National Strategy is having a positive impact on primary schools. It has helped schools focus on raising standards through improving teaching and learning and strengthening leadership and management. In almost all schools leadership and management are satisfactory or better and the impact of the strategy on teaching and learning is at least satisfactory in most.

However, while the strategy has improved the teaching of English and mathematics overall, teaching in both subjects still remains no better than satisfactory in one in three lessons. The gap that exists in the attainment of boys and girls writing remains and almost half of all boys are not reaching level 4 in writing by the time they leave primary school.

Standards in mathematics have also risen with an increase of 1% in the 2005 national assessments at the end of key stage 2 and the proportion of pupils achieving level 4 has reached 75%. But there are still too many pupils leaving primary schools below the expected level in mathematics. More needs to be done to improve standards in mathematics if the Government targets for 2006 are to be met.

Although school leaders have generally welcomed the Strategy’s emphasis on greater flexibility and freedom in the curriculum, in nearly all schools, the literacy hour and daily mathematics lesson remain intact. Where schools have moved to a more flexible curriculum, this has been done with caution.

Inspectors also found schools’ use of assessment information about pupils often lacks rigour with the causes of underachievement often not being identified and remedied early enough. Too many schools focus their efforts on monitoring and supporting older children in years 5 and 6 at the expense of identifying underachievement and intervening earlier.

Ofsted’s Director of Education, Miriam Rosen , said:

“I’m pleased to see that the National Strategies are bringing about improvements across primary and secondary schools, the rise in results in Maths and English is a good sign.

“But we must be careful not to become complacent. There is still much to be done to ensure all pupils leave primary school competent in reading, writing and mathematics. There is still a large percentage of teaching in primary schools that is just satisfactory and this must get better in order to bring about the improvements needed.”

Inspectors found The Secondary National Strategy continues to have a positive influence on pupils’ attainment. Results in English have risen steadily since the introduction of the strategy and proportions of pupils reaching levels 5 and 6 have also increased.

The impact of the strategy is greatest in the two-thirds of schools where leadership and management are good. The quality of teaching and learning are also improving as teachers continue to apply strategy techniques. The best lessons include a wide range of teaching strategies and put more emphasis on pupils thinking for themselves.

However, in about a tenth of schools there is still a lack of commitment to the strategy amongst teachers, particularly those who have little knowledge of its potential. Schools also find it difficult to keep abreast of all the strategy’s developments, especially where staff turnover is high. While planning for the move from primary to secondary education has improved, the transfer of data about pupils’ achievement is still unsatisfactory in nearly a quarter of schools.

Inspectors found schools are not doing enough to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of pupils who start year 7 with English and mathematics results that are below average and intervention programmes are not implemented thoroughly enough to bring about the improvements needed. In the great majority of secondary schools inspected, the teaching of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum is given low priority; the teaching of literacy by all teachers has lost momentum and numeracy teaching is unsatisfactory.

Assessment for learning has been a major element of the strategy this year. But inspectors found it is good in only a few schools and unsatisfactory in a quarter. Inspectors recommend that schools should have a clear policy that is applied consistently in order to bring about improvement.

Mrs Rosen added:

"We have seen how improvements can be made if the strategies are applied effectively. Therefore it is important that all schools use the strategies effectively and ensure pupils benefit from the improved teaching and learning they can bring."

Notes For Editors

1. The reports The Secondary National Strategy: An evaluation of the fifth year and Primary National Strategy: an evaluation of its impact in primary schools 2004/05 are available on thewebsite today.
2. The Primary National Strategy was introduced in May 2003. Following the evaluation of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies (NLNS) Ofsted was asked to evaluate the implementation of the Primary National Strategy. This began in 2004 with visits to local authorities and schools and the results are published in today's report Primary National Strategy: An evaluation of its impact in primary schools 2004/2005.3.The Secondary National Strategy (formally known as the key stage 3 strategy) was introduced in 2001. In March 2004 Ofsted reported on the third year of the key stage 3 Strategy. Since then HMI have continued to evaluate the impact of the strategy. Today's report The Secondary National Strategy: An evaluation of the fifth year, covers the academic year 2004/2005.4.Ofsted is a non-ministerial government department established under the Education (Schools) Act 1992 to take responsibility for the inspection of all schools in England. Its role also includes the inspection of further education, local authority children's services, teacher training institutions and some independent schools. During 2001, Ofsted became responsible for inspecting all 16-19 education and for the regulation of early years childcare, including childminders.

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