The Liberal Democrats have said that scrapping Ofsted is the only way to fix the education crisis in the North, after a report showed North West schools are 3 times more likely to be stuck in education inadequacy.
Nearly 10% of schools in the North West have been classified as ‘Stuck Schools’ by Ofsted in their latest report on Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2017/18.
Around 490 schools across the UK have been ‘stuck’ in a cycle of poor performance, having been judged to require improvement or be inadequate in every inspection they have had since 2005.
7% of these ‘stuck schools’ were based in the North West alone, as opposed to 2% in London and just 8% across the entire South.
Pupils in ‘stuck schools’ are far more likely to be registered for free school meals and exhibit poor academic performance by the end of key stages 2 and 4.
These statistics provide further proof of the North/South divide on children’s education and future prospects. The Lib Dems will pledge an extra £10billion a year to schools and provide 20,000 teachers.
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems will replace Ofsted with a new system that places less emphasis on box-ticking exercises and ensures that high-performing schools do more to help institutions who are stuck in a cycle of below-average accomplishment.
School Governor and Liberal Democrat MEP Jane Brophy said:
“These latest statistics from Ofsted presents a lot of problems, but less in the way of solutions, which can often be the way when a system is fixated on statistics rather than building futures.
“Nearly 500 schools across the country are bogged down in education inadequacy and as usual, it is the North that gets hit hardest.
“But while our teachers are put under ridiculous pressure to perform for Ofsted and the Government obsesses over Brexit, it is the next generation who are left suffering.
“Every child is different and their future must be the priority, not how many A* GCSEs they can achieve and how well teachers perform for Ofsted.
“Only the Liberal Democrats have a plan to fix our education system. Lib Dems will scrap Oftsed and replace it with a system that places pupils before statistics, ending the obsession with ticking boxes and building a brighter future for these forgotten stuck schools.
“Brexit will only damage our children’s future even further – it must be stopped. Lib Dems will use the money being wasted on Brexit to invest in our children’s futures giving schools an extra £10billion a year, along with 20,000 more teachers to ensure our children get the help and support they need during their school years.
