More about education in the UK
If you are interested in education in the UK,
particularly the school inspections in England, you may find the
work of the Ofsted (Office for Standards
in Education) interesting.
The 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.
The purpose is to identify strengths and weaknesses
in schools that may improve the quality of education offered and raise
the standards achieved by their pupils.
To improve standards further, the government has
recently introduced literacy and numeracy strategies for younger pupils, and the
Key Stage 3 Strategy for pupils 11-14 years old.
There is also increased flexibility in
the curriculum to raise achievement of 14-19 year olds. Other
initiatives include addressing under-achievement, bullying and concerning behaviour by promoting educational inclusion and testing schools' 'inclusivity',
including the Commission for Racial Equality’s statutory code of practice, the duty for schools to
promote race equality which came into effect on 31 May 2002.
Furthermore, the new Ofsted (2007) and framework for inspecting schools incorporates significant developments in the policy for school inspection
and education. Inspections are, for example, to take greater account of the views
of the school's community, promote and draw from school self-evaluation, and
to evaluate leadership and management at all levels in the school. Less effective
schools are inspected more frequently than more effective ones.
Indications are that the
initiatives have been effective and that the standards are improving.
I'm Husain Akhtar - a social scientist and a community worker, living in London. I'm involved in evaluating socio-political policies and tackling matters related to public welfare, including racism and racial harassment. I’m particularly interested in educational issues. My interests are photography, the internet, writing and gardening. You are most welcomed to email me.