Amanda Spielman, asked by the Commons’ education select committee about the commission, suggested that she supported the recommendation that pupils should study maths until the end of sixth form.
“I applaud people being expected to study maths to 18,” she said. “It is something that happens in virtually every system in the world. We are extremely unusual not carrying on maths and home language until 18.”
She added: “We do have more lower-achievers than I would like to see in both maths and English.”
The commission was a year-long investigation into the state of education that reported in summer.
Figures published by Ofsted on Monday, a year after outstanding schools lost their automatic exemption from being reinspected, showed more than 80 per cent of them had been downgraded.
Spielman denied that Ofsted was deliberately downgrading grammar schools and said that “good” was a worthy rating that should not make parents anxious.
The chief inspector also said that it was a “safeguarding risk” for schools not to inform parents if their child was having serious questions or doubts about their gender and that there was “very limited guidance” available to schools on the matter.
New advice from the Department for Education is expected around the end of the year and Spielman said that new guidance to help with the “minefield” was urgently needed.
Figures published by Ofsted on Monday, a year after outstanding schools lost their automatic exemption from being reinspected, showed more than 80 per cent of them had been downgraded.
Spielman denied that Ofsted was deliberately downgrading grammar schools and said that “good” was a worthy rating that should not make parents anxious.
The chief inspector also said that it was a “safeguarding risk” for schools not to inform parents if their child was having serious questions or doubts about their gender and that there was “very limited guidance” available to schools on the matter.
New advice from the Department for Education is expected around the end of the year and Spielman said that new guidance to help with the “minefield” was urgently needed.
Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/1f827be8-6a91-11ed-85fc-6c020d5ba0b7?shareToken=34a03a83629d1c07ca450b7ed17e96f2
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