Coasting schools have six years to improve

Released 05/12/2011

Ofsted warns schools labelled as “satisfactory” for six years in row should be relabelled inconsistent and pushed harder to improve

Ofsted stated last month that there were currently around 800 coasting schools in England

Schools that fail to improve from a “satisfactory” rating after six or more years should be relabelled as “inconsistent” and pushed harder to do so, a report by The Royal Society of Arts (RSA) recommends.

The report, jointly published by the RSA and Ofsted suggests half of the 40% of English schools currently labelled as “satisfactory” did not improve after two Ofsted inspections and eight per cent actually declined to an inadequate rating within the same time.

Ofsted stated last month that there were currently around 800 coasting schools in England, with the RSA report indicating that a majority of them are found in poorer and more deprived areas.

More than half of all comprehensives in 17 English local authorities are already rated as “inadequate”, including Blackpool, Bradford, Hull, North East Lincolnshire and Peterborough.

The report referred to such schools as being effectively “stuck” without improvement and that children in satisfactory secondary schools have a 58% chance of their school remaining satisfactory or worsening by the time they leave.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said that “there are still far too many underperforming schools” in England.

They added: “We will not let mediocre performance continue unchecked and we are clear that there will be no hiding place for schools that are not making the progress they should.

"We’re bringing in a tough new inspection regime from January targeted at the weakest performing schools and overhauling league tables."

The report by Ofsted found that many of the government’s flagship academies were counted among those who were providing “lower quality educational provision”.

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