Heads Should lose obsession with league tables – New Ofsted Chief
Headteachers who restrict the curriculum and exclude pupils from exams to keep up their league results are doing their pupils a disservice, the new Ofssted director Amanda Spielman told educators at her first official speech since the general election.
“If yo are putting more resources into providing exam scribes than in teaching your strugglers to read and write , or scrapping mostof your curriculum through Year 6 to focus on just English and Maths…then you are probably doing most of your students a disservice
Amanda Spielman to the audience at Wellington College that , as the former head of the Ark chain of schools, “she knew better than most how high stakes these qualification can become to future success.”
As a result too many schools in England put their league table results above pupil intersts, she said, with the pressure to boost grades overtaking important learning issues.
Heads should stop placing so much emphasis on league tables and concentrate on giving children a round education , she added.