OFFICE FOR STANDARDS IN EDUCATION (OFSTED)
PN 98-43
One group of people whose views on school inspections are rarely heard are the pupils - until now.
A survey by Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) published today, asked over 4,000 11 to 16 year olds in schools all over England and Wales whether they were aware that their school had been inspected and what the impact had been.
That the event was less momentous for the pupils than their teachers could be gleaned from the fact that fewer than half of the pupils responding were aware that their school had been inspected since they arrived at the school. The awareness level of children in middle schools was, at 67 per cent, much higher than the average.
Over half of the younger children - years 7 and 8 - did not know whether their school had been inspected. This fell to just one in five (19 per cent) final year students, who will have had a greater chance of experiencing inspection than the younger children, and to only 12 per cent among those whose school had been inspected during the year of the survey.
Of those that were aware of an inspection, one in five believed that the standard of teaching improved afterwards, while three in ten thought they learnt more in class and nearly four in ten thought their school had improved in general terms.
Quite a high percentage (39) of the pupils whose schools had been inspected say they spoke to an inspector, either about their work or about the school in general. Nearly half of the pupils did not speak to an inspector while one in ten could not remember whether they had or not.
In their conclusions to the short report of the survey, MORI said: "OFSTED inspections appear on the whole to have made a positive contribution to standards in schools, according to the views of pupils.
"Although the study did not directly address causality, the clear implication is that there is an association - in some young people's minds - between inspections and changes in teaching and learning.
"Inspections seem to help boys in particular with their learning - of particular note, given the recent debate about the relative performance of the sexes."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The report The Impact of School Inspections - Children's Views is available from the OFSTED Publications Centre, PO Box 6927, London E3 3NZ. Tel: 0171 510 0180.
2. The research study was conducted by Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) on behalf of the Office for Standards in Education. It used a sample of 350 middle and secondary schools in England and Wales, including county, voluntary aided or controlled and grant maintained schools. The age groups interviewed were 11 to 16 year olds in curriculum years 7 to 11.
3. Fieldwork for the study was carried out between 19 January and 13 February 1998. Of the 350 schools approached, 179 participated and 4,245 pupils returned fully completed questionnaires, an average of 24 pupils per class.
4. 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. Its staff include Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI), who draw on inspection evidence to report on good practice in schools and on a wide range of educational issues.
