Underperforming schools need more support to avoid downward spiral

an image of a school art block - Schools with consistently less than "good" Ofsted grades will find it difficult to improve without further support, according to new research led by IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society. Published today, the report "'Stuck' schools: Can below good Ofsted inspections prevent sustainable improvement?" explores the underperformance of 580 schools in England that consistently received less than "good" Ofsted inspection grades between 2005 to 2018. It found that schools that receive a series of below "good" Ofsted grades, so either "requires improvement" or "inadequate", often end up in a cycle of challenging circumstances - including higher teacher turnover, higher levels of disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs - with limited improvement. However, the report also found that schools of this kind are not unique, and while many other schools share most of these challenges, a continuous cycle of less than "good" inspection judgements is possible to avoid. To establish the findings, the researchers identified and analysed the data behind 580 'stuck' schools, compared with schools that were not 'stuck'. This was combined with stakeholders' experiences and focus groups with 16 case study schools. The team found that after the initial negative Ofsted grade, the intake of a school tends to become more disadvantaged, with an increase in teacher turnover - both of which contribute to the difficulty in reversing the negative Ofsted judgement.