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Tag: standards

EBacc may ‘constrain choices’, curriculum review chair says – Schools Week

The EBacc “may constrain” pupils’ choices and “limit access to” vocational and arts subjects, Professor Becky Francis has said as she outlined areas the curriculum and assessment review panel believe “need further attention”. Francis, who is leading the government’s curriculum and assessment review, also stated that “the current construction and balance” of some subjects “appears to be “inhibiting mastery, hindering progress and undermining standards”.

education, schools, standards

18/03/2025
UK universities warned to ‘stress-test’ assessments as 92% of students use AI – The Guardian

Students say they use genAI to explain concepts, summarise articles and suggest research ideas, but almost one in five (18%) admitted to including AI-generated text directly in their work. “When asked why they use AI, students most often find it saves them time (51%) and improves the quality of their work (50%),” the report said. “The main factors putting them off using AI are the risk of being accused of academic misconduct and the fear of getting false or biased results.” […]

Students generally believe their universities have responded effectively to concerns over academic integrity, with 80% saying their institution’s policy is “clear” and 76% believe their institution would spot the use of AI in assessments. Only a third (36%) of students have received training in AI skills from their university. “They dance around the subject,” said one student. “It’s not banned but not advised, it’s academic misconduct if you use it, but lecturers tell us they use it. Very mixed messages.”

AI, education, standards, students, universities

26/02/2025
Ofsted sets out proposals for fairer education inspections and new, more detailed report cards – GOV.UK

The Big Listen returned a clear message from parents, carers and professionals that the overall effectiveness grade should go, and that inspection reports should provide a more nuanced view of a provider’s strengths and areas for improvement. But there were different views on how to do that. Parents and carers favoured a clear assessment of a wider set of categories, while most professionals wanted narrative descriptions of performance. Today’s proposals aim to bring both preferences together.

education, Ofsted, schools, standards

03/02/2025
Ofsted offers first look at new report cards for schools – BBC News

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the plans would generate a “new league table based on the sum of Ofsted judgements across at least 40 points of comparison”. It would be “bewildering for teachers and leaders, never mind the parents whose choices these reports are supposedly intended to guide”, he added. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the plans would “do little to reduce the enormous pressure school leaders are under”. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the five-point grading scale “maintains the current blunt, reductive approach that cannot capture the complexity of school life nor provide more meaningful information to parents”.

education, Ofsted, schools, standards

03/02/2025
Improving the way Ofsted inspects education: consultation document – GOV.UK

The independent research we commissioned as part of the Big Listen polled other ways we could report on providers. Parents ranked ‘separate judgements for each inspection area’ highest (76% in favour). Professionals ranked this as the third highest (53% in favour). The highest rated options for professionals were ‘bullet point summaries of our findings’ (65% in favour) and ‘narrative descriptions’ (59% in favour). Taking this feedback into account, we propose using a 5-point scale to grade different areas of a provider’s work, such as ‘curriculum’ and ‘leadership’. Alongside grades, we will have short descriptions summarising our findings. These evaluations will make up our new education inspection report cards. There will be no overall effectiveness grade for early years, state-funded schools, non-association independent schools, FE and skills or ITE inspections.

education, Ofsted, schools, standards

03/02/2025
Ofqual to fine Pearson £250k over exams rules breaches – GOV.UK

The breaches, which occurred in 2023, included failing to identify conflicts of interest among GCSE, A level and BTEC examiners, who were also employed by Pearson as tutors at schools where students sat the exams. Pearson also failed to follow its own policies designed to ensure the confidentiality of exam papers.

education, exams, schools, standards

03/02/2025