Eng: We are so lucky in England to have Ofsted inspection focused on 'deep dives' for reading instruction and outcomes

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Eng: We are so lucky in England to have Ofsted inspection focused on 'deep dives' for reading instruction and outcomes

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

We are truly lucky in England as our statutory National Curriculum for English for Key Stage One (infants) and Key Stage Two (juniors) is based on the Simple View of Reading model, and the latest 2019 Inspection Framework makes it very clear that systematic synthetic phonics provision is expected to start at the beginning of Reception (four to five year olds) with all staff having an expertise in phonics.

Gill Jones, Deputy Director of Early Childhood for Ofsted, writes about the latest focus for inspection in primary schools and early years settings:

https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk ... framework/
Early reading and the education inspection framework

Gill Jones
Deputy Director
Early Childhood
Gill Jones, our Deputy Director for Early Education, sets out how we look at early reading and phonics teaching as part of our new inspections.
As I write, many schools will already have had an inspection under the new education inspection framework (EIF). A large proportion of those are primary schools.

If you’re reading this and work in a primary, junior, infant or lower middle school, you should be aware that the new EIF includes a reading deep dive. The reading deep dive is a mandatory part of the new inspections in these schools. Inspectors will look at 7 aspects of early reading, as set out in paragraph 298 of the school inspection handbook.

If you've not looked at this section of the handbook yet, then do; it sets out what inspectors will be considering when they look at how well the school teaches children to read from the beginning of Reception.

We’ve made the early reading deep dive mandatory because it’s so important that children learn to read fluently as quickly as possible. Inevitably, fluent readers will learn more, because they can read and gain knowledge for themselves.

All inspectors have been trained to focus on the things that make the biggest difference, drawing on the evidence set out in our report ‘Bold beginnings: the Reception curriculum in a sample of good and outstanding primary schools’.

To prevent myths being created, I’ve set out here what inspectors will be looking at during deep dives into early reading. They will consider the extent to which:
Do read Gill's full post - it isn't long and it has links to important documents for the teaching profession in England - and hopefully other countries will follow this example of valuing the teaching of foundational literacy - well - for every child regardless of background.

Here is 'paragraph 298' in the Ofsted School Inspection Framework as mentioned in Gill's post:

298. In reaching an evaluation against the ‘quality of education’ judgement, inspectors will consider whether:

◼ the school is determined that every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their background, needs or abilities. All pupils, including the weakest readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations

◼ stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction are chosen for reading to develop pupils’ vocabulary, language comprehension and love of reading. Pupils are familiar with and enjoy listening to a wide range of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction

◼ the school’s phonics programme matches or exceeds the expectations of the national curriculum and the early learning goals. The school has clear expectations of pupils’ phonics progress term-by-term, from Reception to Year 2

◼ the sequence of reading books shows a cumulative progression in phonics knowledge that is matched closely to the school’s phonics programme. Teachers give pupils sufficient practice in reading and re-reading books that match the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they know, both at school and at home

◼ reading, including the teaching of systematic, synthetic phonics, is taught from the beginning of Reception
105 Wherever possible, inspectors should listen to children read in a classroom or in an open area with which pupils are familiar. The length of time a pupil has attended the school should be taken into consideration.

◼ the ongoing assessment of pupils’ phonics progress is sufficiently frequent and detailed to identify any pupil who is falling behind the programme’s pace. If they do fall behind, targeted support is given immediately

◼ the school has developed sufficient expertise in the teaching of phonics and reading.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: We are so lucky in England to have Ofsted inspection focused on 'deep dives' for reading instruction and outcom

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Gill Jones' post refers to the 'Bold Beginnings' report (2017) that was quite controversial in the early years sector.

Here is the link to the report and responses to it:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=921&p=1729#p1729
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: We are so lucky in England to have Ofsted inspection focused on 'deep dives' for reading instruction and outcom

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Here is another thread featuring the 2019 Ofsted Framework for Inspection:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1234
Geoff Vaughan
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Re: Eng: We are so lucky in England to have Ofsted inspection focused on 'deep dives' for reading instruction and outcom

Post by Geoff Vaughan »

I really liked and agree with your wish that: 'hopefully other countries will follow this example of valuing the teaching of foundational literacy - well - for every child regardless of background.'
It is also my sincere hope and is the focus for a lot of the initial work I am trying to do to broaden the understanding of the great deal of work that has been done in England over the past 15 years to transform the approach to teaching reading. This forum is such an ideal place to share these findings with colleagues around the world who will, I hope, find real value in them for their own contexts.
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Eng: We are so lucky in England to have Ofsted inspection focused on 'deep dives' for reading instruction and outcom

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Hi Geoff, I'm cross-referencing this thread with one started based on your circulation of Jenny Chew's piece (UK Reading Reform Foundation site) describing developments in England from 1998 to 2018.

Thank you for flagging up this interesting piece on the important developments in England's context. Very sadly, this is not the picture across the whole of the United Kingdom:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1354&p=2780#p2780
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