Secretary of State Michael Gove today announced that schools will no longer have to spend days and thousands of pounds collecting information for the SEF. He said he had asked Ofsted to “ditch” the form.
The change is being made as part of the Government’s campaign to reduce school bureaucracy, and further announcements are expected during the autumn. Mr Gove told a conference today: “The Coalition Government trusts teachers to get on with their job. That’s why we are taking steps to reduce the bureaucracy they face and giving them the powers they need to do a good job. We believe that teachers – not bureaucrats and politicians – should run schools.”
Welcoming the decision, Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT, said: "This is good news. It will result in more self evaluation and more meaningful self evaluation, a process which is at the heart of school improvement.
“NAHT welcomes the removal of the bureaucratic, form filling one-size-fits-all approach. It is now up to schools and groups of schools to develop their own models of self evaluation, which suit their own needs and context; models which stimulate the deep reflection, challenge and learning which the profession is longing for.”
Heads also welcomed the change. Kate Dethridge, Head of Churchend Primary in Reading, said: “Removing the SEF will free up huge amounts of time – many heads spend most of their summer holidays updating the SEF, then you would need at least two or three senior management meetings to discuss it.”
Heads, teachers and governors will now be able to use their own approaches to review and evaluate their school’s performance.
In a letter to Christine Gilbert, HM Chief Inspector, Mr Gove said: “As we both agree, we need to ensure that we refocus inspection on the principal purpose of schools improving teaching and learning, and dramatically reduce the time and energy spent on other existing bureaucratic duties..
“As the next step in helping to drive up standards and reduce bureaucracy, I wanted to … let you know.. that I intend later today to announce plans to remove the School Self Evaluation Form.
“This is an important first step in a series of changes that I intend to make to remove central prescription, which will enable schools to concentrate on the things that really matter and not be distracted by extensive guidance and form filling.
“As you have identified previously in your Annual Report, schools are now very familiar with self-evaluation and your evidence shows that this has become a more effective aspect of reviewing performance. Freeing up schools to develop tailored approaches which fit with their own local monitoring arrangements will signal that we recognise the progress that most schools are making in effectively monitoring their own performance.” He added that schools and local authorities could share best practice, and that he knew Ms Gilbert would be looking at how inspections would be efficiently carried out without the use of a standardised form.
The Department for Education says the school system generally will benefit from this new flexibility and freedom to tailor self-evaluation to meet individual needs, rather than a centrally-determined “one size fits all” approach.
However, the online SEF database will be available from Ofsted throughout the current academic year, and schools will be able to use any of its elements to plan their own self-assessment arrangements.
To read the NAHT Press Release on this story, visit the attached link
