Ofsted continues to publish its subject reports. We have already seen the results of its investigations into science, maths and history. Now the speed of publication has picked up. Three reports, published last term, tackled music, PE and geography.
Each report covers primary and secondary education and builds on subject research reviews already published by Ofsted (see below for a link to all the documents). They are essential reading for subject leaders as they give us an indication of current Ofsted thinking and include examples of what the authors consider to be good practice. However, it is made clear that the reports do not represent a tick-list of what schools should and shouldn’t be doing.
Regularly mentioned in these reports is the overarching importance of building on and developing prior knowledge. Inspectors consider it good practice prioritising the methodical build-up of procedural as well as substantive knowledge over time. An additional theme in the music, PE and geography reports is the importance of depth over breadth. All three reports are critical of schools which have tried to cover too many instruments, sports or too much ground without ensuring that pupils have the background skills needed.
The music report
The trend of catchy report titles continues with a report entitled Striking the right note. This is the follow up to the research review published in 2021 and a National Music Education Plan (DfE, 2022).
A strength for many schools was singing and the weakest area, in the view of inspectors, was composition. There were glimpses of “passionate” music provision successfully delivered but, overall, the report presents a picture of a patchy music curriculum: “We found a thriving and strong musical culture in around a quarter of the primary schools we visited.”
The report is critical of pupils having “shallow encounters” with too many instruments. Praise is given to those schools where leaders understood that getting better at an instrument takes time and the number of instruments pupils were learning was reduced.
Most schools were using commercially published schemes that covered the national curriculum. Teachers found these to be beneficial due to their own lack of subject knowledge and confidence. Non-specialists were delivering the curriculum in more than two-thirds of the primary schools visited. CPD tended to focus on how to carry out the school’s adopted scheme rather than developing teacher expertise.
Modelling and musical demonstration is important as pupils often do not have enough to draw on themselves and inexperienced teachers find this difficult. Leaders and teachers did not always understand the procedural and declarative knowledge needed to make progress in music.
Assessment was a weak area of music education, according to the report, with only half of schools engaged in summative assessment. Where assessment was in place it tended to focus on what had been covered rather than what had been learned. Only half of schools offered extra-curricular opportunities.
Local music hubs were supportive in helping pupils to learn to play an instrument, but links had been ended in some cases due to budget pressures.
Recommendations for schools
- Ensure there are end-points in performance, composition and listening work and that the knowledge and skills needed to reach these are set out.
- Ensure on-going feedback is provided to pupils.
- Ensure the curriculum builds, incrementally, pupils’ knowledge of the technical and constructive aspects of music.
- Ensure teachers routinely demonstrate what high-quality musical responses sound like and the processes for achieving those outcomes.
- Seek the support of local music hubs and other sources of expertise.
- Support subject leaders to develop the curriculum.
- Continuously develop teachers’ subject knowledge.
- Make sure that all pupils can develop their musical talents and interests through extra-curricular activities, instrumental and vocal lessons.
The PE report
The last Ofsted report into PE was issued in 2012. More than a decade on and this report, entitled Levelling the playing field, is based on findings from 25 primary schools and 25 secondary school visited between November 2022 and June 2023.
Most primary schools teach PE for two hours a week and it is recognised that in most cases schools are aiming to give pupils experience of a wide range of sports or physical activities.
However, the report is critical of this: “This means that, for many pupils, the curriculum design does not give them the time they need to build knowledge and develop relative fluency before moving on to a new activity that requires prior learning.”
Many schools do not match the ambition of the national curriculum, with limited opportunities for dance and OAA (outdoor adventurous activities).
Football featured in nearly every curriculum as part of teaching pupils about attack and defence. The average number of sports and physical activities that pupils were exposed to within an academic year was 10.
Pupils lacked the foundational knowledge needed for the next stage and there were significant gaps in motor confidence. Inspectors gave a thumbs up, however, for extra-curricular provision although said that schools did not sufficiently monitor attendance at these or check for inclusion.
There was insufficient attention to addressing misconceptions and gaps in knowledge and this was particularly the case when it came to pupils with SEND. A better use of assessment could help address these issues: “Pupils’ verbal recall of what they had learned in PE lessons was inconsistent,” the report adds.
Rules, strategies and tactics were strong when it came to invasion games but limited in relation to other activities. And not enough was being done to identify and support weaker swimmers who may not have other opportunities to learn to swim.
In many schools where lessons involved competition, inspectors said they lacked a clear purpose and there was a tendency for pupils not to have sufficient skills to participate fully as there were too many unfamiliar features.
Weakness in assessment practice included:
- Not setting out clearly what pupils were expected to know.
- Being focused on enjoyment.
- Assessment information not being used in subsequent teaching.
Although school leaders were clear about the importance of PE this was not always translated into practice. Many staff felt they lacked equipment and facilities.
Recommendations for schools
- Ensure what pupils need to know is carefully sequenced and taught – particularly when it comes to swimming and water safety, dance and OAA.
- Ensure what pupils need to know is clearly defined and use this information to support planning and assessment.
- Ensure there is greater emphasis on developing confidence – securing prior learning first before moving on. This could mean reducing the number of sports included.
- Ensure they improve support for the teaching of SEND pupils.
- Ensure there is challenge and gaps in knowledge and misconceptions are addressed.
- Ensure all pupils have the knowledge to participate well in competitions.
- Ensure there is better use of assessment information.
- Ensure monitoring and evaluation focus on the quality of what pupils know and can do.
The geography report
The geography subject report, Getting our bearings, builds on the geography research review published in 2021. The report points out that there have been improvements to the geography curriculum in most schools but there are difficulties ensuring that content builds on previous topics.
There was wide variation in the amount of time dedicated by schools to geography: “When schools combined history and geography into a topic, history usually took precedence, and little geography was taught.”
The subject of “Place”, the report indicates, was often poorly planned resulting in a narrow and simplistic view. Some pupils made sweeping generalisations and misconceptions passed on by parents were not being addressed.
The national curriculum directs primary schools to study a region in the UK, a region in a European country, and a region in North or South America. Most schools did not identify a region but taught about the entire country which created problems in covering important concepts.
Many schools were teaching beyond the national curriculum including countries in Africa. This then created some difficulties for secondary schools in terms of building on geographical knowledge rather than repeating content. Schools were introducing pupils to ambitious and specialist language.
School leaders needed to look at the aims of the national curriculum to help them decide what to teach about a topic. The report is critical where content was chosen simply because it linked in with another subject, as this meant that it become nothing more than “isolated facts about a range of places or topics”.
Fieldwork was underdeveloped in almost all schools with field trips replacing geographical fieldwork. Pupils might go out of schools on a visit but did not carry out geographical work. The report said that fieldwork needs to be built into the curriculum and does not always mean pupils going out of school. For example, they can collect data from their classroom or school grounds.
Recommendations for schools
- Consider how pupils will build on knowledge over a series of topics and apply what they have learnt.
- Make sure pupils learn about the same places at different times and in different contexts.
- Plan procedural knowledge in the same way as substantive knowledge.
- Teach pupils about fieldwork.
- Plan transition between key stages to avoid repetition.
- Identify likely misconceptions in each topic.
- Ensure pupils have opportunities to apply what they have been taught.
- Consider the prior knowledge that pupils need for different classroom activities.
- Inform summative judgements with reliable and accurate assessment.
- Ensure that enough time is given to geography.
- Support subject leaders in having a better understanding of geography’s curriculum concepts.
- Provide time, resources and CPD for fieldwork.
- Suzanne O’Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher. Read her previous articles for Headteacher Update via www.headteacher-update.com/authors/suzanne-oconnell
Further reading from Headteacher Update
- DfE: The power of music to change lives: A national plan for music education, 2022: https://tinyurl.com/3vdrv2wc
- Ofsted: Access all of Ofsted’s research reviews and the subject reports published so far: http://tinyurl.com/2htdndfz