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ITEM EX15

THE EXECUTIVE - 22 JANUARY 2002

THE EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2002 - 2007

Report by Acting Chief Education Officer

1. Education Development Plans (EDPs) were first introduced under sections 6 and 7 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (SSFA). The first Oxfordshire EDP (EDP1) covered a period of three years from April 1999 until July 2002. The Local Education Authority (LEA) is now required to produce a second EDP (EDP2), to cover the period 2002-2007, and submit it to the Department for Education & Skills (DfES) for approval by 31 January 2002.
   
   (Education Draft Plan documents (download as .rtf file))
   
2. The SSFA describes the purpose of the EDP as:

• to raise standards of education provided for children in the LEA's area;
• to improve the performance of schools maintained by the LEA

3. The proposals in the EDP 2002-07 therefore cover all pupils of compulsory school age in schools in the LEA's area and any nursery or sixth form pupils in schools maintained by the LEA. The EDP is also required to demonstrate clear links with the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership Plan including proposals for education for three and four year olds and the embedding of the Foundation stage. We are also required to make clear reference to the development of post 16 provision in the area.
4. A copy of the EDP 2002-07 consultation draft has been circulated to all members of the Council (Members are asked to retain their copy for future reference). Copies have also been placed on public deposit and in the Members’ Resource Centre.

EDP1 - 1999-2002

5. The Schools Performance & Quality Sub-Committee received a report on the 13 September 2001 detailing progress towards achieving targets for improved performance in EDP1. Briefly, this report concluded school performance is improving in Oxfordshire. The priorities set out in EDP1 were appropriate and action largely effective in raising standards in EDP1 priority areas, although not sufficiently to achieve consistently favourable comparison with statistical neighbours and to close the gender achievement gap.
6. Throughout the period of EDP1, the LEA improved the quality of its analysis of factors underlying underachievement in Oxfordshire. The LEA can now more successfully identify both schools with specific improvement needs and underachieving pupil groups and therefore can better target action to increase the rate of improvement. This provides the framework for the closely targeted action detailed throughout the proposed EDP2 to increase the rate of improvement in standards overall and to plan effective action in the new priority areas, which did not feature in EDP1, for key stage 3, key stage 4 and post 16 education.

The Structure and Content of EDP2 2002-07

7. DfES guidance requires us to produce a plan with the following elements:

1. Targets:

1. LEA targets for pupil achievement at the end of key stages 2, 3 and 4 and for children in care for 2003 and 2004;
2. Aggregated school performance targets for 2003 and 2004;
3. LEA targets for improving attendance;
4. Minority ethnic pupil performance targets.
2. Audit:

1. an analysis of local strengths and weaknesses including an evaluation of EDP1.
3. School Improvement Programme

1. Action to achieve improvement in five prescribed national priority areas and up to three local priority areas;
2. Detail of the activities for year one (2002-03) under each priority area.
   
   

The Five National Priorities

8. The five prescribed national priorities which all LEAs must address in their EDP are:

1. raising attainment in early years towards the early learning goals, and in primary education especially in numeracy and literacy;
2. raising attainment in key stage 3;
3. raising attainment in key stage 4;
4. narrowing the attainment gap/tackling underachievement;
5. support for schools causing concern.

Proposed action under each of these priorities, in Oxfordshire, reflects specific areas for improvement identified through local audit. For example, analysis of literacy attainment indicates that the development of writing, particularly for boys, must be an early focus in EDP2.

The Three Local Priorities

9. To ensure we do reach LEA targets for pupil achievement, three local priority areas are proposed which are considered key to securing the necessary improvements. These are:

1. raising standards through leadership and management development, increasing school capacity and capability for self generated, ongoing improvement;
2. supporting schools in securing the supply, recruitment and retention of well qualified teachers and support staff to enable schools to continue to raise standards for all;
3. improve schools, raise standards, and widen participation and inclusion through building Learning Communities.

Informal consultation with school representatives during the drafting of the proposed EDP2 indicated strong support for these locally selected priorities.

Action to Secure Improvement

10. Action specified in EDP2 will challenge and support schools to achieve necessary improvements. The following paragraphs summarise the intentions expressed in EDP2.
11. We will work with headteachers, senior and middle managers and governors to develop self improving schools through accessing and brokering a flexible approach to continuing professional development. There will be a focus on developing effective self evaluation in all schools and support to ensure this leads to focused action for improvement. Underachieving schools will be supported in monitoring, analysing and developing the quality of teaching and learning. The development of inclusive schools, improved analysis and use of data, effective resource deployment and the use of ICT to improve teaching and learning will receive particular attention. We will work with headteachers, senior managers and governors to ensure networks are facilitated to meet professional development needs.
12. We will support schools to recruit and retain well qualified teachers and support staff, particularly in those schools and communities where there are higher rates of underachievement.
13. We will help schools to build learning communities where there is strong community involvement, and particularly parental involvement, in their children's learning from the early years onwards. Community schools will encourage adults to become engaged in learning and to act as positive role models to children and young people. There will be a focus on creating strong partnerships with parents and local communities and other agencies to raise pupil achievement.
14. Action within all national priorities will address raising the quality of teaching and learning. For example, this will involve broadening the range of teaching and learning strategies in use in classrooms, especially at KS3, and particularly through disseminating Assessment for Learning approaches. Other actions will include introducing more early intervention programmes for underachieving pupils and improving subject knowledge for teachers of English and mathematics, especially in KS2.
15. A further key theme across all national priorities is to improve curriculum provision to more effectively engage pupils at risk of underachievement, particularly young people aged 14-19. For example, we will emphasise the development of a more flexible range of curriculum opportunities within schools for pupils at risk of disaffection and address with schools, where curriculum provision is identified as underdeveloped, ways of ensuring a broad, balanced and motivating curriculum for pupils.
16. We have mapped the particular nature of underachievement in Oxfordshire. Reducing unauthorised absence and improving school attendance at secondary level are particular priorities. We will target support to raise the achievement of the lowest achieving 20% of children through a focus on particular geographical areas (Oxford, Banbury, Bicester and South Abingdon). In taking this approach, support will be targeted to children who do not regularly attend school, children in public care, children with special educational needs, children whose behaviour presents a challenge in the classroom and those from particular ethnic minority groups (African Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Traveller children). There will be a particular emphasis on introducing teaching and learning strategies that are known to be effective in raising the achievement of boys and the more able.
17. Early identification of schools that may become a concern will be a prime focus for action and work to support those schools will be refined through the development of joint LEA/school "recovery" plans. We will focus on reducing the number of schools in special measures of serious weaknesses and removing them from these categories more rapidly through using research based best practice.

Consultation

18. EDP2 has been drafted in consultation with school representatives to ensure LEA action proposed does meet school needs for support.
19. The SSFA requires the LEA to consult formally with the governing body and headteacher of every maintained school, diocesan bodies, and other stakeholders (specified in DfES guidance). This consultation is underway and will run from 13 December 2001 to 11 January 2002. The outcomes of the consultation will be available by the 17 January 2002 and will be reported to the meeting.

EDP Links with Other Local Authority Plans

20. The proposed strategic objectives of Oxfordshire County Council include action to raise our performance in relation to:

• helping people to fulfil their potential;
• safeguarding our communities.

21. The County Council is currently working to secure a Public Service Agreement (PSA) which will contain challenging targets for raising our performance by 2005. The proposed PSA is likely to encompass targets, for example, to raise standards at KS4, improve attendance, reduce truancy and improve the achievement of children in public care. EDP2 will be instrumental in securing these aspects of improved local authority performance and has been designed to support proposed strategic objectives.
22. The Oxfordshire Plan 2001-06 (Best Value Performance Plan) summarises current local authority targets for improvement, including those to be achieved through schools, supported by the LEA. The Best Value Performance Plan sets out our targets for improving standards at KS2 and KS4, raising standards for under-achieving pupils and improving achievement post 16. EDP2 details action to deliver these improvements.

Financial Implications

23. The costs of supporting EDP2 (2002-07) priorities will remain broadly in line with those contained in EDP1 (1999-02). In 2001-02, LEA provision amounted to £2.84m with an additional £2.75m supported through Standards Fund grants. The Standards Fund grant allocations for 2002-03 (year one of EDP2) are some £2.1m higher than allocations in 2001-02 and the LEA will ensure they are maximised in support of EDP2.

Staff Implications

24. EDP2 has important implications for deployment of existing staffing resources against action to support target underachieving schools and pupil groups. Achieving the targets for improvement through the activities proposed for each priority will be challenging within the present staffing establishment.

Implications for People Living in Poverty

25. As underachievement is often associated with social and economic disadvantage, children living in poverty will often be highly represented within target groups for LEA action to raise standards. School improvement and resultant raised standards will act to improve the life chances of children living in poverty.

Approval for Submission

26. The Education Development Plan is one of those documents which Regulations made under the Local Government Act 2000 require to be approved by the full Council. It is therefore subject to the Budget and Policy Framework Procedure Rules in the Constitution, which require that the Executive’s proposals for any such document be submitted together with the results of any consultations to the relevant Scrutiny Committee for comments, and that the Executive consider those comments before the document is submitted to Council for approval.
27. The timetable prescribed by the current Education Development Plans Regulations clearly do not allow for this, and it is therefore suggested that the EDP2 be sent to DfES on a provisional basis to meet the Regulations deadline, with the promise of a confirming submission when the processes have been completed. This would mean referring the Plan to the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee on 12 March, reporting their comments to the Executive on 19 March, and making a recommendation to Council on 2 April.

RECOMMENDATIONS

28. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

1. (subject to consideration of any comments from consultees to be reported at the meeting) agree the draft discussed in the report as the Executive’s initial proposals for the Education Development Plan 2002-2007;
2. refer the draft, together with the outcome of consultations, to the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee, to make any comments in time for report to the Executive on 19 March 2002;
3. agree that in the meantime the draft agreed under (a) above be sent to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, on the basis outlined in the report, by the 31 January 2002 deadline.

ROY SMITH
Acting Chief Education Officer

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Louise Goll, Senior Adviser, Tel: 01865 428116

December 2001