Estyn warns teaching must improve in half of Welsh secondaries

Estyn warned teaching must improve in half of secondary schools in Wales, with the inspectorate raising serious concerns about the quality of leadership.

Buffy Williams, who chairs the Senedd education committee, quizzed Estyn chiefs about 52% of secondary schools inspected receiving a recommendation to improve teaching.

Giving evidence on March 5, Estyn’s chief inspector Owen Evans said: “We try to focus on what matters and teaching, as you say, is absolutely at the heart of what we expect to see.

“Yes, it is a concern that so many recommendations are given to schools on what is a fairly basic tenet of what we should be doing.”

Claire Morgan, a strategic director at Estyn, said around 20% of primary schools also received a recommendation on teaching in the last academic year.

‘Weaknesses’

She warned of inconsistencies across secondaries, with schools failing to build on pockets of best practice due to weaknesses in self-evaluation.

Joel James said Estyn inspected 31 secondaries in 2023/24, with 10% requiring follow-up inspections, two in special measures and two others needing significant improvement.

The Tory asked: “Is that an anomaly in terms of previous years or … a general reflection?”

Ms Morgan said: “It’s been a very challenging time for secondary schools: they’re still grappling with curriculum reform, additional learning needs reform, qualifications reform.”

She added: “Across all secondary schools, it’s about 10% of them in the statutory category, so that is really concerning for us.”

‘Rising abuse’

Ms Morgan raised issues around attendance, particularly among pupils eligible for free school meals, as well as weaknesses on literacy, numeracy and Welsh-language skills.

She said: “When you put all of these issues together, you can identify some serious concerns about the quality of leadership.”

She warned of a lack of high-quality, subject-specific professional learning for teachers.

“The job is very demanding,” she said. “We are seeing children with increased and complex wellbeing needs and often teachers are dealing with those on a daily basis.”

On Tuesday, trade union NAHT Cymru warned of rising abuse from parents towards school staff, including verbal abuse, threats and even physical violence.

‘Plethora of priorities’

Mr Evans, who was himself expelled from school for pulling a prank on teachers, said Estyn would soon be publishing an in-depth thematic report on behavioural issues.

He told the committee: “Where we see that behaviour is less of a problem it’s where they have quite strong policies that have been developed with pupils and parents.”

Mr Evans, a former senior Welsh Government civil servant responsible for schools, warned of a “plethora of priorities” and called for a tighter focus over the long term.

Labour’s Carolyn Thomas asked about the main challenges in primary schools.

Ms Morgan said the key challenges include pupil progression, self-evaluation, improvement planning, consistency of teaching and Welsh skills in English-medium schools.

‘Relentless focus’

Pressed on literacy and numeracy by the Conservatives’ Natasha Asghar, Ms Morgan warned of weaknesses in higher-level reading skills across primary and secondary.

Raising concerns about too much variation and low standards in maths teaching, she said: “The only way we’re going to make progress on numeracy is to get mathematics right.”

The witnesses called for a relentless focus on reading and numeracy, with the chief inspector later warning of a recruitment and retention crisis in schools.

Mr Evans said Estyn aims to embed a supportive ethos, with interim inspections every three years as part of a six-year cycle rather than a “big bang” every eight years as before.

The former S4C boss said: “Last year, we introduced the interim visits, so instead of what was every eight years getting the magic call and the boots of Estyn are in your school – we’re trying to take the sting, we’re trying to take the anxiety out of it.”

By Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter