ADF0052

Written evidence submitted by Sylvie Sklan

1.00              Introduction and background

1.01              The academy programme has provided a unique opportunity to establish publicly funded schools that offer the Steiner curriculum. We believe that the expansion of Steiner provision under the academies programme would be a good thing. We have evidence of significant national demand from parents for the creation of further Steiner Academies. We also have emergent evidence that Steiner Academies are ‘narrowing the gap’ through an approach that starts formal learning later, yet enables their students to achieve excellent outcomes over a broad range of competencies.

1.02              When Ministers agreed to establish a first Steiner academy in the very early days of the academy programme, this represented a radical and progressive step. It came about as a result of our successful lobbying effort to find a way to publicly fund schools that offer a curriculum other than the national curriculum.  It required Ministers to make several radical exceptions to the norm, in particular the disapplication of the national curriculum, but also exemption from KS1 SATs, QTS and teacher pay and conditions. Subsequently the removal of these requirements has become the norm, although this is now under review.  These flexibilities remain key to allowing more diverse provision, irrespective of whether flexibilities are achieved through deregulation or through effective systems for allowing for exceptions to a more regulated framework.

1.03              Steiner academies are still a very small part of the academy programme. The Steiner Academy Hereford (SAH) was the first publicly funded Steiner school in the UK. It was established in 2008as a conversion from an independent school.    It is an all-though academy to 16 with capacity for 330 pupils. From the outset about one third of pupils have been on the academy’s SEN register. Also from the outset demand has outstripped supply with the academy having to hold waiting lists for all its year groups.  In 2011 the Steiner Academy Frome (SAF) was opened, with places for young children only, but with a plan to grow to become an all-through academy from 4-16 with 624 places by 2020. In Sept 2012 another Steiner academy opened in Exeter, with similar limited provision to begin with and a plan to grow to offer two-form entry from 4 - 16.  A fourth Steiner academy is due to open in Bristol next September. The level of parental demand for a place in the Steiner Academies is high and so far the evidence is that demand outstrips supply.  Demand data for Steiner Academies that are being proposed also are significantly high.Given that there is concern that some approved Free Schools proposals are not able to match their demand survey with an ability to fill all their places when they open, it should be noted that demand for Steiner education seems to translate into a new Steiner Academy being able to fill its places as soon as it opens.

1.04              The supply of suitably qualified teachers and leaders is a challenge for us. We are working with higher education providers to develop new teacher training routes. SAH is registered as a School Direct provider, partnered with Worcester University. Canterbury University offers a Masters in Steiner Education and the University of the West of England is now offering a Steiner education specialism within its existing B Ed degree course.

2.00              The effectiveness of academisation in narrowing the gap for disadvantaged children

2.01              The ‘academisation’ of provision that previously was available only outside the mainstream clearly increases parental choice and makes available a different route to successful outcomes. In its recent OFSTED report (July 2013) the Steiner Academy Hereford (SAH)was deemed to be a good school, with the Inspector’s report stating:

“This is a good school”… “Teachers have excellent relationships with pupils”… “Pupils are happy and have a great enjoyment of learning.”

“Pupils achieve well throughout the school, reaching above the expected levels in English and mathematics and in the other subjects that they take in Year 11”

“Pupils who have disabilities and those who have special educational needs also make good and sometimes outstanding progress.”

“Pupils’ artistic and practical achievements are impressive and are reflected in older students’ high grades in their GCSE work and their excellent singing and drama.”

“Older students develop strong independent working and thinking skills… [and]… go on to successfully study and achieve wide ranging qualifications at GCE A level and beyond.”

“Pupils develop a very high degree of regard for others and of self-awareness”

“Older pupils look after each other and have great empathy for others’ points of view.”

The latest GCSE results from SAH show 80% of the students gained the expected benchmark % GCSEs at A* - C including English and maths) with over half doing so at Grades A/A*. These results are substantially above national averages (67%). Students in receipt of Pupil Premium did as well as their peers.

2.02              Emergent findings,based on data from SAH,show that the Steiner approach is successfully narrowing the gap for disadvantaged pupils.  Data show that pupils make significant improvements in their cognitive abilities between Year 7 – 9 as measured by CATs when compared to pupils in other schools. The improvements are similar to improvements achieved through specific programmes which focus on cognitive acceleration and the development of thinking skills (such as CASE, P4C and others).  SEN pupils show a particular improvement and pupils in receipt of targeted funding (Pupil Premium) made progress equal to their peers. Also, when compared to pupils in other schools, SAH pupils, including those on the SEN register and FSM pupils, significantly exceed the CATs predictors of their GCSE performance.

2.03              There is evidence from other sources that the Steiner curriculum may support cognitive acceleration, including the following:  socially disadvantaged pupils in Steiner schools do better than comparable students in neighbouring schools (Schieffer and Busse, 2001, McDermott 1996, Byers et al 1996); non-gifted Steiner students showed characteristics of the creative behaviour of gifted students in other schools (Hutchingson and Hutchingson,1993); scientific reasoning of Steiner school students was found to be superior to their mainstream counterparts (Jelinek and Sun, 2003)


2.04              The fact that demand for school transfer admissions is high indicates that parents perceivethat the Steiner approach is able to reach children who are not flourishing in standard model schools. There is a high volume of admission inquiries at SAH and SAF for school transfers throughout the school year from parents who say that they want their child to be educated at the Steiner Academy because their child is not flourishing in their current school. Hence the waiting lists for all year groups.

2.05              We believe that schools which are delivering an innovative or non-mainstream curriculum and educational practices should maximise the contribution that they make to the general raising of standards by participating in research, evaluation and sharing of practice, and that they should be supported in this by the developmentof appropriate national programmes for collaborative research and development.

3.00              What further steps should be taken within the academies system to bring about a bigger contribution from the Steiner approach?

3.01              We have evidence of significant national demand from parents for the creation of further Steiner Academies. We also have evidence of considerable interest and support for the development of the Steiner Academies from teachers and senior leadership staff currently working within mainstream education.However, any expansion will rely on retaining and refining the flexibilities that we negotiated for the first Steiner Academy as listed in para 1.02 above.

3.02              Other suggested steps to support expansion:

4.00              The process for approving, compelling and establishing academies and free schools, including working with sponsors

4.01              Existing independent Steiner schools have ended up in the private sector because historically there has been nowhere else for them to go.  They have struggled there and are not well resourced. However, with the investment of properresources, an existing Steiner school would have the potential to deliver immediate state-funded provision across a full range of year groups, rather than opening with only small range as is the case for most new Academies.  Also, Steiner schools historically have developed an extremely high level of commitment and engagement among parents. Bringing this culture of parental engagement and commitment into the state sector could have significant effects on pupil achievement.We would like to suggest more flexible prerequisites for cash-poor, experience-rich private schools wishing to convert to an academy

4.03              The Steiner Academies sector is still emerging and is developing its framework of policy and practice. To dateSteiner Academies have been created by independent groups, working within an informal framework of quality assurance supported by the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship. The recognition that the resources of the SWSF (and other small charities) as a sponsor are very limited.  However, we want to develop a more consistent and transparent framework of standards and quality assurance for state-funded Steiner education.

5.00              The functions and responsibilities in relation to academies and free schools of local authorities and other organisations operating between the Secretary of State and individual schools; what these functions and responsibilities should be; and what gaps there are in support for schools at this level

5.01              Parents perceive Steiner academies as offeringa caring and gentle environment that would be highly appropriate for children with SEN. As a result, Steiner Academies cannot meet the current level of demand that exists from parents who wish to name a Steiner Academy in a statement of SEN. For us, akey point of interdependency with the LA that could be improved is the process for naming of theAcademy in a statement of SEN. As an Academy, the school has the right to challenge the naming of the school where admitting the child would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for other children and where no reasonable steps may be made to secure compatibility (Annex 3 of the FA).If an Academy does not consent to be named on a Statement of SEN, and the LA disagrees, the LA should not go ahead and name the Academy regardless. However, this does not always happen. Systems need to be tightened upto prevent a LA naming an academy where the academy has not consented.

5.02              In a landscape of increasing diversity in educational provision, it might also be appropriate to consider a higher level of engagement between local authorities and individual schools, to map out the capacity and specialisms of schools across a local authority area in terms of fair access andmeeting the needs of children with statements of SEN in a more coherent, ‘joined-up’ way.

6.00              The role academy chains play or should play in the new school landscape

6.01              We believe that the Steiner academies have a valuable role to play in the new school landscape, and we feel that working together as a chain of schools could significantly improve our ability to deliver consistently excellent Steiner education. We have a vision for how the Steiner Academies might work together as a chain of schools to providequality control, collective training, curriculum development, assessment systems, procurement, etc.  This will reinforce our common purpose and strengthen our capacity to contribute to the over-all education landscape and the sharing of best practice; it will also generate significant economies of scale, enabling a higher proportion of funding to be spent directly on education, helping to raise standards.The availability of grant funding to support groups of existing academies in forming multi-academy trusts would help to roll out the benefits of collaboration and federation between academies more rapidly.

6.02              We have no objection in principle to these chains being accountable through an appropriate inspection regime. Where schools are working to innovative or non-standard curriculums,there could be significant benefits for both schools and those tasked with their inspection if such schools operated as chains within MATs or other models of federation, in that appropriate systems for assessing and evaluating pupil progress could be agreed with Ofsted and DfE across the chain of schools. This would provide better accountability for non-standard schools on the delivery of their chosen outcomes.

6.03              Our vision as a group of schools is for a relatively high level of delegation to individual schools, with an empowered and locally accountable governing body in each school.We feel that transparency and accountability at a local (ie single school) level is essential for parental engagement and trust.

7.00              The appropriateness of academy status for primary schools and what special factors apply; and what evidence there is that academy status can bring value for money either for individual primary schools or for the system as a whole

7.01              Steiner academies so far are all-though schools and therefore include primary provision. Currently a proposal is being prepared for Primary Steiner Academy.  If this proposal is approved then we would hope to be able to provide positive evidence regarding a Steiner primary academy contribution to primary provision locally.

8.00              SUMMARY

-              Development of those flexibilities which are key to allowing more diverse provision

-              Factoring that demand for Steiner education seems to translate into a new Steiner Academy being able to fill its places as soon as it opens when considering proposals further Steiner Academy

-              Support for the development of appropriate national programmes for collaborative educational development

-              More disaggregation of national assessment requirements from the national curriculum

-              The introduction of a clause in the Funding Agreement that states that pupils are following the Steiner curriculum

-              Giving greater weight in Ofsted inspections to a school’s own systems for assessing pupil progress

-              Adjustments to the inspection framework to compare like with like

-              More flexibilities regarding national expectations

-              A financial mechanism to address diseconomy of scale where the small size of an academy is inevitable

-              More flexible prerequisites for cash-poor, experience-rich private schools wishing to convert to an academy

-              Tightened up systems to prevent a LA naming an academy in a statement of SEN where the academy has not consented

-              The availability of grant funding to support groups of existing academies in forming multi-academy trusts. 

 

December 2013