At the beginning of 2019, Ofsted announced a new inspection framework. Among the many changes, the framework proposed a shift from judging ‘teaching, learning and assessment’ and ‘outcomes’ separately: they will now be considered as part of a broader view on the quality of education that pupils receive. Additionally, there will be a greater focus on the personal development of the pupils, as ‘behaviour and attitudes’ and ‘personal development’ will be assessed separately.

Consultation on the education inspection framework 2019

The framework has been designed to alleviate prevalent problems in our education system: it aims to help reduce unnecessary teacher workload, encourage a move from ‘teaching to the test’ and return the focus on the real substance of education. However, the change means that schools will now be held accountable for the personal development of their pupils, including nurturing pupils’ character and the development of their social and emotional skills.

At Franklin Scholars, our programme is based on our ABCD Shield of 24 valuable and malleable skills. This is the framework through which we train our Franklin Scholars, design our resources, and evaluate our work. It is also the framework of skills which our Franklin Scholars use to mentor and support their mentee – the core element of our programme. We assess our participants on the development of the skills and consistently find that particularly strong progress in levels of resilience, leadership, perseverance, confidence and communication skills.

Example of the improvement in the skills development of Franklin Scholars, based on self-report.

We are delighted that our programme aligns so closely to the new Ofsted framework. It means that we will now have a two-fold benefit for our partner schools: helping the pupils to develop vital life skills and helping the school to achieve the new Ofsted personal development requirements. Additionally, those working in education will be only too familiar with how it only takes a small group to spread a trend. Although we only work with cohorts of 30 or 60, we often find that our Franklin Scholars use their new-found skills around school, in class and with their peers, meaning a permeation into the school culture leading to a whole-school benefit. We are, therefore, greatly looking forward to the 2019/20 academic year and for the enhanced role we will play in the education system.