Hiring more teachers and teaching assistants is parents’ top priority for Department for Education spending, according to a report published today.
The report also revealed less than half of the 1,000 parents polled were aware of the Ofsted inspection rating of their child’s school - and that word of mouth and location were the biggest factors in choosing a primary school.
When asked what the government should prioritise spending new education funding on, the top two answers provided by parents were “hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes” and “hiring more teaching assistants to provide more one-to-one or small group support”.
The report, published today by think tank Public First, is focused on primary schools and, as well as the survey data, includes responses from focus groups in “Red Wall” constituencies.
Parents not interested in school structures
It said that parents across its focus groups “could not have been less interested in debates around academies, free schools or grammar schools”.
This comes after various education secretaries over the past year have set out a goal for all schools to be moved into multi-academy trusts (MATs) and talked about the potential expansion of grammar schools.
Since Rishi Sunak replaced Liz Truss as prime minister, the grammar schools focus appears to have been dropped, and there is uncertainty around the government’s ambition for a MAT-led system following the withdrawal of the Schools Bill.
The Public First report suggests that parents in their focus groups care little about either policy.
It said: “These perennial debates in education policy circles mean almost nothing to parents in thinking about their children’s education.
“There is substantial room here for pragmatism - arguing against ideological system change for the sake of it, and in favour of evidence-based improvements to the current system.
“Parents simply want what is best for their children, and do not seem to have strong ideological views on how that should be achieved.”
Parents admire teachers, particularly after pandemic
The report said that parents had strong admiration and respect for teachers and teaching assistants, in particular for the support they offered during the Covid pandemic.
In focus groups, some said they felt that staff pay wasn’t enough given the current rate of inflation and the expectations of the role.
Parents were asked to rate their child’s teachers on a scale of one to five, with one being very good. More than 70 per cent of respondents gave teachers the highest two ratings.
Word of mouth and proximity drives primary school choice
The report found that “word of mouth and local reputation were king when selecting schools”.
Ofsted inspection outcomes were used by some parents, whereas Sats scores were “almost universally ignored”.
The polling shows that how close a school was to home and its local reputation were the most commonly given reasons for choosing it - at 60 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.
Ofsted was mentioned by a third of parents and league table results were highlighted by just one in 10.
The polling also found that when asked whether parents knew their child’s school’s Ofsted result, more than half (52 per cent) said they did not.
Political parties ‘should look at Ofsted reform’
The Public First report says that it saw almost no support for the abolition of Ofsted.
However, polling also showed that more than half (56 per cent) of parents felt the watchdog gave an accurate description of a school’s performance, while 21 per cent said they did not know.
The report said: “While there is a clear need to consider the impact of Ofsted on schools, and particularly the workload of teachers and leaders, we believe this thinking should be combined with an analysis of how Ofsted could improve engagement with parents.
“In line with many of our other recommendations, we sensed from parents a strong desire for greater simplicity and clarity when having Ofsted’s findings communicated to them, as well as a low level of understanding about what they do in practice, how often they inspect and what judgements really meant.”
The report said that, based on the findings, there was an argument for “more frequent, lighter touch health checks and safeguarding inspections for all, to increase reassurance to parents while reducing the burdens on schools associated with it”.
Parents value life skills and traditional subjects
The report also highlights how parents responding to the poll “reject the usual dichotomy between traditional education and 21st-century skills”.
When asked what schools should focus on, the most popular answer was: “Life skills that help you deal with obstacles in life, eg, problem solving, creativity, communication and influencing.”
But this was closely followed by core academic results, for example, in English and maths.
The focus groups also highlighted concerns about the narrowing of the curriculum with concerns that the arts and PE had been squeezed out.
The polling used a nationally representative sample of 1,000 parents, with a booster sample of parents from “Red Wall” constituencies.
The Public First report adds: “This booster sample does not skew the national results but does enable us to examine opinions specific to the Red Wall with greater confidence.”
