Too many lessons 'dull and uninspiring', Ofsted says

Pupils at school in England are facing too many "dull and uninspiring lessons", say Ofsted inspectors.The quality of teaching is too "variable", says the education watchdog as it publishes its annual report."The weakest area and the area I'm most concerned about is teaching," says chief inspector Christine Gilbert.The National Union of Teachers said teachers did an "amazing job" and inadequate teaching was the exception rather than the rule.In schools, Ofsted found that teaching in 50% of secondary schools inspected in the past year and 43% of primary schools was no better than satisfactory."Too much teaching is still not good enough and does not deliver what we now expect of it," said Ms Gilbert."It is true that we expect more from schools and colleges today and more from our teachers. But we also know a lot more about how to deliver good, inspiring lessons that motivate and engage children, young people and adult learners."It's vital that teachers are supported to provide them as a matter of course."She said that too many schools, even those rated good, "tolerate pockets of poor teaching".

The report also noted that teaching was often weak in schools where behaviour was poor.'Sensationalist spin'It comes a day before the government is due to publish a White Paper on schools reform, including a shake-up of teacher training.The Ofsted report called for more work to disseminate best practice on teaching within and between schools.Education Secretary Michael Gove said the report was "a ringing endorsement" of government plans to allow senior staff to observe more lessons"Too much teacher training involves... teachers being told how to comply with government criteria... teachers need to learn from other teachers," said Mr Gove.However, Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said government targets contributed to dull lessons."When you look beyond the sensationalist spin on the quality of teaching on our schools, 'inadequate teaching' is the exception rather than the rule," she said.

"If there is anything that is 'dull and uninspiring' in our schools it is a curriculum that is narrowed by the series of hoops that schools have to jump through in order to satisfy arbitrary targets which can change with alarming regularity," she said.Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said judgements about the quality of teaching and learning were still too often based on "snap-shot impressions of excerpts of lessons".

Tougher inspections

Overall across England, including schools inspected in previous years, Ofsted said 68% of schools were now rated either good or outstanding.This year, Ofsted has toughened its inspections and has targeted them more on schools rated inadequate and adequate than in previous years.This means this year's figures are not directly comparable to previous years.Schools previously rated good or outstanding were given limited checks, rather than full inspections.When these schools were included, Ofsted said that the overall profile of schools' quality remained similar to last year - with 18% classed as outstanding, 47% as good, 29% satisfactory and 6% inadequate.However, the number of schools in special measures has risen from 193 to 300, while the number given "notice to improve" has risen from 167 to 276.

Mr Gove said this was "simply unacceptable", even given the new inspection regime.

However, Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: "Once again Ofsted seems to enjoy denigrating the standard of schools in England regardless of the reality and its own findings... we should be celebrating that so many schools are doing so well."The report also points out that schools in poorer areas still lag behind those in wealthier ones, with 71% of schools serving the most advantaged pupils classed as good or outstanding, compared to 46% serving the least advantaged.

More kids eat dinner from Uncle Sam

13 states, plus D.C., provide after-school supper programs

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. - While the other preschoolers were warming up to the vegetable pesto lasagna, 3-year-old Avery Bennett dove in with no hesitation.

"Can I have some more lasagna?" Bennett said from her booster seat. "I love it."

She moved on to her seconds, and the other kids at the evening care program in Brattleboro were also chomping down the dish made of spinach, peppers, carrots, tomato, fresh basil and cheese.

More low-income school kids could soon have access to free nutritious dinners like the lasagna that Avery loved. A U.S. Department of Agriculture program in Vermont, 12 other states and the District of Columbia provides reimbursements for the suppers, served at after-school programs for at-risk kids in communities where at least 50 percent of households fall below the poverty level.

"What it allows us to do is provide those kids with an extra nutritious meal before they go home because some kids go home to nothing," said Susan Eckes, director of child nutrition programs for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada in McCarran, Nev.

Around the country, about 49,000 children benefit from the after-school meals each day. The program is expected to cost a total of $8 million from 2009 to 2013, the USDA said.

With more families losing jobs and homes, the need is growing, officials said.

The number of Americans who live in food-insecure households — which at times don't have enough nutritious food — rose from 36 million people in 2007 to 49 million in 2008, according to the most recent report from USDA's Economic Research Service.

Among those, 16.7 million were children, up from 12.4 million in 2007.

Nearly one in four children in the U.S. are food insecure and about one in five live in poverty, according to a report from Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks around the country.

"As the economy gets worse, we're seeing more and more kids," said Beth Baldwin-Page, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro.

In East Prairie, Mo., kids who may have skipped the meal from time to time are coming every day, said Lester Gillespie, youth program director at the Susanna Wesley Family Learning Center, which serves 150 meals a day at two sites to kids age 5 to 18.

A lack of nutritious food, especially in the first three to five years, can have lasting effects on the health and development of children. Filling their stomachs with nutritional meals helps them learn and concentrate, officials have said.

"What we've noticed is that when kids are eating nutritional meals, they tend not to get involved in negative activities such as doing graffiti or committing delinquent acts because when their stomach is full they make good decisions," said Gillespie.

Programs in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and now in Vermont are eligible for reimbursement for suppers.

The USDA requires the sites to offer nutritionally balanced suppers with milk, a protein, fruit, vegetables and bread or a grain item.

Delaware, where the supper program is one of the fastest-growing child nutrition programs in the state, has gone a step further, prohibiting the use of any grain product that contains more than 6 grams of sugar or any product where more than 35 percent of calories are derived from fat.

The Brattleboro Boys & Girls Club started offering dinners on its own two and a half years ago. When it learned the supper program was being expanded to Vermont, it applied for and just starting getting the federal reimbursement of $2.68 per meal.

Three days a week, the club offers dinners feeding 40 to 60 kids on a Thursday night to up to 100 on Friday.

"It's popular. Unfortunately, it's necessary," said Ricky Davidson, unit director.

"We see families getting evicted left and right. They don't have a place to live, let alone cook food," Baldwin-Page said.

Bernie Parent, 18, of Brattleboro has relied on the meals since he and his mother became homeless last year.

Now living on his own in an apartment, going to high school, and working at the Boys & Girls Club, he still relies on the three free dinners each week.

"It helps out a lot," he said.