Poverty seems to be the hardest
word - For a useful article by Peter Wilby on how a
whole array of initiatives have not overcome the problem for
shcools with a very socially deprived intake visit www.tes.co.uk
(TES, 30 May 2003)
Government approaches:
Also see:
Primary schools are using covert selection to stop children
as young as five from poor backgrounds winning places at the
best institutions, according to a report published by ConfEd
in November 2005.
Schools are "unashamedly" manipulating poorer families
into not applying by demanding that pupils wear expensive
uniforms from specialist shops and that parents pay for school
fund contributions and music lessons.
The pressure to succeed in league tables has pushed primary
schools to adopt the tactics used by some secondary schools
to try to boost their intake of bright pupils from wealthier
backgrounds and limit the number of pupils likely to struggle.
The report warned that England is heading for an admissions
crisis where only parents who know how to play the system
will win places at the best schools because of the Government's
White Paper proposals (published November 2005) to allow all
24,000 of England's schools to run their own admissions.
(The Independent, 7 November 2005)
Plans to give disadvantaged children a better chance of a
place in a popular school were dropped from the October 2005
education white paper, because Tony Blair did not want to
offend the middle classes, The TES has revealed.
The Prime Minister baulked at forcing oversubscribed secondaries
to take an equal number of pupils from each ability range,
fearing such a move would be portrayed as social engineering
and an attack on school autonomy.
Early white paper drafts said "fair banding",
should be compulsory. But despite support from senior figures
in the Department for Education and Skills, the final version
pledged only to encourage schools to adopt the policy.
Conor Ryan, the Prime Minister's education adviser, and
Sir Cyril Taylor, chairman of the Specialist Schools and Academies
Trust, in their book, Excellence in Education, backed banding
as more equitable: "Without some form of banding and
wide catchments, specialist schools cannot create the choice
that is promised."
Ministers hope the white paper will reform the school system,
extend parental choice through new trust schools and tackle
underperforming schools through a tougher inspection regime.
It signals the death of community schools. All new schools
must become trust schools, free of local authority control
which can be run by businesses, churches, parents or voluntary
groups, or otherwise self-governing.
(TES, 28 October 2005)
No money and no confidence are major reasons why disadvantaged
adults do not move easily into education, training or work.
A Scottish Executive survey of advice available to disadvantaged
groups shows that there are multiple barriers in their way.
Those who are in jobs and fall out of them cite poor health,
disabilities, employer attitudes and motherhood for quitting.
Researchers interviewed 90 advice workers in 37 organisations,
surveyed 117 people who use advice centres and interviewed
a further 35 of them. One in four of the service users was
in education or training.
The team comments: "For those seeking to develop their
skills and education, there were some questions over the access,
availability and relevance of courses that may be driven by
administrative concerns more than the individual training
needs."
For many, it is complex to move off benefits to education
or training.
Bills and debts are one barrier, poor health is another,
especially for those with a disability.
Childcare was important for women, especially lone parents.
Former prisoners felt discriminated against, as did those
with a physical disability. Transport problems were important.
Some adults perceived that poor reading and writing abilities
thwarted their progress.
The researchers state: "Access to suitable childcare
was top of the list of gaps in advice that could affect transitions
to work. Barriers remain in the benefits system . . . particularly
for people with learning disabilities or mental health problems."
Informal services were trusted sources of support for individuals
with multiple barriers to overcome but were less likely than
formal advice centres to offer the depth of support needed,
or advocacy services.
Most people surveyed had used more than one advice service,
and most had used Jobcentre Plus. Women were more likely to
use formal services, voluntary sector groups and student support
services, while men were more likely to use informal support.
Transitions to employment: advising disadvantaged groups
is on the Scottish Executive website.
(TES, 14 October 2005)
The Government is considering the introduction of "choice
advisers" to help poorer families find their way around
and get the best out of an increasingly diverse state-school
system.
The plan being looked at by Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary,
came as she outlined plans to press ahead with "personalised
education" for pupils and the extension of parent power.
The TES understands Ms Kelly's aides have looked at the use
of "choice advisers" in the National Health Service,
who help less well-informed patients by talking them through
the options open to them, such as the best treatment available.
Ms Kelly told a conference fringe meeting: "How do
you get kids in the most despondent communities to really
aspire? Because if there is a school down the road doing better
than the one in their neighbourhood then maybe they should
think about applying to that."
Ministers have been impressed by research that suggests
that parental involvement in their child's education has a
more powerful effect on their results than teaching. Jacqui
Smith, schools minister, told The TES that the forthcoming
education White Paper would contain initiatives to force parents
to take more responsibility for children's learning. And ministers
intend to make it easier for parental complaints to trigger
inspections.
(TES, 30 September 2005)
Cheap school make-overs, such as repainting walls, can improve
pupils' performance, education experts have said. While rundown
schools could have a "significant" detrimental effect,
simple renovations boosted achievement and morale, the study
found.
It follows the Government's announcement that it was spending
£2billion on improvements. The Department for Education
and Skills said: "Good design, developed through consultation
with teachers, pupils and the community is at the heart of
this programme."
But Newcastle University researcher Pam Woolner said renovations
needed to be tailor-made "rather than offering bells
and whistles and expecting standards to rise dramatically".
(Mirror, 28 September 2005)
If local education authorities could dramatically cut school
exclusions, if they adopt the policies of one council, which
has gone a year with none at all.
In North Lincolnshire's 84 schools, permanent exclusions
dropped from 68 to zero in two years after it introduced a
system of "managed moves" and "personalised
education plans" as alternatives. The figures for 2004-5
mark the first time that a local authority has managed to
avoid permanent exclusions throughout the entire school year,
with the exception of the City of London and Isles of Scilly,
which have just one school each.
According to Adam Abdelnoor, chief executive of Inaura, an
inclusion charity, if other education authorities follow suit,
permanent exclusions could be reduced to 100 or fewer within
a decade. There were nearly 10,000 in England in 2003-04.
Last year, the charity reported that 54 of England's 150 authorities
were already using some form of "managed move".
In North Lincolnshire, where most schools are in deprived
Scunthorpe, the LEA decided to adopt the strategy in 2002.
Daryl Summers, the council's head of inclusion, said, "We
felt that 68 permanent exclusions in an authority with only
14 schools was unacceptably high." Exclusions in primary
schools were already low, and the opening of two learning
support units with outreach workers has brought them down
to zero.
The education authority brought behaviour consultants into
secondaries to work with heads and parents to help them move
from a culture of blame, where children were penalised for
behaving badly, to one focused on positive solutions. Now,
pupils who might have been expelled in the past are moved
to another school and/or have personalised education plans
drawn up. The plan could include full or part-time work-based
learning or attendance at a further education college, or
at a private health and beauty training centre. In a minority
of cases, it could mean going to a school set up to deal with
behavioural difficulties or, for key stage 3 pupils, a maximum
of two terms in a pupil referral unit.
(TES, 16 September 2005)
Thousands of places will be created at boarding schools for
children in care under plans being drawn up for ministers.
A new generation of boarding academies would be built as part
of the largest expansion of boarding provision for decades,
covering state and independent schools.
The proposals are being prepared by Sir Cyril Taylor, a senior
adviser to Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary, and chairman
of the Specialist Schools Trust. Sir Cyril has just been handed
responsibility for Tony Blair's policy of opening 200 privately-sponsored
academies by 2010.
Sir Cyril said that the proposals could transform opportunities
for vulnerable children and save millions of pounds in public
money. More than 44,000 "looked-after children"
are in care in England at an average cost of more than £40,000
each. Just 8 per cent achieve five good passes at GCSE and
only 1 per cent go on to university, compared to almost half
of other youngsters. They are also three times more likely
than other children to commit a criminal offence.
Sir Cyril said that thousands of new places could be created
at the existing 35 state boarding schools, where there are
currently 4,500 beds for pupils.
The boarding schools, many of them high-achieving grammar
schools, charge parents for the cost of accommodation but
the education is paid for by the State. Fees range from £5,000
to £7,500 per year, a fraction of the amount spent on
children in care who attend local comprehensive schools.
Creating thousands of new boarding places would cost tens
of millions of pounds. One construction company has advised
Sir Cyril that it would cost £2.5 million to build a
100-bed unit, but the potential savings in care would be enormous.
A report by the Government's Social Exclusion Unit in 2003
estimated that taxpayers would save £300 million over
three years if those leaving care entered employment or further
education in the same proportions as other young people.
More than a quarter of people in prison had been in care
as children.
Sir Cyril said: "Some of these cases cost £100,000
per pupil. The average is £30-40,000. I am proposing
we set up a commission to find out how many of these vulnerable
children would benefit from a boarding education. We can save
public sector money and do a much better job for the children."
(Times, 12 September 2005)
Boosting the income of poor families can increase their children's
academic achievements significantly, researchers have found.
A study in the United States, found that increasing a family's
annual income by $1,000 (£550) improved children's maths
test scores by 2.1 per cent and their reading test scores
by 3.6 per cent.
It also showed that if families were given the maximum $4,000
(£2,228) credit available under the earned income tax
credit (EITC), one of the US's largest anti-poverty programmes,
their future earnings could rise by as much as 2 per cent.
The findings have important implications for the UK and give
support for more money to be given to the poorest families
in tax credits. Gordon Dahl, associate professor at the University
of Rochester, who carried out the research, said the UK's
tax credit system was likely to yield similar results as in
the US.
"The boost to children's test scores was much bigger
than expected. It's not going to get you into Harvard or Oxford
because it's not going to push you right to the top. But it
is not a trivial increase. It is significant and would be
enough to produce young people who earn higher wages for the
rest of their lives."
In Britain one in four children is believed to live in poverty
- defined as having a family income of less than 60 per cent
of the national average. Professor Dahl said: "In the
US one in six children currently lives in poverty, and it's
a big issue in other countries too.
"Our research suggests that income transfers to poor
families can help alleviate some of these consequences - in
particular, that extra income can improve maths and reading
achievement. Given that the explicit rationale for income
support programmes, like the EITC, is often to improve the
lot of children, our research provides policymakers with evidence
that such programmes can have a positive impact."
The study, which was carried out with Lance Lochner of the
University of Western Ontario, followed 6,000 children between
the ages of five and 14. Its findings were presented today
at the 2005 World Congress of the Econometric Society, held
at University College London.
Previous studies on the relationship between income and educational
achievement have failed to come to a consensus because it
has proved difficult to untangle the adverse effects of a
child's home environment - such as having poorly educated
parents - from the income effect. The methodology of this
latest study enabled researchers to study the effects of increasing
family income while keeping all other aspects of family life
the same.
The research also found that children benefited from the
boost to family income whatever their age. This contradicted
earlier arguments that help needed to reach children before
they started school if it was to have any effect.
(Independent, 22 August 2005)
The gap in educational attainment between children from rich
and poor families is not closing, the education secretary
Ruth Kelly said in July 2005. in a speech to the Institute
for Public Policy Research, she said that the Government needed
to "think hard" about whether there is more it could
do - in terms of teaching support, funding arrangements or
the wider accountability framework - to help address the issue.
"If we are not closing the gap, then our ability to ensure
that education helps in our drive for social justice will
be severely limited," she said.
Kelly was speaking as the first research into the educational
attainments of 11-year-old pupils at Key Stage 2 was published.
The finding show that overall standards have risen, but that
the gap between children who took free school meals and the
rest had not narrowed.
In her speech, Kelly indicated that the Government is to
shift its policy focus away from improving deprived schools
to targeting underachieving deprived children.
She said that children from deprived backgrounds will receive
more "choice and personalisation" to ensure they
succeed. These will be themes in the Department for Education
and Skills white paper on schools, due out in the autumn,
she added.
National Curriculum Assessments at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage
2 to Key Stage 3 is available via www.regen.net/doc
(Regeneration and Renewal, 5 August 2005)
Mike Baker looks at how children from poorer backgrounds can
do better at school. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4728863.stm
(www.bbc.co.uk, 30 July 2005)
Pupils struggling to learn to read are to be given one-to-one
catch-up help amid evidence that the achievement gap between
poor and better-off children has widened under Labour. The
education secretary, Ruth Kelly, acknowledged that government
analysis of the so-called education "class gap"
in primary schools reveals that, while all pupils were doing
better in 2004 than in 1998, those from higher income families
made more progress than those on free school meals.
The trend persisted across schools even though, overall,
schools in deprived areas improved more than those in wealthier
neighbourhoods in terms of getting 11-year-old children to
the expected level for their age. The research appears to
indicate that despite billions of pounds of investment spent
on trying to jump-start social mobility at school level, the
Government has helped the schools in the poorest districts
without fully benefiting the poorest pupils on their rolls.
In a speech to the IPPR thinktank, in which she set out her
stall as education secretary in a third Labour term, Ms Kelly
said the Government could not hide from the findings. While
all groups of pupils had significantly improved attainment
since 1998, she said, "We must treat seriously the possibility
that, despite all our efforts, who your parents are still
affected attainment as much in 2004 as it did in 1998 ...
If we are not closing the gap, then our ability to ensure
that education helps in our drive for social justice will
be severely limited."
The Government must aim to "build a programme of radical
reform that will continue to guarantee increasing standards
for all pupils, while making sure that the less well-off can
lift their attainment more quickly," she added. Ministers
believe the solution to the persistent class gap is greater
tailoring of education around the needs of the individual
child.
The Department for Education and Skills is to spend £5m
over three years on extending the reading recovery programme,
which uses daily intensive one-to-one lessons with specially
trained teachers to boost the literacy skills of children
who, by age six, are still facing severe difficulties with
reading. The scheme is already under way in some schools and
is widely praised as highly successful. The cash, plus a further
£5m from charitable trusts, will benefit some 4,000
children in 200 primary schools over the next three years,
but the Government will await the findings of an independent
review of literacy teaching to decide whether to extend it
more widely.
As well as "tailored catch-up" for those falling
behind, Ms Kelly promised more to stretch those with particular
talents. She conceded that the Government's gifted and talented
programme risks being hijacked by middle-class families, saying
that ministers "may have to do more to ensure children
from all backgrounds are being involved".
Amid evidence that social mobility has fallen in Britain
since the 1960s, the Government is seeking to use education
as a prime lever to give poorer children improved life chances.
(Guardian, 27 July 2005)
Social mobility in Britain has fallen over recent decades
to levels well below those of Canada, Germany and the Nordic
countries, according to research published by the London School
of Economics. "Children born to poor families are now
less likely to break free of their background and fulfil their
potential than they were in the past", according to Jo
Blanden, of the LSE's Centre for Economic Performance and
her colleagues. The economists concluded that the strong relationship
between family income and educational attainment was a key
to understanding Britain's low levels of social mobility.
The expansion in higher education over recent years had benefited
those from richer backgrounds far more than poorer young people.
Those from the poorest income groups increased their graduation
rate by just 3% between 1981 and the late 1990s, compared
with a rise in graduation rates in 26% for those with the
richest 20% of parents. The researchers said this trend coincided
with a sharp decline in means-tested student support. It was
"crucial" that further expansion of higher education
should be accompanied by a commitment to provide more generous
grants, they said.
(FT.com, 21 June 2005)
Many pupils in disadvantaged communities are simply less
intelligent than others in higher social classes, according
to the Scottish chief medical officer. Dr Mac Armstrong has
told the First Minister in his annual report on the nation's
health that problems can be traced to the early years. Schools,
especially in Glasgow, are regularly slated for failing to
match the results of others in neighbouring authorities, but
Dr Armstrong fingers poverty and social exclusion as the root
causes of educational disadvantage.
Recent studies, he states, have shown clearly that, "higher
childhood IQ might be related to better general health, the
subsequent development of healthier behaviour and the potential
to obtain safer and better paid jobs." He adds, "A
growing list of factors related to socio-economic disadvantage
and low social class are now known to affect the development
of a child's mental ability and physical and mental health.
These include maternal smoking, drinking, illicit drug use
and poor nutrition during pregnancy, insufficient breast-feeding
and lack of intellectual stimulation during the early years.
Differences in trends of these behaviours among the social
classes may at least partly explain the widening gap between
the most and least affluent."
(TESS, 25 March 2005)
After years as a byword for all that was wrong with education,
London schools are improving fast. Last year, 51% of secondary
pupils got five or more good GCSEs, passing the national average,
and three London boroughs were among the 10 fastest improving
education authorities in the country. The capital has more
teachers, less truancy and a more optimistic feel than it
has for a long time.
But the odds remain stacked against the city. London parents'
confidence in their local secondaries fell last year, according
to a government poll. The capital's pupils are the most deprived
and transitory in the country. Three times as many have free
meals, and five times as many do not have English as their
first language. Many are refugees or asylum seekers, often
with horrendous backgrounds. As a result, structural problems
remain entrenched. London finds it relatively easy to recruit
young teachers, but hard to hang on to them. The average age
of London's teachers is only 30.
(TES, 4 March 2005)
Many pupils from poor families are going to the worst schools
regardless of where they live, a study says. More than half
of all children in England did not attend the secondary school
nearest their home, researchers at Bristol University found.
The more choices available, the more segregated pupils were
by background.
Poorer pupils living near good schools often had to travel long
distances to go to worse ones outside their area, the study
said. Economist Simon Burgess told BBC News: "Even for
the poorer kids who live near a good school, something is happening
in the system that makes them travel further to go to a worse
school."
The study, called Sorting and Choice in English Secondary Schools,
looked at the degree of segregation, based on income, within
neighbourhoods. It then compared this with how much children
from different groups were "sorted" by school. The
researchers discovered that in areas where there was most educational
choice - eight or more schools within 10 minutes' drive - pupils
were more segregated by school than by home address.
The schools where there was a greater concentration of poorer
pupils tended to do worse in exams. Local education authorities
have elaborate rules regarding selection, but the study suggests
these are not always being enforced.
Professor Burgess said further work was needed to find out how
schools and local authorities were deciding where to send children.
He added: "There is more dramatic sorting of pupils where
there are more choices. The way the system works, schools can't
expand to take everyone. Once schools are over-subscribed, schools
and LEAs have to make decisions about whom to let in."
The researchers, from the university's Centre for Market and
Public Organisation, found only 45% of children went to the
secondary school nearest their home. The findings come on top
of concern over "postcode lotteries", where wealthier
parents buy homes in the catchment areas of good state schools,
"pricing out" those with less money.
(www.bbc.co.uk, February 2005)
Disadvantaged Primary 1 pupils in Aberdeen are doing better
in reading and maths than at the close of the last century,
but the gap with their peers shows no sign of narrowing. These
are among the conclusions of the latest report on the arraignment
of the city's five-year achievements of 2001-2 - when disadvantaged
Primary 1 pupils made faster progress in reading and maths
and were closing the gap on other pupils for the first time
since early intervention began - have not been maintained.
The gap widened in 2003-4, Anne Horgan, principal officer
for education statistics, reported to the council's education
committee on Monday.
While there have been significant improvements on average
in reading and maths attainments since 1999-2000, the committee
agreed to support further research aimed at improving the
attainment of the most deprived children, and boosting reading
scores among boys. Aberdeen has taken the lead in assessing
pupils at the start and end of P1 to gauge performance and
the value added by the school, using the Performance Indicators
in Primary Schools (PIPS).
Reading attainment at the end of P1 last session was higher
than ever before, Ms Hogan reported, and many pupils are now
nearing the maximum score. Performance in maths is also better
than ever. But the gap in reading attainment between disadvantaged
and advantaged children in P1 widened in 2003-4. The report
describes the gap as "significant" but says it is
narrower than in 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
(TESS, 21 January 2005)
Funding reforms are needed to close the gap in educational
attainment between the children of the rich and poor, according
to a study by the London School of Economics. Under Labour,
it said, progress in primaries that serve poor areas has increased
faster than the average, and targeted initiatives such as
Excellence in Cities have had a positive impact. But it also
reported that the picture in secondaries is "mixed",
and that participation in higher education is now more dependent
of family background than it was before 1997.
Funding increases for schools "appear to be insufficient"
and "a great deal more needs to be done" to tackle
inequality, it said. The call for more money for schools in
deprived areas is a direct challenge to the Government's plans
to guarantee all schools a minimum increase in funding per
pupil. The Audit Commission, the public spending watchdog,
and MPs on the education select committee have warned that
the guarantee will prevent increases in funding from being
directed to areas where they are most needed. The study also
called for:
- higher level of welfare support for low-income families
- a higher level of educational support for disadvantaged
pupils
- higher staffing levels for schools with very disadvantaged
intakes
The study, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the
Economic and Social Research Council, assesses the Government's
attempts to tackle poverty among all age groups since its
election in 1997.
The Government is "on track" to hit its target
of reducing the number of children living in poverty by a
quarter between 1998-9 and 2004-5, but UK child poverty rates
are still above the European Union average, it said.
A More Equal Society? New Labour, poverty, inequality
and exclusion, edited by John Hills and Kitty Stewart,
is available form Marston Book Services, price £19.99.
Call: 01235 465500
(TES, 14 January 2005)
The gulf between the haves and have-nots among Scottish pupils
is as wide as ever, and the children of the middle classes enjoy
a "cumulative advantage", research says. A major new
study involving 5,000 youngsters aged 16-17 who left school
in 2003, will make depressing reading for ministers who have
put policies on inclusion and "closing the opportunity
gap" at the heart of their agenda.
One striking figure from the Scottish School Leavers' Survey,
the first since 1999, is that 71% of those with a parent in
a higher professional or managerial occupation achieved five
or more Standard grades 1-2 passes, compared to just 17% of
pupils from families in "routine" occupations. And,
while only 6% of leavers in the highest social class failed
to achieve any Standard grade 1-2 passes, this soared to 48%
for the lowest groups.
Parents' social class also affected subject results, with
77% from professional families gaining a Standard grade 1
or 2 in English, against 32% for those in the bottom social
group; the respective figures for maths were 67% and 15%.
Family circumstances make an even greater impact than gender
division, researchers concluded.
"Although females continue to outperform males, when
we consider the extent of these differences compared to the
results according to social background, the size of the latter
represents a considerably greater source of inequality,"
the report states. "The analysis highlights the stubborn
persistence of social class inequality in attainment and in
particular the cumulative advantage among the higher social
classes who, despite rising overall levels of attainment,
appear able to maintain their competitive advantage over other
groups."
The lottery of birth also plays a part in staying-on rates:
88% of those in the study who had a parent in a higher professional
or managerial occupation stayed on at school after 16, compared
with just 48% of those with parents in "routine"
occupations.
(TES Scotland, 10 December 2004)
Inner-city secondaries are falling even further behind affluent
schools in the suburbs and ministers must decide whether funding
should be skewed in their favour, the chief inspector said
in November 2003.
David Bell called for a funding review to look into giving
inner-city schools more money at the expense of those in more
affluent areas. Office for Standards in Education research
shows that since 1996 the gap in attainment between rich and
poor students has narrowed in primary schools but widened
in secondaries.
By the age of 16, 81% of pupils whose parents are in "high
professional" occupations gain at least five A*-C GCSEs
compared with 32% whose parents have "routine" jobs.
Mr Bell commented: "The brutal fact is that the difficulties
some schools face have been around for many years and successive
governments, national and local, have not conclusively dealt
with them."
A Department for Education and Skills spokesman said: "The
funding system already recognises the extra cost of educating
pupils in the most deprived circumstances."
(TES, 21 November 2003)
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