Equity within education

This is the third report on the state of equity in the English education system from the Centre for Equity in Education based at The University of Manchester. It argues that efforts to create a more equitable education system are now at a strategic crossroad – trapped between a target-driven ‘effectiveness and improvement’model of service reform, and efforts to develop localised and coordinated responses to inequity.

Key findings:
- The report argues that if equity is to be enhanced, the space must be created for policies to be joined up locally and oriented to meeting community needs.
- Despite repeated policy interventions, the most disadvantaged children and young people continue to be at greatest risk of impoverished educational experiences, low achievements and limited life chances.
- Policy has focused on ‘improving’ schools and other education settings and making them more ‘effective’, yet the source of inequities lies largely beyond the school, in social disadvantage. Efforts at educational improvement have to be linked into a coherent strategy to address wider social and economic issues.
- There is currently more potential than ever before to achieve greater equity within the English education system. In particular, we find that multiple co-ordinating mechanisms exist in the form of Local Strategic Partnerships, neighbourhood management initiatives, integrated children’s service networks, extended services clusters and the like. In practice, however, these deliver little by way of co-ordinated strategies that might address educational inequity.
- Often, these co-ordinating mechanisms have little effective involvement from schools and wider community stakeholders. Even where they do, their ability to generate strategy is hamstrung by the perverse consequences of the government’s target-setting regime. Participants are accountable for separate sets of targets, and have to achieve these within short timescales.
- Despite this, there are examples of more genuine collaboration. These are characterised by a contextual analysis leading to a local strategy. Participants probe beneath the surface of headline performance indicators to understand how local dynamics shape particular outcomes.
- If these approaches are to flourish, action is needed at three levels:
• Head teachers and other education leaders need to:
− be proactive in joining and forming partnerships with other key actors in the areas they serve
− work with their partners to understand ‘how things work round here’ and to formulate a long-term area strategy to tackle inequities
− harmonise work within their schools and settings with this wider strategy.
• Local authorities and other local leaders need to:
− promote the development of partnerships at area level
− offer support to partnerships for contextual analysis and strategy formulation
− develop their own contextual analyses and strategies as a framework within which area partnerships can operate
− bring a democratic voice to bear on the work of area partnerships.
• Central government needs to:
− continue to create spaces in which local partnerships can flourish
− encourage these partnerships to undertake contextual analyses and formulate long-term strategies
− counter the perverse consequences of the target-setting regime by locating accountability at the level of the partnership, entering into dialogue about local goals, and extending the timescale over which achievements are measured and the range of evidence this involves
− develop its own contextual analyses and strategies as a framework within which local authorities and area partnerships can operate.

Home-school partnerships

This report by the New Zealand Ministry of Education describes the findings of a research project designed to improve understanding of the key elements of successful home–school partnerships and how they operate in some different school settings. The project includes a review of evidence and an empirical research component.

Key points:
- The research literature is unequivocal in showing that parental involvement makes a significant difference to educational achievement. Given this, it is not surprising that during the last decade there has been a high level of interest in interventions aimed at involving parents (especially “hard to reach” parents) more fully in the education of their children, as a means to raising educational achievement of children who are currently not performing to expectations in the education system.
- The research literature does suggest that successful home–school partnerships display many of the following features:
- Relationships in successful home–school partnerships are collaborative and mutually respectful.
- Successful partnerships are multi-dimensional, and responsive to community needs.
- Successful home–school partnerships are planned for; embedded within whole school development plans; well resourced and regularly reviewed.
- Successful partnerships are goal oriented and focused on learning.
- Effective parental engagement happens largely at home.
- There is timely two-way communication between school and parents in successful partnerships.
- Building successful home–school partnerships takes time and commitment. In nearly all the case study schools, teachers, parents, and sometimes children, thought the principal was a key player in the establishment of successful partnerships. Teachers’ attitudes also seem to be critical to the success of home–school partnerships.
- Context affects the nature of partnerships and the way they develop. Home–school partnerships are perceived to be easier to establish in small schools, and in closely knit communities, and more difficult with secondary age students.
- The case studies show that technologies such as mobile phones, the internet and DVDs are being used creatively to strengthen links between school and home. Several case study schools are also exploring ways of modifying current school practices such as parent–teacher interviews and homework as ways of facilitating genuine two-way communication between school and home.
- One interesting finding was how little we really know about the effectiveness of home–school partnerships as strategies for reducing disparity and/or developing successful 21st century learners. The report concludes by raising some questions that we think are important to consider. Specifically it suggests that there is a need to find out more about exactly what sort of home–school partnerships are beneficial, how they are beneficial, and to whom.

Customer Perception of DCSF, young people's view

This survey by the BMG, for the DCSF, follows a similar survey directed towards parents. It asks young people (10-19) for their views, as aligned to the DCSF Departmental Strategic Objectives.


Key points:
- Young people report that their parents are generally involved in their school or college life (82% disagreed that their parents prefer not to get involved), they feel supported by their parents in their work (95%) and they generally always tell their parents how they are getting on in their education (85%). The majority of young people also reported that their parents usually know what kind of homework they have (as 72% disagreed that their parents do not know what kind of work they have).
- In general, car usage amongst this group is the exception rather than the norm, as two in five (41%) young people report that they never travel to school, college, university or work by car, and a further one in four do so rarely (26% travel by car less often than not). The remaining one in three (32%) travel by car every day or more often than not.
- All young people were asked whether they have someone they could talk to about things that matter to them if they were feeling worried or angry. The majority of young people feel they definitely have someone they could speak to in such a scenario (71%), while a further one in four (23%) feel they probably have someone they could speak to. A minority of 6% feel they do not have someone to talk to, or are unsure of whether they do.
- Overall, young people feel that there is not very much of a problem of bullying in their school or college, as reported by over eight in ten (84%). This comprises one in four (24%) who feel that bullying is not a problem at all, while six in ten (60%) feel it is not very much of a problem.



- Around nine in ten young people feel safe during the day in the given situations. Over nine in ten feel it is safe in school or college, 93% feel it is safe in the local community, and just fewer feel safe on public transport during the day (91%) or travelling to and from school or college (91%).

- Amongst all young people primary schools are rated positively (good or very good) by the highest overall proportion (97% rate them as good), followed by universities (96%) and 6th form colleges or Further Education colleges for those aged 16-19 (94%). Secondary schools are also rated positively by the majority (88%). However universities are rated as very good by the highest proportion (39%), followed by sixth form colleges and further education colleges for 16-19 year olds (37%) and then secondary schools (27%), with primary schools rated as very good by one in five young people (20%).

- Young people were asked how they would describe pupil behaviour at their school or college. Half feel that pupil behaviour is generally good (51%), while just over one in three (37%) feels it is acceptable, and one in eight feels it is poor (12%).

Family Intervention Projects Evaluation

This evaluation by the DCSF and the Department for Communities and Local Government examines the national network of Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) which were set up as part of the Respect Action Plan, launched in January 2006. These projects aimed to reduce anti-social behaviour (ASB) perpetrated by the most anti-social and challenging families, prevent cycles of homelessness due to ASB and achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes for children and young people. FIPs use an ‘assertive’ and ‘persistent’ style of working to challenge and support families to address the root causes of their ASB.

Key findings:
- 53 FIPs were set up during 2006 and 2007. Of these 34 were effectively set up from scratch and the remaining 19 projects existed prior to 2006 and were not making fundamental changes when they became a FIP. Typically FIPs were working with families in their own homes for between six to 12 months. Most projects were either being run by a team within the Local Authority (LA) or a voluntary sector provider.
- 885 families were referred to a FIP between February and October 2007, of these 78% met the referral criteria and agreed to work with a FIP. FIPs appeared to be working with their intended beneficiaries as families had high levels of ASB and criminal activities and were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless because of their ASB. These families were also well known in the area for causing ASB.
- The early outcomes reported by FIP staff for 90 families who completed the FIP intervention displayed considerable improvements in all key areas of the FIPs’ work. ASB and criminal activities had declined considerably at the point families exited from a FIP, as had the risk of families engaging in ASB. The risk of families being evicted had also considerably reduced. The outcomes for children and young people were also reported to have improved.
- Eight features of the FIP model appeared to be critical to its success: recruitment and retention of high quality staff, small caseloads, having a dedicated key worker who manages a family and works intensively with them, a whole-family approach, staying involved with a family for as long as necessary, scope to use resources creatively, using sanctions with support, and effective multi-agency relationships.

Parenting Early Intervention Pathfinder Evalaution

This report builds on earlier papers by the DCSF and presents the evidence of the evaluation of the Parenting Early Intervention Pathfinder (PEIP). The PEIP was a DCSF funded programme over the period September 2006 – March 2008 at a cost of £7.6 million in DCSF grant payments to LAs. PEIP funded 18 local authorities (LAs) to implement one of three selected parenting programmes with parents of children aged 8 – 13 years: Incredible Years, Triple P and Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities, selected as having a sound evidence base for their effectiveness. The main aim of the study was to explore the roll out of these three programmes on a large scale across a substantial number of LAs: to examine parent and child outcomes, cost-effectiveness and the processes that optimise (or impair) the delivery of parenting programmes.

Key findings:
- The Parenting Early Intervention Pathfinder has been successful in rolling out three evidence-based parenting programmes across 18 LAs with high levels of positive gains for parents and their children.
- The PEIP increased the pool of trained facilitators: approximately 1100 additional trained staff.
- PEIP provided parenting training for 3575 parents on 425 courses of which 338 courses finished by the end of the PEIP and 87 were continuing.
- Parental course completion rate was good and similar across programmes: 73% of parents overall.
- The training was very successful as measured by improvements in the parents’ mental well-being, their parenting skills, their sense of being a parent, and also in the behaviour of the child about whom they were concerned.
- The three programmes produced comparable outcomes on all measures of improvement.
- Cost effectiveness varied greatly between LAs using the same programme indicating the importance of local policy and organisational factors.
- Cost effectiveness also varied between the three programmes: the average cost per parent completing was £2955, with Incredible Years courses being the most costly.

Support needs of children and young people who move due to domestic violence

This is the summary report of findings from research funded by the Scottish Executive and commissioned by Women’s Aid. The research explores the views, experiences and support needs of children and young people who have to move home as a result of domestic abuse.

Key findings:
- Information from prior studies suggests that children experiencing domestic abuse are likely to know about it and be affected by it; have sophisticated understandings and information about it; and to have mixed views about refuge life. Earlier studies also suggest that given the complexities of their lives, it can be difficult for organisations to find effective ways to support them.
- Moving school or returning to school following having to move house because of domestic abuse was a major source of anxiety; this seemed to be focused on anxieties about implications for relationships with friends and friendships.
- One theme emerging strongly from the interviews was the value young people placed on having someone they could completely trust to talk to about their experiences. However, finding someone appropriate to fulfil this role could be difficult.
- Support agencies should prioritise helping them maintain old friendships and networks; helping them build new ones where this is not possible.
- Recognition should be given to the value young people in this situation place on being able to talk about their experiences to someone they completely trust who will keep their information private; recognise how difficult it is for them to find support at this time from friends and relatives.
- Schools should acknowledge the difficulties young people have when return in to or moving school in this situation; appreciate this is a very difficult transition; make planned and appropriate provision.
- Schools should take seriously the concerns and anxieties young people have about peer relationships when returning to school or moving school in this situation; find ways to acknowledge this; make planned and appropriate provision.

Training and Development Needs of Leaders of Children's Services

This report follows a study involving six in-depth local area case studies including interviews with the Director of Children’s Services, assistant directors of children’s services, members of the Children’s Trust, the Chief Executive of the local authority (LA) and the Lead Member for Children’s Services (LMCS). A further sixteen interviews were carried out with DCSs over the telephone.

Key findings:
- The study highlighted the importance of strong leadership underpinned by a number of personal qualities and values necessary for effective delivery of the DCS role. The qualities identified were generally similar to those that might be expected for other local authority leadership roles. However, one in particular was considered critical for the DCS role - the passion for the children’s rights and entitlements agenda.
- Stakeholders described a range of professional characteristics (or behaviours) which they
considered to be important. These included:
• displaying a personal and professional demeanour which commands the confidence of
others;
• the ability to anticipate, manage and take risks;
• working collaboratively and recognising and respecting the skills of others;
• a commitment to developing others;
• ability to remain robust under pressure, and inspire others to do the same.
- Other issues which were considered to influence effective delivery of the role were raised by the DCSs consulted. These were:
• the corporate and political demands of the role;
• the mismatch between the statutory responsibilities and decision making powers;
• the expectations associated with the size and breadth of the role;
• the emphasis of responsibilities across all ECM outcomes.
- Given that many DCSs currently come from a specific professional background, gaining
experience of the sectors they were less familiar with was initially important;
- The integration agenda means that DCSs’ attention is predominantly focused on issues
such as: developing robust lines of accountability; outcome based management.
pooling budgets; joint appointments; and commissioning services. These represented
new challenges and have therefore required strong leadership skills.
- Some consultees identified that, for them, leading the partnership required an additional
set of skills and a change in style.

DCSF Customer Perception Survey

BMG (commissioned by the DCSF) have undertaken this customer perception survey by interviewing 1000 respondents across the UK (a sample designed to be broadly representative of the general public). The survey is structured on the 6 Department Strategic Objectives which the DCSF have.

Key points:

- 65% believe it is very important that 3-4 year olds attend some form of pre-school.

- 80% believe that bullying is a problem in schools, to some degree. Females being more likely to assert this claim.

- The majority of respondents feel that all situations are safe for young people during the day, although opinion is divided when considering situations for young people at night.

- The majority of general public respondents feel that the current quality of publicly funded education is good, with a minority rating any stage as poor to any degree.

- Respondents were most likely to rate the current quality of university or higher education as good as almost nine in ten gave a positive rating here (87%). This is followed by the younger education stages as nurseries, pre-schools and early learning were rated positively by 85%, while 84% feel that the quality of primary education is good. 6th Form colleges or Further Education colleges were felt to provide good quality education by 81%. Secondary schools were most likely to be rated as very or quite poor, by a third of general public respondents (34%), although still the majority of respondents rate secondary schools as good (66%).

- The majority of respondents feel that pupil behaviour is generally good (30%) or acceptable (40%), while around a quarter (27%) feels that it is poor.

- Seven in ten respondents agree that England is a good country for children to grow up in, while just over a quarter disagree that this is the case.

The influence of context on attainment in primary school

Growing awareness of the importance of parents and the home environment in shaping children’s achievement, coupled with the recognition of the school as a site for engagement in broader aspects of social and personal development, has raised interest in the interactions between these different influences as a way of addressing issues of educational attainment and inequality. This study by the Institute of Education explores the nature of these links and considers the relative contribution of different aspects of four different ‘contexts’ or likely spheres of influence on pupil achievement in England at Key Stage 2 (age 10/11), as well as their associations with one another.

Key findings:
- Pupils with better contexts – i.e. better individual, school and family background and experience – have higher scores in Key Stage 2 assessments in English, maths and science.
- Child capabilities are most important in predicting Key Stage 2 attainment across all three subjects. Social and economic family background factors carry the second-largest influence. Much weaker in predicting attainment are proximal features of the family (family relationships and behaviours), with the school-peer context having the weakest influence.
- Individuals who have a good quality experience in one sphere of their life are also more likely to have good experiences in other contexts.
- The effect of each context on attainment is affected by its relationships with other contexts.

Involvement of business in education

This DCSF review of the most robust evidence on the impact of education links with employers
specifically focused on measurable impacts.

Key points:
- There are positive impacts of employers’ involvement with education. However, there have been only a few studies that provide evidence of a measurable improvement in grades, or other measures of students’ attainment.
- Other positive impacts include preparedness for work, developing job and work skills, improving work-based competencies, attitudes and behaviours, enhanced employability and higher initial wage rates. Although not directly related to student attainment these findings provide valuable evidence of the impact and importance of business involvement in education.
- In ‘Business Involvement in Mathematics’, communication and exchange of ideas between teachers and the business community about the curriculum and teaching was a key contributory factor to the positive impacts.
- For mentoring to be effective it should be part of whole-school approach to raise attainment, and that there should be clear selection criteria for students receiving mentoring.
- In the Increased Flexibilities Programme, which provided vocational learning opportunities for young people, having employers as visiting speakers contributed to students gaining higher qualifications.
- Having employees working with schools as an actual work assignment, rather than as an extra-curricular activity, was a key feature of the success of the IBM business links with education.
- Positive impacts on students’ outcomes other than objective measures of student
attainment included:
• Lower drop-out rates, improved attendance, increased academic course taking, and the increased likelihood of graduating on time. (Kemple and Snipes, 2000).
• Higher rates of enrolment and continuity in post-secondary education, sustained higher levels of employment, and higher hourly wage rates.
- Of the higher quality studies, some found positive impacts on academic attainment. But, a similar number did not detect any impact.
- No high quality research has detected a negative impact on attainment.

The impact of programme led apprenticeships

This Ofsted survey evaluates programme-led apprenticeships (PLA) and their impact on improving participation and achievement. Programme-led apprenticeships provide an important alternative to the more traditional employer-led apprenticeship route for young people who have found it difficult to gain employment or for those who require an initial period of planned training before taking up employment. This report looks at the different methods of delivering programme-led apprenticeships and evaluates their success.

The Learning and Skills Council published "A Strategy for programme-led apprenticeships in England for 2007–2010 in July 2007". This report also looks at the implementation of this strategy.

Key points:
- Learners on PLAs were better prepared for their apprenticeship and were more likely to achieve their full apprenticeship framework in a shorter time period where PLAs were well-designed and provided an initial period of planned training which included elements of the apprenticeship framework.
- Employers were positive about the initial period of planned training that learners on PLAs had undertaken prior to becoming employed. It enabled employed apprentices to settle more quickly into their work roles.
- Too few further education colleges had converted their programme-led full-time vocational courses to ensure there was progression to an employed apprenticeship.
- Work placements, as part of a programme-led apprenticeship, gave a valuable opportunity for young people to start an apprenticeship where there were insufficient employers offering apprenticeships or where they needed work experience prior to being employed. But learners who spent too long on a work placement, without the prospect of securing employment, lost motivation and were more likely to leave their programme.
- The low level of payment available for learners on PLAs is a potential deterrent for those on work placements. There were examples of learners on PLAs working for 30 hours a week and receiving no payment.
- Insufficient use was made of PLAs as a progression route from Entry to Employment.
- Learners’ views on PLAs were mixed. Learners on PLAs who were completing an initial period of planned training were generally more positive than those on work placements.

The report also contains recommendations for the Learning & Skills Council, Government Departments, Skills Sector Councils and Learners and Providers.

White boys from low income families: good practice in schools

This report by Ofsted is based on a small survey of good practice in the education of white boys from low-income backgrounds. It is based on a study of six primaries, 10 secondaries, 3 special schools and 1 pupil referral unit.

Key points:
- Examples of good practice are grouped under the following questions that inspectors asked schools during the survey.
~ What teaching and learning strategies work best to raise standards?
~ How do schools promote the personal development and well-being of white boys from low-income backgrounds?
~ What do schools need to do to understand and meet the needs of white boys from low-income backgrounds?
~ How do schools support white boys from low-income backgrounds to become independent learners?
~ How should schools make use of increased flexibility in the curriculum to support white boys from low-income families?
~ How should schools seek to engage parents and carers?
~ How should institutions make the best use of resources?
~ What are the roles of others beyond the school in helping to personalise teaching and learning?

- Schools that are successful in raising the attainment of white boys from low income have these features:
~ an ethos which demonstrates commitment to every individual and which
treats staff and pupils with fairness, trust and respect
~ consistent support to develop boys’ organisation skills and instill the importance of perseverance; any anti-school subculture ‘left at the gates’
~ rigorous monitoring systems which track individual pupils’ performance against expectations; realistic but challenging targets; tailored, flexible intervention programmes and frequent reviews of performance against targets
~ a highly structured step-by-step framework for teaching, starting with considerable guidance by the teacher and leading gradually to more independent work by the pupils when it is clear that this will enhance rather than detract from achievement
~ a curriculum which is tightly structured around individual needs and linked to support programmes that seek to raise aspirations
~ creative and flexible strategies to engage parents and carers, make them feel valued, enable them to give greater support to their sons’ education and help them make informed decisions about the future
~ a strong emphasis on seeking and listening to the views of these pupils
~ genuine engagement of boys in setting individual targets, reviewing progress, shaping curricular and extra-curricular activities and making choices about the future
~ key adults, including support staff and learning mentors, who are flexible and committed, know the boys well and are sensitive to any difficulties which might arise in their home
~ a good range of emotional support for boys to enable them to manage anxieties and develop the skills to express their feelings constructively
~ strong partnership with a wide range of agencies to provide social, emotional, educational and practical support for boys and their families in order to raise their aspirations.

Professional Development of Teachers

This report by the think tank Policy Exchange considers how to recruit, retain and develop a new generation of talented, inspired and effective teachers to tackle educational inequality.

It argues instead that we should embrace methods more attuned to today’s graduates and the modern employment market. This involves allowing new teachers to ‘earn while they learn’, giving all teachers much more say over their ongoing training and freeing schools to develop remuneration schemes which are bespoke to their particular needs. These methods would lead to the creation of a dynamic, well trained and motivated workforce – teachers who are more appropriately qualified before they enter teaching and who become better teachers in the classroom.

Key points:
- Pay, Continuing Professional Development (CPD), recruitment and training should be linked and considered together.
- More on the job training, especially at the start of the career ("earn whilst you learn"), as this would help both new starters as well as experienced teachers.
- More flexibility in employment and pay scales, allowing some to "fast track" current systems.
- Teaching is considered to be similar to social work and nursing (by managers and graduates) but is seen as a noble profession and would be considered if flexibilities exist allowing for fast entry and exit.
- In shortage subjects the standards to accept new teachers are too low and hardly any applicants fail.
- Phasing out the BEd route, as it is the most expensive route and usually attracts the least academically able teachers.
- Far more CPD should take place in schools.

There are also recommendations on teacher pay and linking this to CPD.

Experiences of teachers, 2nd year in post

The Becoming a Teacher study is a six-year longitudinal research project (2003-2009) exploring beginner teachers’ experiences of initial teacher training, Induction and early professional
development in England. This report presents findings relating to beginner teachers’ experiences of their second year in post.

Key points:
- Primary school teachers were less likely to report teaching Year 6 classes (the year group associated with the Key Stage 2 National Tests) than other year groups within the primary phase. In contrast, the percentage teaching Year 11 (i.e. the GCSE year) was the largest across the secondary phase.
- Over two-thirds (68%) of primary school teachers reported being a subject coordinator during their second year of teaching. Those teachers who held this role were, on average, younger than those who did not.
- A quarter of teachers working in secondary schools reported acting as a form tutor during their second year of teaching and nine per cent as head of department.
- Teachers working in schools perceived to be ‘in difficulties’ were more likely to report taking on the roles of form tutor and head of department than those not working in such schools.
- Secondary school teachers were more likely than primary school teachers to report having ‘covered classes’ for other teachers, to have taken part in ‘extra-curricular activities’ and to have ‘taught pupils with challenging behaviour’ during the school year. Primary school teachers were more likely than those working in secondary schools to report ‘taking pupils on school trips as part of the curriculum’.
- Younger teachers were more likely than older teachers to report being involved in ‘discussions about the goals and policies of your school/department’, ‘formal discussions about the allocation of financial resources’ and ‘formal discussions on any whole-school issues with the head teacher’.
- Just under a third of teachers (30%) reported working up to ten hours per week on top of their (timetabled) school day, a third (32%) between 11 and 15 additional hours, and over a third (37%) 16 or more additional hours.
- Teachers working in schools reported as ‘high in the league tables’ were more likely than those not working in such schools to rate themselves as ‘very effective’ teachers (54% and 42% respectively).
- When survey respondents were asked who or what, if anything, had helped them in their development as a teacher during the year, four out of the five most common responses all related to specific individuals/groups of people. These were:
• ‘colleagues at school/college’ (mentioned by 49% of respondents);
• ‘head of department’ (14%);
• ‘contact with other teachers with a similar amount of experience’ (10%); and
• ‘head teacher/principal’ (10%).

Povery and inequality in the UK: 2008

This report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows why tackling child poverty is a difficult.

Some extracts:
- There was a small rise in poverty amongst families with children. As with overall poverty, this was not statistically significant, but it is the second year that child poverty has risen.
- Between 2006–07 and 2010–11, child poverty needs to fall by an average of 300,000 per year to meet the government’s targets. Although Budget 2008 announced a £0.9 billion package of measures to reduce child poverty, additional spending of £2.8 billion will be required to have a 50:50 chance of meeting the target.
- Child poverty has risen slightly since 2004–05 using income-based indicators, but it has fallen using the government’s new combined low-income–material deprivation indicator over the same period. Our own indicator of relative material deprivation is unchanged since 2004–05, showing that the living standards of poor families with children have risen since 2004–05 but have not caught up with those of richer families with children.
- Levels of material deprivation generally fall as incomes rise, but children in households with less than 40% of median income – so-called ‘severe’ poverty – are, on average, less deprived than those in households with between 40% and 60% of median income.
- Children in a working lone-parent family are less likely to be in income poverty than those in a one-earner couple family, but they are more likely to be in poverty using a material deprivation indicator. Also, they tend to have higher levels of deprivation than children in a one-earner couple family with similar levels of equivalised income.
- Families with children and disabled adults are less likely to be in income-based poverty than those without disabled adults, presumably because many receive disability-related additions to state benefits. However, they are more likely to be in material deprivation poverty

Welsh school transition planning

This report by Estyn (the inspectorate for children's services in Wales), evaluates the initial impact of transition plans and their use by primary-secondary school partnerships to improve the quality of learning and standards and includes case studies of good practice in key areas.

Transition plans are the means by which secondary schools and their partner primary schools formalise their arrangements to work together on curriculum, learning and assessment issues that relate to the 7-14 phase of education. This follows Welsh only legislation requiring schools to cooperate in this area.

Key points:
- While most schools have improved some aspects of transition, particularly pastoral support, only a few primary and secondary schools have comprehensive arrangements to secure effective transition arrangements, including:
• agreed approaches to managing and co-ordinating transition with partners;
• joint curriculum planning to ensure continuity and progression in learning;
• arrangements to achieve continuity in teaching and learning that build on primary school methods;
• ways to achieve consistency in assessment and to monitor and track pupils’ progress against prior attainment; and
• the means to evaluate the impact of transition arrangements on standards.
- As a result, pupils often slip back when they move from primary to secondary school because they do not receive teaching appropriate to their needs and abilities.
- Plans include information on how schools intend to improve arrangements in the five core aspects of transition. Nearly all plans also include arrangements in optional areas, such as pastoral links.
- The clusters2 of schools that have the best plans know what they have achieved so far and have identified specific priorities for improvement that they plan to address over the three-year period 2007-2010. Their transition plans are an integral part of their school improvement agenda and include measurable outcomes for learners.
- The common shortcomings in many transition plans are that they:
• are not evaluative enough;
• are not specific enough to inform planning over a three-year period;
• do not include, where appropriate, national or local initiatives;
• focus too much on processes and not enough on outcomes; and
• do not enable the cluster to measure the impact of planned action.

- The report lists 14 recommendations for schools, LAs and the Welsh Government

Parental views of schools

A representative sample of parents with children in English schools were consulted on their views of their child's education in January 2008 for this DCSF report.

Key points:
- Most parents were satisfied with the their child's school, with 73% being very or extremely satisfied:

- Parents who said they were dissatisfied were asked why they had said this. The main issues highlighted by these parents were poor quality teaching (mentioned by 37% of dissatisfied parents), problems with discipline, bullying or other forms of antisocial behaviour (34%), and poor academic standards or exam results (28%). Poor quality special needs provision was also an issue for a substantial minority of dissatisfied parents (21%).
- Parents were also asked how good they thought their child’s school was at dealing with parents’ concerns effectively. About three fifths (58%) of parents described the school as very good at this, with a further 29% saying it was fairly good.
- When asked for the most important factors when choosing a new school the majority of parents (59%) stated the location of the school or ease of getting to the school had been among the most important factors in choosing a school. A quarter of parents mentioned academic success or success in exams (25%) and a similar proportion mentioned the overall reputation of the school or whether the school had been recommended to them (23%).
- Seven out of ten parents (71%) said they felt they had had a choice of good state-funded schools within their own local authority area; a quarter said this had not been the case, with 10% of parents saying there was only one good state-funded school within their local authority area.
- The majority of parents supported a range of school types in their local area:

- The vast majority of parents seemed to endorse the idea of state schools forming partnerships with Further Education colleges (89% said this was a good thing), parent groups (88%) and universities and Higher Education colleges (87%), with only one or two per cent of parents indicating that they thought such partnerships would be a bad thing. Approval of the idea of partnership with other state schools and community groups was also strong, with 82% and 80% of parents respectively saying these were a good thing and again small proportions indicating disapproval. Three quarters (76%) of parents said they thought partnership with charities was a good thing and two thirds (65%) said the same about partnership with businesses. Parents as a whole were less sure about partnerships with independent schools.
- 37% of parents were mainly favourable or very favourable towards academies.

Transition information sessions evaluation

This report by the DCSF examines the impact of Transition Information Sessions (TIS) which form part of the parenting support core offer within the Extended Schools prospectus, Access to opportunities and services for all. This pilot covered two years, which included 9 LAs in year 1 and a further 11 LAs in the second year.

TIS aim to:
• lay the foundations of effective home-school partnerships;
• give parents information, ideas and an opportunity for discussion about parenting issues, including how to keep their child safe, happy and learning; and
• signpost parents to local and national sources of information, advice and support

Key points:
- Sessions were offered to a cohort of parents with a child entering a new school setting. Session content was shaped by local preference and need but with a focus on how parents can keep their child safe, happy and learning. Session duration was expected to be around one hour with some additional time for informal conversation. All sessions were expected to signpost parents to local and national services that are there to support them and sessions often directly involved such service providers - in planning, delivery and providing materials.
- The key success factors for local strategic planning were reported by local authorities to include; clarity of aims, effective publicity and branding, and strong leadership from the local authority. Local authorities and schools routinely benefited from the lessons learned from year 1.
- Despite the similarities to TIS in year one, a number of characteristics were found to be distinctive to the project in year two. The main ones were identified as follows:
o more defined links with other local programmes and strategies;
o expanded local authority performance management for TIS, such as the requirement for schools to produce action plans or mini-funding bids, to confirm their approach;
o a greater focus on accountability and value for money ;
o more ambitious TIS formats, with a wider view of 'transitions'; and
o positive influences from the TIS capacity-building programme for all local authorities, drawing on a toolkit for sessions and models of delivery developed within the demonstration project, and offered to all local authorities in 2007-08.
- The evaluation showed that schools were at a varied baseline position in developing their extended service core offer, with some already having a wide range of services in place and others making slower progress. The project often coincided with school-level issues that affected the priority of TIS. These included leadership changes and inspection.
- Steps to engage whole local populations were said to include –
o the use of mapping and consultation data to establish levels of need,
o closer work with district or cluster teams to reach deprived local communities; and
o strengthening third sector involvement within local TIS partnerships

- In Yorkshire & Humber Calderdale and Leeds have schools which took part in this pilot.

Teaching and learning in FE

This think piece by the Learning and Skills Network explores changes to the Further Education sector by considering what the impact would be if the focus was on Teaching and Learning.

Key points:
- A focus on teaching and learning would ensure increased professionalism of tutors and the agency of learners, alongside improved relationship between tutors and learners, which is the cornerstone of success. This means improving the cultures of learning in every centre of post-16 learning, in the
post-16 sector and in the educational system as a whole.
- A definition and theory of learning is needed.

The paper is intended to be used with activities for professionals to complete whilst reading.

Participation in HE

This report by the DIUS presents an analysis of the relationship between prior attainment and
young participation by gender, socio-economic class and ethnicity

• Historically, women had been under-represented in Higher Education. By 1992, however, the Age Participation Index suggested that young women’s participation rates had caught up with those of men. The 2005/06 Higher Education Initial Participation Rate figures showed a 7.2 percentage participation gap in favour of women - a gap which appears to continue to widen.
• This gender gap does not appear at the point of entry to Higher Education, and can be observed early on in the educational system. In 2007, 65% of girls achieved 5+ A*-C GCSEs or equivalent, compared to 55.8% of boys. Girls are also more likely to stay on in full-time education at age 16 (82% of girls and 72% of boys). They are more likely to be entered for A levels, more likely to pass them, and also more likely to do better than boys.
• For young people (18-19 year olds) who are English-domiciled and who did not attend an independent school in Year 11, we find no conclusive evidence of a gender difference in the likelihood of participating in HE - once prior attainment is controlled for and hence, efforts to reduce the gender gap in HE participation should predominantly be aimed at increasing the relative attainment of young men prior to HE.
• We find that young people from ethnic minority backgrounds are overwhelmingly more likely to enter HE compared to White people with the same prior attainment. In the case of young people who were eligible for FSM, we find that prior attainment explains the vast majority of the gap in participation compared to non-FSM pupils. In both cases this suggests that something else affects the likelihood to participate in HE, over and above prior attainment.

Evaluation of Parent Support Advisors

The Parent Support Adviser Pilot (PSA) pilot is a government funded initiative to support 20 Local Authorities to introduce PSAs into their workforce. The DCSF commissioned the Centre for Educational Development, Appraisal and Research to evaluate the PSA pilot programme from September 2006- August 2008. A government grant (£40 million) has been made available to fund employment of PSAs over this period. This second Interim Report of the Parent Support Adviser Pilot reports the findings of interviews with 105 parents and 69 PSAs from the 12 case study LAs held between November 2007 and January 2008.

Key findings:
- Parents were generally very positive about the support from their PSAs: 9 out of 10 rated them very helpful;
- The types of support offered in the pilot were very varied, ranging from informal support, through individual and group support such as parenting classes, to intensive support for parents in substantial need;
- PSA characteristics that were associated with high parent satisfaction can be summed up as a balance between empathic professionalism and being seen as a ‘friend’;
- Overall, most PSAs spent more time on 1:1 work with parents and relatively less time with pupils, but the balance of work varied widely; and
- Indicative evidence of PSA effectiveness was provided by both parents and PSAs for engaging and empowering parents, improving parents’ relationships with their children and improving their children’s behavioural, emotional and social development.

Australia 2020... sound familar?

In much the same as the various strategy and consultation events in the UK which have looked at the long term needs of Britain, Australia ran a 2-day event examining what the nation needs for 2020. Pages 5-32 ("The Productivity Agenda") of the report looks at education.

Similar themes emerge: the need to be a world-leader at educational services; a strong emphasis on early years; life-long learning; higher status for teaching professionals; business-school connections. However, there are some new elements also.

Well worth a look if interested in this "bigger picture" future thinking... or just to see how similar Australia is to the UK direction.

Assessing the potential of e-learning to support re-engagement amongst young people

This BECTA study highlights a range of systemic aspects concerned with supporting young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and suggests a number of improvements in systems and practices. The research has also identifies some gaps in the data for this group and highlights the need for more information in order to ascertain the size and nature of the ‘NEET problem’.

Key points:
- the population of young people who are NEET is far from homogenous and includes a wide range of young people including those with serious problems, those who lack skills, those who have poor relationships and attitudes, as well as gap year students and those who are simply temporarily between courses or jobs.
- There is a clear case that ICT has a place in supporting young people 16- to 18-years-old who are NEET. However, the development of the implementation of appropriate support practices will not be simple. It is made more difficult because of the wide variety of differences that exist across the population of young people who are NEET. No single ‘one size fits all’ solution will be effective.

Children and young people's experience of domestic violence

This briefing by the Social Care Institute for Excellence focuses on the experiences of children and young people (under the age of 18 years) of domestic violence between those adults who have, or previously held a parental role towards them. It includes both biological parents and non-related adults significant to the young people.

The effectiveness of interventions is beyond the scope of this briefing which is concerned with the experiences of children and young people in the context of this type of inter-partner violence. In examining experiences and coping strategies it also considers how the voices of children and young people are heard in research and practice, advocacy on their behalf, and evidence-based practice relating to work with children and young people affected by domestic violence.

Key points:
- Professional understanding of, and responses to domestic violence should be informed by the perspectives of children and young people.
- Practitioners need to recognise that domestic violence may be a cause of a range of physical, emotional and behavioural difficulties for children and young people.
- The complex relationship between domestic violence and safeguarding children requires respectful and sensitive handling.
- Children and young people aware of domestic violence have the right to be listened to and need help to understand what is happening.
- Some children and young people cope well despite their experiences of domestic violence.
- Work with perpetrators, though controversial, is an important aspect of reducing domestic violence and its impact on children and young people.

Children feeling safe (Australia)

This report is the third in a series of studies undertaken by the Australian Childhood Foundation, Child Abuse Research Australia and Quantum that seek the views of children and young people about their experiences of childhood in Australia today. It specifically seeks to further explore children’s sense of safety. A national representative sample of 600 children and young people aged between 10-14 years across Australia completed an online survey in April 2007.

Key points:
- Even though on the surface the vast majority of children surveyed believe that Australia is a good place to grow up in, many of them reflect an undercurrent of worry and concern for their own safety and the protection of other children.
- More than a quarter of the children in the sample were actively concerned that they might be hurt by an adult or become a victim of crime. One in five expressed a degree of anxiety about children not being protected from abuse.
- Over half of the children in the sample reported feeling worried about being bullied, teased and not fitting in with their peers.
- The internet, in particular, is perceived as a new source of anxiety and threat for a large number of children and young people. 46% of children reported that they had been exposed to material on the internet which worried them. 27% are worried about the dangers they face over the internet.
- 2 in 5 children surveyed felt unsafe in public places, such as shopping centres, cinemas, sporting grounds, walking to school. Just over a quarter of children (27%) were anxious about catching public transport. In each of these findings, a substantial proportion of girls felt more unsafe than boys.
- Half of the children felt that children their age were not made to feel welcome by adults in public places. 1 in 8 children surveyed wanted better spaces for children to be engaged in childhood activities.
- It is only when children feel safe in the relationships with important adults that they are able to experience a broader sense of safety in the world around them.

People's attachment to place, especially in deprived communities

This study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation examines the attachment that people feel to their current neighbourhood, particularly for those living in more deprived areas. Attachment is generally seen as having positive impacts for both individuals and for neighbourhoods. More recently it has been linked to the regeneration of deprived areas where it is associated with stable, cohesive neighbourhoods and where it is viewed as encouraging resident engagement in the neighbourhood in some positive way. This report examines the extent and nature of place attachment in deprived areas and looks at the impacts of neighbourhood instability and social mix on attachment.

Key Points:
- Place attachment tends to be higher for older people and those who have lived in an area longer, and for those who feel their area has strong social networks or cohesion, and low crime.
- Although the most important factors associated with place attachment are the same in deprived neighbourhoods as elsewhere – people are less likely to be attached in deprived areas than more affluent areas. This difference is mostly a result of weaker social networks or cohesion and worse views on crime or lack of safety in the neighbourhood.
- High turnover can negatively affect place attachment by undermining social networks, and by eroding trust and feelings of safety or security in an area.
- Social mix in deprived areas is not by itself associated with reduced attachment, though rapid changes in mix (particularly ethnic mix) may be problematic although it is not clear whether this is a temporary or more permanent phenomenon.

Wellbeing and Community Empowerment

The Local Wellbeing Project is a three-year initiative to explore how local government can improve the happiness and wellbeing of their citizens. The project brings together three local authorities – Manchester, Hertfordshire and South Tyneside – with the Young Foundation; Professor Lord Richard Layard from the London School of Economics, who has led much of the debate about happiness and public policy; and the Improvement and Development Agency, who are leaders in local government innovation. The project is also backed by key central government departments.

The project covers five main strands: emotional resilience for 11 to 13 year olds; wellbeing of older people; guaranteed apprenticeships; neighbourhoods and community empowerment; and parenting. In each of these areas it will test out new approaches; measure their impact; develop replicable methods; and look at their cost effectiveness. Two underpinning themes will investigate the relationship between wellbeing and environmental sustainability and how best to measure wellbeing at a local level.

This report has been undertaken as part of the neighbourhood and community empowerment strand, which aims to accelerate understanding of how local authorities can, through their community engagement and neighbourhood working practices, increase the wellbeing of their residents.

Key points:
- A growing body of research supports the suggestion that community and neighbourhood empowerment has the potential to improve the wellbeing of residents and communities.
- Some forms of community empowerment involve power which is a ‘zero sum’ – where power is handed from one group to another, such as councillors devolving decisions on budgets to the community. However, empowerment does not always require this redistribution; often it requires that communities maximise their own capabilities by working together and involving themselves in civil society.
- Some of the less tangible outcomes of empowerment, such as increased contact between neighbours or improved knowledge of the local democratic process, have the potential to enhance wellbeing.
- empowerment that helps individuals and communities to exert control over the circumstances that affect their lives, thereby improving local wellbeing.
- Empowerment ‘done badly’ can lead to individuals and communities feeling that they cannot influence local circumstances and that they have very little control over some aspects of their lives. Poorly thought out empowerment initiatives can lead to disempowerment, which in turn reduces local wellbeing.

Teachers as Innovative Professionals

This report by the DCSF Innovation Unit and the GTC follows case study research during 2007 about classroom innovation.

Key points:

- When asked what was meant by innovation the responses for most where that it is either (i) responding in the moment to events and to the particular needs of the pupils in a way that enables or enhances their learning; or (ii) trying something new or taking risks in the planning and execution of lessons as part of a systemic approach to continuously improving teaching and learning. Experienced teachers are more confident with the former, more spontaneous, approach. For a minority, it means freedom from following a set curriculum.

- This distinction between systemic and non systemic approaches to innovation seems to be important in any analysis of what innovation in teaching looks like, when it happens, and how it can be nurtured and sustained. In order to move beyond the spontaneous, opportunist approach to innovation, teachers need to be able to discuss, share and promote examples of innovation – at the individual, as well as the systemic, or school level.

- While most teachers believed innovation was an important and indeed an essential part of teaching, it was interesting to see that initial responses were different. Teachers innovating in a non systemic way were more likely to readily name things such as role plays, bringing external speakers into the classroom and organising day trips as examples of innovative practice. Their examples were about encouraging creativity, responding to the needs in the classroom, keeping things fresh and interesting. Whilst those teachers who felt that innovation was part of the ethos of their school talked about innovative timetabling and curricula; peer mentoring among pupils; non traditional management structures, professional development and involvement of pupils in the design of physical school places. Their concept of innovation was more one of managed continuous improvement and necessary change and they said “it’s not really about innovation – it’s about doing what works best for the children and their learning.”

- Teachers innovated within their own classroom primarily:
o To respond to the needs of their pupils (a major part of maintaining their own interest and increasing their job satisfaction)
o Because meeting pupils’ needs and producing interesting, successful lessons inspires and motivates them
o To meet the expectations of their head or senior manager
o In response to peer encouragement.
o Because the world is changing and pedagogy must reflect that. Learning must be designed to equip pupils for the world they will inhabit.

- Heads and other senior managers spoke of the main reasons for introducing innovation as being in order to:
o Improve results – particularly in failing schools
o Use education and the skills of all staff to open up possibilities in pupils’ minds and increase their self-belief
o Respond to a changing world i.e. recognising that schools needed to constantly change to keep pace with changing needs of their pupils and to make best use of new evidence about what works well
o Respond to the expectations of their pupils and parents.

- This differs from the rationale for innovation in the commercial world, where it is used to get or stay ahead of the competition, attract a bigger market share and attract and retain the best staff. Innovation in teaching, as far as teachers are concerned, is about pupils and their opportunities in the future.

- The most fundamental building block is leadership. Where there is a whole system approach to innovation, the headteacher and senior management team usually display strong and reflective leadership, principally through a clear vision of what the school is trying to achieve, and communicate this effectively through learning and collaboration.

- A number of other building blocks were common across our case study schools. Whilst strong and reflective leadership was still at the core, the creation of different forms of distributive leadership, where leadership is shared widely across the school, was also either a common feature or being developed as part of a programme of supported change:

Analysis of Children & Young People's Plans

This NFER paper follows similar reports in recent years which summarises the main trends emerging from Local Authorities (LAs) Children and Young People's plans. This analysis is based on a representative sample of 50 LA plans.

Key points:
- Current priorities to LAs are commissioning, safeguarding and looked after children. The plans format and presentation was also analysed.
- On commissioning: half of LAs referred to commissioning, with a big focus on the development of a commissioning strategy since 2006. Where joint commissioning teams where mentioned they mostly referred to Primary Care Trusts and Council or LA teams. Most were commissioning by service, whilst some are commissioning by ECM area. CAMHS is the priority area for joint commissioning and looked after children are the priority group.
- On safeguarding: the priorities were child protection, closely followed by violence and abuse with all LAs reporting they had a Local Safeguarding Children's Board in place.
- On looked after children: the priority was on ensuring participation of looked after children in service planning and reviews; improving placement quality, stability and choice; educational attainment and improving health. With regards ECM the focus was on "staying safe" and "enjoy and achieve".
- Format and presentation (this analysis relates to 106 plans): plans are either highly designed or mainly word-processed (about half each). The average length has grown by an additional 22 pages to 74 pages since 2006, but there is wide variation in the length of plans. 69% of plans used pictures etc. (I think this is enough on this here, if you want more read the report).

Movements between employment and child poverty

This study uses longitudinal data from the Families and Children Study to explore the impact of movements in and out of paid employment on the economic circumstances of families with children. It also looks at the circumstances of families that receive in-work tax credits to investigate how their economic circumstances change following employment transitions.

Key points:
- 53% of lone parent families and 94% of couple families had at least one parent who worked for 16 or more hours per week. 5% lone parents worked for less than 16 hours per week. Couple families were more likely to be dual earners than sole earners. In sole-earner couple families the father was more likely to be in work than the mother. Only 5% couple families had neither parent in work for any hours per week.
- 65% of working lone parent families were in receipt of Working Tax Credit (WTC). One quarter of single-earner couple families and one in ten dual-earner couple families were receiving WTC. On average lone parent families received £101 in tax credits (£58 WTC and £43 Child Tax Credit (CTC)). Sole-earning couple families received a similar amount to lone parent families (£56 WTC and £42 CTC), and dual-earning couple families received a lower amount (£30 WTC and £35 CTC).
- In 2005 18% families with children were living in income poverty.
- Family work status has a clear relationship with income poverty. More than half of families that did not have a parent who worked for at least 16 hours per week were in income poverty. There were very few dual-earning couple families in income poverty. However, having just one parent who works for 16 or more hours per week does not guarantee that the family will avoid income poverty. 13% working lone parent families were in income poverty, as were 15% of couple families where just one parent worked for 16 or more hours per week.
- Following a transition into work, a substantial proportion (70%) of families had moved out of income poverty a year later, and this figure was the same for lone parent and couple families. Lone-parent families who received in-work tax credits had higher income poverty exit rates after one year than couple families who received them (75% 62% respectively exited poverty). Rates of income poverty exit improved further for families that remained in work for a further year – 77% of lone parent families and 78% of couple families had escaped income poverty two years after finding and remaining in work.
- Movements in and out of work were the key factors associated with changes in income poverty and hardship status over time. Other factors were also associated with these changes, including family size, ethnicity, and tenure.

Good practice in literacy and numeracy

This paper by PwC for the Northern Irish Education Department to examine good practice in literacy and numeracy by looking at Irish and British cities.

Key points:
Respondents thought that reasons for the ‘long tail’ of underachievement in Northern Ireland included:
- A lack of parental involvement in their children’s education;
- A perceived lack of value placed on education in certain areas, particularly deprived Protestant areas;
- A shortage of positive role models;
- The impact of ‘The Troubles’;
- A decline in the readiness for schooling of pupils entering primary school in recent years (e.g. in terms of behaviour, linguistic development etc);
- A lack of baseline data on young children, hindering early intervention in schools;
- The transition between pre-school and primary and between primary and post-primary schools; and
- A lack of strategic direction and consistency of approach at the system level.

Measures to improve boys’ performance were identified at the individual level, the pedagogical level, the school level and at a system-wide level.
These include:
- Mentoring;
- Target-setting and more personalised learning;
- Introducing greater variety in teaching styles and activities;
- Creating an ethos of high expectations and aspirations throughout the school;
- Using data effectively to identify areas of difficulty;
- Developing appropriate professional development for teachers; and
- Disseminating good practice.

Respondents also raised concerns about:
- The weight given to teaching literacy and numeracy in Initial Teacher Training (ITT), particularly for those planning to teach in post-primary schools;
- The level of support for special educational needs;
- Resources for literacy and numeracy (including the layout of school buildings); and
- The need for strong strategic leadership across the sector.

Effective schools and school systems are characterised by:
- Strong leadership and strategic vision;
- A focus on learning and development for all staff;
- Close linkages with parents and the wider community;
- An emphasis on personalised learning, tailored to the needs of the individual pupil;
- Creativity and making learning fun;
- Collaboration with other schools, particularly at transition stages; and
- The effective use of data.

Northern Ireland: closing the gap

This strategy paper by the Department for Education (Northern Ireland) provides a useful summary of the successes and failures of this education system in raising standards, especially of certain groups of students who tend to consistently under-achieve in numeracy and literacy.

The paper summarises research (national and international) which informs the strategy:
- Targeting the allocation of resources in favour of children and schools in socially deprived areas and highlighted the positive contribution of Reading Recovery as an effective mechanism in improving standards in literacy was recommended.
- Teachers should have suitable initial and subsequent training in numeracy, as well as sound subject-specific knowledge and recommended that pupils should experience a wider and more challenging range of learning opportunities, including mental calculation in a range of contexts, tasks requiring strategic thinking, higher-order questioning, collaborative problem-solving, and increased use of ICT.
- The teaching is most effective when it is interactive and contingent on the pupils’ responses, includes collaborative activities, encourages discussion, involves problem-solving and investigative work, and links the learning with other subjects, including the use of authentic problems.
- The indications are that far more attention needs to be given, right from the start, to promoting speaking and listening skills to make sure that children build a good stock of words, learn to listen attentively and speak clearly and confidently. Speaking and listening, together with reading and writing, are prime communication skills that are central to children’s intellectual, social and emotional development. All these skills are drawn upon and promoted by high quality, systematic phonic work.
- High and lower-attaining children in year 2 who had access to linguistic phonics outperformed other children in year 2 who did not participate in the programme.
- A systematic approach to phonics at an early stage is more effective than later less systematic phonics and that a phonics approach corresponded well with the emphasis in the revised curriculum on enriching the children’s learning environment and learning experiences through activities such as learning through structured play at the Foundation Stage.
- The impact of socio-economic disadvantage on levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy, and on educational standards generally, is highlighted consistently in research fi ndings and specifi cally in a report commissioned by DE on Barriers to Recognising the Benefits of Education. That report recommended the further development of extended schools to establish the school as a hub for multi-agency services to support families and encourage educational involvement.

Improving outcomes for low-achieving students

This report by HM Inspectors (Scotland), visited a number of schools that were making a significant difference for lower-achieving groups of pupils, often in less advantaged communities to find out what these schools had in common and what good practice could be found and shared.

Key points:
- Inspectors found common characteristics of effective practice in raising achievement for the lowest attaining 20% of pupils. The characteristics of effective practice which make a difference to young people’s lives by improving their literacy and numeracy skills are not new or innovative. They are characteristics that should be present in every school, in every class, and in every lesson.

- In particular, they relate to:
• the quality of relationships between staff and pupils
• consistently high expectations
• opportunities to work collaboratively
• well designed opportunities for pupils to be actively involved in learning and to contribute to discussions
• the commitment to a shared vision of how to improve the quality of pupils’ learning
• effective use of self-evaluation for improvement
• valuing and empowering staff, pupils and parents in order that they can work together to improve learning
• creating a climate of ambition and high aspiration for all
• ensuring that the school has a clear framework for teaching literacy and numeracy.

A useful document for leaders and teachers interested in classroom practice.

Expenditure and attainment at primary school

This report by the LSE for the DCSF examined whether the dramatic increase in school expenditure in the last 10 years has led to increased pupil outcomes at primary school.

Context:
In much of the academic literature, it has proved difficult to find any positive relationship between school resources and academic outcomes, mainly because of the funding mechanism that exists for schools in England. Local authority grants for education are determined as a basic per pupil amount plus supplements for measures of social deprivation and additional educational needs. Local authorities in turn allocate funding to schools by a formula, which is largely driven by the number of pupils but also gives additional funding for pupils from socially disadvantaged backgrounds or with special educational needs. Pupils with these characteristics achieve, on average, lower results and hence the funding mechanism may introduce a negative correlation between resources and pupils’ performance; schools with more resources perform worse on average.

Key points:
- An increase of £1,000 in average expenditure per pupil (roughly an additional third of current expenditure) implies an average improvement in attainment corresponding to 4.3, 3.5 and 1.9 percent of a level in these subjects (key stage 2 levels).
- It seems to be easier to translate expenditure increases into improvement in Key Stage 2 attainment for English in more disadvantaged schools (compared to less advantaged schools), whereas the opposite is true for Science. For Maths, the effect of expenditure is higher in more advantaged schools, but the differential between school types is not as high as for the other subjects.
- Pupils eligible to receive Free School Meals do seem to benefit more on average from increases in expenditure in terms of attainment in English and Maths. There is less of a differential for Science.
- There is a stronger effect of expenditure on higher ability pupils (on the basis of their Key Stage 1 assessment) across all subjects.
- It would appear that spending on staff (teachers, support staff and other staff) are driving the overall effect. Learning resources are also potentially important for raising attainment in English and Science.
- We conclude that the increases in expenditure probably have been cost effective. To evaluate this fully, future work should investigate whether the effects of increasing expenditure in primary school persist and are evident for pupils when they undertake assessments in secondary school.

The effect of USA: No Child Left Behind

This report from the USA describes findings from the second year of the most comprehensive, intensive, and carefully constructed study to date of trends in student achievement in all 50 states since 2002, the year the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted.

Key points:
- It is not possible to directly relate improvements in student achievement to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy.
- Since 2002, reading and math achievement has gone up in most states according to the percentages of students scoring at the proficient level. Gains tended to be larger at the elementary and middle school grades than at the high school level. Achievement has also risen in most states according to effect sizes.
- In states where sufficient data exists, gaps have narrowed more often than they have widened since 2002, particularly for African American students and low-income students. Gap trends were also largely positive for Latino students, but this finding is less conclusive because in many states the Latino subgroup has changed significantly in size in recent years.On the whole, percentages proficient and effect sizes revealed similar trends of narrowing or widening, although percentages proficient gave a more positive picture of achievement gap trends than effect sizes.

CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services) Review

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service review commissioned by the DCSF and Department of Health have published their interim report:

Key points:
- There is evidence that the range of developments since 1995 in all services has achieved some notable improvements in all education, social care and health services, particularly the requirement on Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts to produce a co-ordinated Child and Adolescent Mental Health Strategy.
- Comprehensive improvement in access to services for all children and consistency of provision across the full range of services has not yet been achieved.
- It has not been possible to monitor improvements in outcomes for children and young people as reliable routine outcome measurement and data collection is a complex task that is only just beginning to be undertaken by many services.

Child abuse and adult suicide

Child abuse victims are among the most at-risk groups of committing suicide in later life, according to research.

A study in Canada involving 3,000 adults found that those who had been abused as a child were far more likely to have attempted suicide. Just under a third of sexual and physical abuse victims had attempted suicide, compared to just six per cent of those who had not experienced abuse.

Of those that took part in the survey, around one in ten had experienced either physical or sexual abuse. Repeated abuse over a number of years and abuse by a family member was the most strongly associated with suicide attempts. The research, which has been published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, was carried out by academics at the McGill Group for Suicide Studies in Montreal.

Reaching the hardest in Children's Centres

A report by Capacity was carried out to look at the effectiveness of children’s centres in reaching the most highly disadvantaged families, the ways in which they meet the needs of those families and the outcomes achieved.

Ket findings:
- The study revolved around four “exemplar” children’s centre case studies, examining their work within the context of current government policies, best practice and a wide range of research perspectives.
- The centres within the study were found to be highly effective in delivering multi-agency services to and for children and families. Each has been successful in reaching a number of families who would be considered “difficult to include”, giving thought to and overcoming the practical and other barriers which might prevent those families using the various services on offer.
- It is possible that more resources than are currently allocated for the children’s centre programme are needed to ensure that it can meet its objectives. In acknowledgement of this, the DCSF has recently announced a cash injection of more than £4billion to children’s
centres which will include additional funds for outreach workers.
- The reach strategies adopted by successful centres have been implemented in a particularly thorough way. Some of the community consultations, for example, have been extensive and highly structured, utilising focus groups, outreach and public information campaigns, as opposed to more limited consultations and surveys.
- If children’s centres are to achieve their objectives, they need to capture detailed information about their users, both at the point of first contact and at subsequent intervals.
- In all four centres, the expertise and depth of experience of those leading the work was very considerable and this was a critical factor in their extensive achievements.

Childcare costs prevent parents from working

More than a quarter of low-income parents are unable to work because of childcare costs, according to a YouGov survey.

The survey, carried out on behalf of Save the Children, found 28 per cent of parents on incomes lower than £15,000, could not afford to work.
Douglas Hamilton, head of policy and research at Save the Children, said parents often have to quit work to look after their children. He said: “The costs of childcare are so high that by going to work parents lose more money than they make. The majority of parents in poverty want to work, but with no-one to look after their children, they can’t.”

The children’s charity is calling on the government to introduce £100 grants for children from poor families to help fund holiday childcare. YouGov’s findings coincide with a Daycare Trust report that found the cost of holiday childcare in Great Britain rose by almost ten per cent in the past year, to a weekly average of almost £88.

Engaging parents in their children's learning

This report by the GTC asked a diversity of parents of their experiences with schools via 6 structured workshops in three English cities.

For the purposes of this report, involvement is defined as activities that parents undertake in relation to their child’s school, such as attending parent-teacher consultations, performances and fetes and talking to their child about school and any homework they may have been given. Engagement is defined as the activities that parents undertake to learn about learning and develop their own knowledge in order to help their child.

Key points:
- Primary school teachers were accessible, but access to primary school teachers was becoming more difficult.
- In high school, access to teachers was restricted to formal events (such as parent evenings).
- Parents found it difficult to contact head teachers and were often restricted by gatekeepers.
- Fathers (who tended to be working), working parents generally and lone parents tended to have much less informal contact with primary and secondary schools; they were also less likely to be school volunteers or members of the PTA.
- Parents thought that schools expected them to be involved in their child’s learning and thought that schools assumed they would know how to do so, although this was not necessarily the case.
- Parents thought that it was important to be involved in their children’s learning.
- They were mixed in their opinions about how much they wanted to be involved apart from generally helping with homework and attending the formal parent-teacher consultations provided by the school.
- Parents also thought that by engaging with their child’s learning they gained a better understanding of their child’s abilities and interests; understood their child’s weaknesses; gained an insight into any other issues that may be occurring in their child’s life; and would be better able to tailor social activities to their child’s interests. It also reinforced the value of learning, for both the child and parent alike.
- Some parents did not feel that they wanted to be engaged with their child’s learning. This was for a range of reasons: it is the school’s responsibility to engage in a child’s learning; time pressures; and a lack of knowledge and skills about how to engage with a child’s learning.
- Parents often expressed a desire to know more about the curriculum that their child was following, or the teaching methods that were being used. This was particularly so for maths and science, for which teaching methods were thought to have changed considerably since they were at school.