World Class Education Systems

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) commissioned McKinsey & Company to develop a comparative fact-base for an analysis of the performance of England’s education system and high-performing systems overseas, drawing on its international benchmarking framework.

Key points:
- The world’s highest-performing education systems share three mutually reinforcing attributes:
1. high challenge: high expectations of pupils and fair evaluation of schools and other parts of the system
2. high support: enough resource and capacity-building to meet those high expectations
3. aligned incentives: incentives and consequences that induce schools and other parts of the system to meet expectations

When benchmarked against international comparators, many school reforms implemented in England are shown to be world-leading. However, they are not yet delivering consistently world-class teaching for every student, in every classroom in every school. Following significant improvements attainment can be seen to be levelling off, and evidence suggests performance still has a stronger link to socio-economic background than is the case in the world’s best systems.

Most aspects of England’s schooling system can be rated as ‘good’, or ‘world-class’. One exception to this pattern is high expectations for student achievement - a key attribute of high performing systems – which is rated as ‘fair’.

There is also evidence that academic content and standards are not fully meeting the demands of employers and universities.

Strengths identified in the English system include:
- Devolution of resources to schools and three year budgets
- A focus on turning round or closing failing schools
- Intervening in poorly performing local authorities
- Reform of teacher training and best practice marketing of teaching as a profession

The analysis identified scope to strengthen performance in other areas, including the consistency of classroom teaching and the quality of professional development, and the ability to codify and scale up best practice.

Impact of High Performing Specialist Schools

PricewaterhouseCoopers have published this interim report, on behalf of the DCSF, on High Performing Specialist Schools (HPSS). Specialist schools are those which are recognised as being a centre of excellence in their chosen specialism (such as a curriculum subject or for Special Educational Needs). Since 2004 Specialist Schools have had the chance to apply to become High Performing. This implies that they gain a second specialism (i.e. a second curriculum and/or vocational subject as specialism) or that they take part in the Leading Edge Partnership Programme; become a Training School; take part in the Raising Achievement Transforming Learning Programme; or Youth Support Trust School Leadership Programme.

This report evaluates the success of the HPSS only, as opposed to evaluating the success of the Specialist School Programme in general.

Key points:
- Schools are optimistic that the HPSS option is contributing positively to raising pupils’ aspirations and attainment. A small number of interviewees (mainly those schools with a SEN HPSS option) emphasised the importance of assessing the impact upon achievement as well as attainment, as this was important for pupils with Special Educational Needs;
- Approximately one-half of interviewees believed that recruitment and retention of staff had improved as a result of the school taking on the high performing role;
- Schools were generally positive about the opportunities that the programme has provided to enhance and extend training and development opportunities for staff. Approximately four-fifths of headteachers indicated that training and development opportunities have improved as a direct result of involvement in the programme;
- Staff workload has increased in two-thirds of the schools visited (in particular for the Director of Specialism(s) and class teachers), but this was not generally resented by staff; as interviewees suggested that job satisfaction has simultaneously improved. A large number of interviewees suggested that workload peaked during the planning stage and the early implementation of the specialism and that it would reduce as the programme was being implemented;
- Over 90% of headteachers believed that curricular choice and personalised learning opportunities for pupils have improved as a result of the HPSS option;
- Many HPS schools are collaborating effectively with partner primary schools, but the outreach activities with local secondary schools, the wider community and local businesses are less well developed. Many of the examples of best practice in terms of collaboration with local secondary schools and businesses exist in training schools and schools with a vocational specialism; and
- Over one-half of interviewees believed that HPSS contributed specifically to the achievement of wider Government objectives, including the 14-19 agenda, the workforce remodelling agenda, extended schools and Every Child Matters.

The value of social care professionals in extended schools

The NFER have conducted research to evaluate the value social care professionals bring to extended schools.

Key points:
- Partnership and integrated working are key if extended schools are to deliver the 5 ECM outcomes
- There will be difficulties as differing working practices and cultures will clash initially
- Four models of social care seem to exist, which are not mutually exclusive
- Across the differing models there is agreement that placing social care professionals in schools is beneficial
- There was also agreement that the extended school is a suitable venue in which social care professionals can fulfil their service remit
- Less qualified staff are being used within the extended school setting to provide lower-level needs and referring higher-level needs to appropriate colleagues. This creates capacity in the social care system and enables effective allocation of workforce skills

Growth of specialist schools

At the end of Januaty 2008, the DCFS announced 89 new specialist schools. This takes the total of specialist schools up to 88% of the maintained secondary school sector. There are 26 Local Authority's which are 100% specialist: in the Yorkshire and Humber Region there is only one local authority which is 100% specialist - York.