Jobs for youth, OECD

This OECD paper on youth employment offers an objective critique of recent government initiatives and policy.

Key points:
- Measures of youth labour market performance and indicators describing the transition from education to work over the past 15 years paint a mixed picture. On the one hand, there is evidence that youth labour market integration and career progression have improved considerably since the mid-1990s, however, other indicators paint a less rosy picture.
- In 2007, the youth unemployment rate was 14%, slightly above the OECD average, compared with just 11% in 2004. These figures hide significant differences between teenagers (16-19-year olds) and young adults (20-24-year olds).
- 13% of 16-24-year olds were neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) in 2005 (the latest year for which comparable data are available), and many youth in this group are at high risk of poor labour market outcomes and social exclusion. This rate is just above the OECD average of 12% and has increased slightly over the past decade.
- The New Deal for Young People – has helped many youth return to work, sustainable employment outcomes have proved difficult to achieve and there are signs that the programme is no longer as effective as in the early days.
- In terms of the education system, the priority is to reduce early leaving from education and training.
- Provision of free early childhood education, which helps reduce early leaving from education and training particularly when interventions are sustained beyond the pre-school period, is lower in England than in many OECD countries.
- Raising the age of compulsory participation in education and training to 18 by 2015 has the potential to ensure that youth enter the labour market better prepared for work. However, the part-time learning participation option may bring in its wake some enforcement problems when job separation occurs.

The report provides a good, objective, introduction to recent policy in this area and the current planned changes to the 14-19 agenda.

Expansion of primary literacy and numeracy pilots

The DCSF have expanded their flagship literacy and numeracy initiatives:

Every Child a Reader - by 2010/11 this will cover to 30,000 children in 3,000 schools (and 150 local authorities) a year struggling with early reading getting extra support. A recent report from the Institute of Education found that the pilot had been a huge success, with children getting higher than average results for their age. Within Yorkshire & Humber Every Child A Reader is being expanded this year to: Bradford, Kingston Upon Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, Wakefield & Kirklees.

Every Child Counts - being piloted in 21 local authorities from this month and then rolled out over the next two years, so that by 2010/11 30,000 children in 1,900 schools (105 local authorities) will be covered. Within Yorkshire & Humber Every Child Counts will be initially piloted in: Leeds & Bradford.

Every Child a Writer - being piloted in nine local authority areas, a total of 135 schools and 2,500 children, from this month and will be rolled out nationally by 2011 so that it covers over 45,000 children in up to 9,000 schools and 150 local authorities. Despite the improvements in numeracy and literacy over the last decade, writing lags behind early reading improvement rates. No local authorities within Yorkshire & Humber are piloting this initiative.

Every Child Counts, like the established Every Child a Reader programme, focuses on the bottom 5% at Key Stage 1 and will mean that children struggling with early maths are given high quality intensive specialist support from trained teachers.

Williams Review of Mathematics

The final report into primary mathematics by Peter Williams was released in June 2008.
It draws on evidence which includes robust published research; relevant data and statistics; and a programme of visits to schools and settings throughout England; an extensive consultation with teachers and practitioners, trainers, providers of resources and policy makers.

Key points:

- The teacher, even more than the parent, determines learning outcomes in mathematics, the more so given that the way in which mathematics is taught has undergone considerable change since most parents’ own schooling.
- most initial teacher training does not in itself constitute a sound basis for deep subject and pedagogical knowledge in mathematics, and this report therefore lays great emphasis on continuing professional development.

- There should be at least one Mathematics Specialist in each primary school, while recognising the need to make sensible allowances for small and rural schools.

- The Mathematics Specialist would be drawn from within the existing teaching force. This teacher will in effect ‘champion’ mathematics in the school and act as mentor and coach, as well as being an outstanding classroom teacher.

- The role of local authorities, universities and other providers of CPD is reviewed, and specific recommendations made regarding programmes for the Mathematics Specialists, in which progression to a Masters-level qualification is a key feature.

- the curriculum, by and large, is well balanced, and recommends that it should continue in its current form.

- Two issues only are singled out: the need for an increased focus on the ‘use and application’ of mathematics and on the vitally important question of the classroom discussion of mathematics.

Watch BBC News piece

Listen to Radio 4 Interview

Read BBC News page

Read Government reponse

The Extra Mile - Raising Aspirations in Deprived Communities

This DCSF paper is the first of a series which will explore in detail the barriers which face the children from deprived communities at school and seek ways to improve their chances of success. It is a project which is focused on children whose families have been poor for generations, in this sense it links to other research on persistent poverty (click here). The project focuses on the cultural attitudes between poverty and aspiration.

Key points:

- Generational poverty adds to material deprivation the weight of historical expectation and ingrained culture.

- Despite a closing gap, there is still significant difference of attainment of those on free school meals (FSM) and those not.

- By visiting 50 secondary schools working in the most deprived wards in England, but with a great track record of success with their pupils, it was seen that they do similar activities to any great school: they have dynamic leaders, who lead from the front, set the tone and establish a ‘can do’ culture; they have strong systems for quality; they are passionate about the quality of the classroom experience; they shape the curriculum to serve the needs of their intake; they track the progress of pupils with ardent regularity and intervene immediately if anyone falls off trajectory; they are unusually creative about recruitment and retention.

- these schools also go the extra mile for the children of their community. They implement some deliberate extra measures specifically targeted at the most disadvantaged. The research found 12 "extra mile" practices:
1: To increase interactive and participatory learning
2: To develop a listening campaign
3: To promote a culture of respect for local values
4: To broaden pupils’ horizons
5: To develop a culture of achievement
6: To offer a more relevant curriculum
7: To build pupils’ repertoire of language
8: To develop pupils’ social, emotional & behavioural skills
9: To cultivate traditional values
10: To track pupils’ progress and intervene promptly
11: To develop effective rewards and incentive schemes
12: To support pupils at transition points

Outcomes of early childhood education

The New Zealand Ministry of Education commissioned this literature review into the impact of early childhood education (ECE) on children and families. The authors explored 117 international and New Zealand texts to addresses three questions:

(a) What developmental, educational, social, and economic outcomes are associated
with participation in ECE for learners and their families?
(b) Are different outcomes associated with different population groups and under different circumstances/ contexts? Considering whether there are adverse impacts more likely and for whom?
(c) How do different outcomes interact/relate with one another?
i. What is the size/significance of the different impacts of ECE? How long do the effects last?

Key findings:

- ECE participation is positively associated with gains in mathematics and literacy, school achievement, intelligence tests, and also school readiness, reduced grade retention, and reduced special education placement.

- the small number of studies that examined associations between ECE participation and learning dispositions found positive impacts.

- There are mixed findings on the impact of ECE participation on antisocial and worried behaviour.

- There is a suggestion that children may catch more infections (ear, nose, and throat) through ECE participation, and that young children attending all-day centres may experience higher cortisol levels (symptom of stress). Where centres are good quality, cortisol levels tend to be lower.

- Studies found cognitive gains for children from low-income/ disadvantaged homes could be greater than for most other children in mathematics and literacy.

- Children for whom English is an additional language, and children from some ethnic minority groups (including Black children), made greater progress on numeracy and pre-reading measures during ECE participation than the white U.K. children or those for whom English is a first language in the English EPPE study.

- Longer duration of ECE experience is linked with cognitive (“academic”) gains for children from all family socioeconomic backgrounds but full-time attendance has no benefits for cognitive outcomes over part-time attendance in studies of children from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds.

- A small number of international studies found an early starting age before age 2 or 3 is associated with higher levels of antisocial or worried behaviour at the time of attendance or shortly after school entry. These associations were generally found in centres rated as low-quality.

As the diagramme shows, early childhood services that contribute to positive child and family outcomes are settings characterised by:
- intentional teaching;
- family engagement with ECE teachers and programmes, where social/cultural capital and interests from home are included, and both family and teachers can best support the child’s learning; and
- a complex curriculum involving both cognitive and non-cognitive dimensions

Home school knowledge exchange

This study by the General Teaching Council looked at the benefits for students if parents knew more about what was happening in school and teachers knew more about what was happening at home - Home School Knowledge Exchange (HSKE).

Key points:
- There are four types of knowledge which could be exchanged:
* knowledge of the curriculum and different teaching methods
* knowledge of culture and expectations at a new school
* parents’ knowledge of their child’s personality, needs, strengths and vulnerabilities, and
* children’s knowledge of their learning preferences, passions and interests.

- There are many examples of practice and theory around ensuring knowledge is passed from school to home, but few examples of knowledge going the other way.

- Parents said they were interested in knowing more about the curriculum and the way different subjects, such as reading and mathematics, were taught.

- Helping children to learn about literacy and numeracy involved recognising that much learning in these areas takes place out of school, in every day contexts.

- The children’s parents enjoyed being able to see teaching and learning in practice, for example through video, observation or direct experience and learned a great deal about how to help their children.

- Although the activities brought a wide range of benefits, they also carried a degree of risk. Some children (and parents) might have felt exposed if they were asked to provide information about their ‘lives out of school’, and the researchers needed to be sensitive to this. Similarly, some teachers were concerned about identifying struggling children to other parents when showing video sequences etc.

Leaders may like to consider the following:
- One of the key challenges identified by the study was that HSKE activities can be time consuming and resource intensive, both in planning and delivery. But the results can be extremely positive. For example, the findings suggest that interventions concerned with personal, social and emotional areas of transfer to secondary school can have a direct impact on attainment and academic progress.
- The study identified that ‘hard to reach’ parents are certainly not a homogeneous group and that the term itself may be an artefact of the way schools are organised. Certainly, different strategies are needed to engage different parents.
- Schools were often unaware of specific details about the home lives of some individual pupils which explained for example prolonged absences or struggles in certain subject areas.
- Although the home–school activities made teachers more aware of their pupils’ home experiences of learning, the study highlighted how some teachers were more skillful than others in making use of such knowledge in their work.

It also gives examples of how knowledge can be exchanged and the implications such an exchange can have on the school and parent relationship.

Conservative Policies

Michael Gove, the Conservative Party's speaker for Children, Schools and Families, spoke on the Andrew Marr Show (BBC 1, 1st June 2008) about their school policies.

Key policies the Conservative Party propose:
- More private and voluntary sector management of schools, but without the drive to make profits.
- More freedom around the national curriculum.
- More parental choice over where their children go to.
- No selection over pupil admission (at least not more than 10% of the total pupil intake, similar to the freedoms that academies currently have).
- More teaching by ability within schools.
- The comprehensive ideal of mixed social intake would stay.

Read the Conservative Policy Green Paper

"Stalled standards" and Ofsted reform

Ofsted are proposing changes to their inspection regime from September 2009 and have opened consultation on their suggestions.

Key points in the proposals:

- Different inspections, suited to the school's previous inspection, with a focus on schools which are not improving:

- Good and outstanding schools will receive an inspection within 6 years (with a small "health check" at a mid-point);

- Satisfactory schools within 3 years;

- Satisfactory schools which are not improving, will receive a monitoring visit within 12-18 months and a full inspection in 3 years;

- Inadequate Notice to Improve will receive a monitoring visit within 6-8 months and full inspection in 3 years.

- Special Measures, two or three monitoring visits per year.

- Parents will have more say over whether their school should be inspected.

- Increased focus on the progress made by different types of students (those typically likely to fall behind).
- Explore whether the possibility of "no-notice" inspections are feasible (this has been criticised by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, cited on BBC News).

- Reporting on the contribution the school makes towards community cohesion.

- Assessing that leadership and management ensure that teaching has an impact on learning; equality, diversity and cohesion are taken into account; parents and students views are taken into account; the curriculum meets the needs of learners; resources are used well and learners are well supported.

There was discussion in parliament after ofsted said that standards in schools have stalled:

"If education in England is going to compare favourably with the best in the world, standards need to improve. In fact they have stalled,"

Watch debate from BBC news

Teacher Training & the best teachers

A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research reflects on the economic, social and political trends and changes to the role and expectations of teachers within the last 20 years before going on to illustrate how the difference between a good and a bad teacher can equate to 1 GCSE grade and that whilst a focus does exist on poorly performing teachers there is concern about how to improve those teachers who are deemed "uninspiring".

Teaching of psychological skills are important, but the professional development for teachers to develop skills in this area is weak.

Within limitations, the authors suggest certain characteristics which make an effective teacher. These include high levels of literacy and the teachers academic ability, which affects student attainment more than any other measure.

The authors state that teacher training should be more contextually specific and personalised the individual needs.

Amongst the headlines on the BBC and others include:
- That the current intake of teachers does not reflect the brightest graduates (in the UK it is the top 30% of graduates, whereas in other countries it is the top 10% or even 5%).
- Part of the reason for failing to attract the best is the lack of continued professional development (pay was found to have no effect).
- 1 years training is inadequate.
- 5 days teacher training per year is inadequate (suggest it should be 20).
- The role of school based mentors can be better developed.

The report also notes how different skills are needed to teach vocational subjects, something to become more prevalent with the changes at 14-19.

Click on image to hear an interview with the report's author and a leader from the NUT (from Radio 4's Today, 6-5-08)



Click on BBC News to see their report (6-5-08)

Primary languages in initial teacher training (ITT)

This Ofsted survey evaluated the quality of ITT providers in preparing new teachers to implement the National Languages Strategy in primary schools in 2009/10.

Key findings:
- The ITT courses surveyed are providing good quality training for future languages specialists in primary schools. Trainees are being prepared well to become teachers of languages and for their likely role as languages coordinators.
- These complex courses make high demands on providers and trainees. Effective communication and cooperation at institutional, local, national and international levels underpin the best provision.
- Trainees are highly motivated and very committed to making languages in primary schools work. They show an evangelical determination to win over those who remain unconvinced of the benefits of early language learning.
- Although trainees are developing an understanding of the challenges for pupils when they transfer from primary to secondary school, few trainees have firsthand experience of how secondary schools build on earlier learning in languages.
- Trainees gain significantly in confidence and maturity as a result of their four week placement abroad. Working in two educational cultures enhances their ability to reflect critically on their practice.
- The trainees are mostly competent in their teaching language, and the best provision ensures that they continue to develop their expertise. Despite this, they do not use the foreign language sufficiently with pupils in the classroom.
- Trainees focus mainly on their own teaching language. Many of them do not know enough about the other languages spoken by pupils in their classes. Most training providers do not place enough emphasis on this ‘bigger picture’ of languages.
- A shortage of specialist mentors means that many trainees do not have sufficient opportunities to observe good languages teaching and to receive expert feedback on the elements of their own teaching specific to languages.
- Primary schools have benefited from the opportunities the providers have offered for mentors to be trained, but they express concerns about the sustainability of this training initiative up to, and beyond, 2009/10.

Extended Diplomas

The DCSF is to accept the advice of the Expert Advisory Group and also offer Extended Diplomas. These will be designed to challenge the most able students by having added depth and breadth to studies along with a strengthen core of English and maths. They should also offer more opportunity for research intensive and independent study. The DCSF will release a strategy for the 14-19 qualifications soon.

The Extended Diplomas are scheduled to be available as from 2011.

Some commentators believe that the introduction of the Extended Diploma makes the whole scheme too complicated.

NFER Survey into schools view on 14-19 changes

The NFER Annual Survey had a section on changes to the 14-19 curriculum.

Key points:
- There was a link between certain types of school and the levels of preparedness, schools with high proportions of students qualifying for free school meals, large schools and comprehensive schools tended to report better preparation.
- The main challenges faced by schools were around working in collaboration and partnership with other schools, colleges and employers; uncertainty or lack of funding to allow changes to the curriculum; and the practicalities of implementing the curriculum including timetabling.
- With regard raising of the participation age the main concerns were curriculum related; funding related; staffing related and that young people would be forced to stay in education against their wishes.

The Leadership Effect

A study by the Policy Exchange has questioned the impact that head teachers have on raising pupil performance. Based on the premise that a new head teacher will perform differently than the old one the authors found:

- No change in pupil performance between the schools which had changed head teachers and those which had not (within the first 5 years of a new head)
- Teachers have the greatest impact on pupil performance and as the head is usually at greater distance from the pupils their impact is greatly reduced
- The best thing head teachers can do is ensure good teachers

The authors believe that there are problems in head teacher recruitment.

Other commentators state that part of been a good head is the ability to sustain and embed practice, so that it outlasts any leadership tenure, thus good schools will continue to be good even if the leader departs. The authors advocate much greater freedom for schools which fail for 2 years. After been taken over such schools should have curriculum, financial, personnel and other freedoms partly supported by an "advantage premium" of increased funds.

Curriculum, assessment and qualifications

The DCFS and DIUS together released their proposal about how to spilt the regulation and development of qualifications in England. There will be a new Office of the Qualifications and Examination Regulator which will be the "guardian across the assessment and qualification system". This body is to ensure standards remain high, value for money and operate mainly at a strategic level, although they could intervene into specific cases if needed. They will also regulate key stage tests and the moderation of assessment at key stage 1 and early years foundation stage.

The current QCA (Qualifications & Curriculum Authority) will reform to be the development agency for curriculum, assessment and qualifications.