The debate about widening participation and university admissions has flared up on a number fronts over the past few weeks. One spat has been over the extent to which considerations of social disadvantage should influence admissions to the elite universities, especially Oxford http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/oxford-is-not-a-social-security-office-947427.html and http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a17127d6-8c2e-11dd-8a4c-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1 I notice that Cambridge seems to have a more sympathetic attitude and are making much better progress than Oxford, even though I have always thought (it would seem wrongly) of Cambridge as the most reactionary university in the UK. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7631070.stm An alternative view of the merits of an elite Oxford education found its way into the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/oxforduniversity Elsewhere, debate has been sparked by the news that the government is backing a new system of grading state schools ‘on the proportion of their pupils who attend top universities http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/oct/03/schools.highereducation I think it is interesting that these types of discussions increasingly hinge on the importance of bad subject choices by some students while still at school. The National Council for Educational Excellence has recommended that all primary school children should get a ‘taste’ of university education http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/government-report-give-pupils-early-taste-of-university-949715.html the same report recommended that universities should be free to vary the A-level grades expected from applicants depending on the schools they attend http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7648733.stm which is probably just as well because a report from HEFCE has found that a number of universities are doing this already http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/30/accesstouniversity The government has decided to strengthen this trend by sponsoring increased flexibility and experimental admissions procedures at 9 universities - Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, King's College London, Leeds, Leicester, Newcastle, Southampton and Warwick. http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?ReleaseID=379525&NewsAreaID=2&NavigatedFromDepartment=False The sensitivity of this subject was reflected in this discussion article in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/24/accesstouniversity.highereducation This debate is not over, but I think the detail of these discussions and the different systems of access and admissions that are beginning to emerge could be of great relevance to the work of The Brightside Trust.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
6) Important Lesson
The Scottish free school meals experiment http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7646898.stm to be piloted in England http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7632349.stm I think the important point is that universal provision of free school meals not only increases the numbers of students taking up school meals but it also increases the number of disadvantaged pupils taking up the offer of a school dinner. This should not come as a surprise: in matters of social policy it has long been known that if you want people to take something up then make it free and universal.
7) Another UN report criticises UK child care record
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2008/10/06/109597/un-slams-britains-child-poverty-levels.html This article is from Community Care, which we now get delivered to our office (I have managed to secure a free subscription). I will keep back copies in the library. For those who don’t know it, I would describe it as the house journal for UK social workers. I think we will find it useful as a guide to contemporary community and social work projects.
8) Scandal: David Cameron and the Swedish model
The Swedish model of schooling has suddenly become fashionable with the Conservative Party. The Independent produced a neat little description of the Swedish education system and in particular the place of parent established and run schools http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/the-big-question-what-is-the-swedish-schools-model-and-can-uk-education-learn-from-it-947339.html I would point to the significantly larger sums of money being invested by the Swedes.
Friday, 22 August 2008
1) Reflections on the Olympics
Leo Mckinstry at the Daily Mail noted this fact and fell back on an old technique: when in doubt blame the victims, http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-1046615/Is-coincidence-Olympic-champions-privately-educated.html however, even for the Daily Hate this is an extraordinary set of arguments.
Let’s take a look at this Olympics malarkey. First, it strikes me that most of the world’s population hasn’t a chance of competing. Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day. No doubt the Daily Mail would point at the average African dirt farmer and say that he made his choice when he had those children.
It also strikes me that you increase your chances of winning when you opt for the more technically advanced and expensive events, as this will exclude another great chunk of humanity from competing against you. For example, I believe a good show jumping horse is worth around £250,000, add to this all the other costs, such as feeding the beast and you must safely see off the vast majority of the world’s population by choosing this sport. I guess this explains why the UK competitors have a better chance of winning in sports that require expensive equipment and specialist training in a professional environment.
However, that said, why within the UK, with lottery support monies to facilitate the elite, are there not more ex-state school Olympians? According to Leo Mckinstry there are a number of strands to this. First, that state schools don’t encourage high performing students. This is prejudice and nonsense; I know it is nonsense because I know the detail of my niece Kate’s experience. Kate is ranked 2nd for her age group at trampolining in the UK (Scottish independence would see her move to 1st; come on the SNP, I say). She attends a bog standard, middling, state comprehensive school where she has been greatly encouraged and supported by all the teaching staff and is freely given time off for training and competitions. Her successes are praised and publicised at every opportunity among the whole school community. Also, I know that this is the case for her peers, whose schools are equally proud of their pupils’ successes. Schools also recognise that tomorrows elite sports men and women require more than their school can provide and are pleased to work in partnership with others. Ignoring Leo’s usual misogyny, then there was the sneering point about health and safety; this is once again plain prejudice and ignorance: health and safety are very important; these young athletes are pushing themselves to the limit of their abilities. Without careful and precise training, tailored to their individual development, then serious and permanent injury can easily occur. Although Kate attends a middling state comprehensive school, with the possible exception of Kate herself, no-one would call her disadvantaged (no, not even with her choice of uncle). But what of the disadvantaged students; as a social group they especially value sporting success, so why if modern state comprehensives are a supportive and encouraging environment aren’t these students taking advantage of the opportunities?
As with most things in UK social policy, I think it comes down to small marginal differences and small marginal choices over a sequence of events and time that adds up to a big difference of outcome. For example, lets take an area of UK success, rowing.
First you need the idea – I could do that; then the question is how. Obviously, at one end of the scale if you go to a school with a rowing lake then this is a simple matter. But even if you live in a middle class area near some water then your family will probably know of someone who knows someone who messes around in boats. That link will get you started. However, what if you live on an estate in an inner city, all types of sailing are an alien activity, there is no link. If you were to ask around then you would be told that it is something that rich people do and you would probably suffer ridicule for asking. For most people this is where it would end, before it even begins.
The only way they might discover if they have the potential to be a talented rower would be if someone, or some organisation, reaches into their neighbourhood and offers them access. This is stage one, give lots of children the opportunity to try, then some will buy. However, stage one, is the easy bit!
Aiming for sporting excellence is a hard thing to do and its pursuit has to be maintained over many years: this requires a lot of support. My sister reckons to spend around £200 a month on club fees alone. There are transport costs, going to training 6 times a week, also competitions, which are nationwide and to maintain a national ranking must be attended. Its not just money; my brother in law and his whole family get to spend many a weekend in places such as Hull, locations they might otherwise not have chosen as a holiday destination.
Some families may not be able to provide this level of emotional support or the practical support or the financial support. Yet without it, without this backing, in all of its dimensions then the task becomes even harder to achieve; we all have our breaking points. For our potential rower, they may well have to travel alone out of their neighbourhood and mix with people who are different to them. Each of these are only marginal differences but in the long run they add up and at every stage in the process of development the disadvantaged fall away and this is long before the lottery money for potential medal winners kicks in. This is where schemes for mentoring may provide some of the support that is needed.
In short, the problem is not ideological; it is primarily practical, the problem is the variation in the level and type of support available to different groups of people as they try to do something very hard. Specifically, it is exactly what the author of this article said it was not “the urban working class are said to be excluded because they do not have the same access to facilities, coaching, and support”. That is exactly it: something that would be described to him in exquisite detail if he cared to visit any state comprehensive school and speak to the teachers, pupils and parents.
However contrast the ghastly Leo Mckinstry’s reflections on the Olympics with that of the apparently optimistic and enlightened Mayor of London, who in his enthusiasm, seemed to nearly disassociate himself from his party leader and all that chatter of a broken society http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/08/19/do1901.xml
In this article Boris still recognises that 58% of competitors went to private schools but argues for widening participation. We must talk to this man about how widening participation can be made real, especially with his role in the London Olympics and while there is a widespread interest in what are often seen as elite or upper class sports.
2) University widening participation: the usual story, one step back, one step forward
On the other hand, the happy widening participation news of the week is that Oxford University is to explicitly introduce social factors into its selection criteria, including postcode analysis of home address http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/17/oxbridgeandelitism.highereducation?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
3) Things only got better
The vast majority of this year’s GCSE examination students have spent their entire schooling in an education system run by a Labour government. Using GCSE results as a guide, did things only get better? Overall, the GCSE results show a significant improvement in pupil performance during the last 11 years http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7574073.stm So, no one heading for The Hague, just yet, however, not all social groups seem to be benefiting to the same extent. There is a widening gap between pupils in the wealthiest 10% of neighbourhoods and the poorest 10%. In 2006, the proportion in the wealthiest districts achieving five good GSCEs was 28% higher than the poorest, while last year this had increased to 43%. It’s not just at GCSE level: it seems to be the same section of the population who are benefiting least from the education system at any point. For once I agree with the Baron Adonis, that the 20% of primary school pupils who transfer to secondary schools without basic literacy skills should be the most important of priorities http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/21/primaryschools.earlyyearseducation But why then was the big government education initiative of the summer a macho directive that they will close or turn into academies any school that fails to get 30% of its pupils five good GCSEs including English and maths http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7444822.stm . Everyone in the education system knows what the effect of this decree will be: rather than actively invest time in the most needy of students, staff will sideline them and concentrate their efforts on those pupils who are functioning just below the 5 GCSEs target, in order to get them just above that target and thereby carry the school and themselves over the 30% safety line. At the same time, while not admitting it, the school management will also find ways to get those who are least likely to achieve the required level off the audit and out of the way. Marginalised, these barely literate youths will be on an educational conveyor belt to becoming the unwanted unemployables of the next generation. Unintended consequences no doubt, but life damaging for those concerned and a blot on the government’s record.
4) The good news article
There has been an increase in the numbers of students going onto university compared to this time last year http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/21/clearing.highereducation including an increase in the numbers of students from a disadvantaged background.
5) Summer in the city
Tower Hamlets Summer University, a description of what looks like a good project http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/13/youngpeople.furthereducation
6) Education otherwise
Ever wondered about home education as an alternative to school? Well you should have. This is a generally friendly discussion of the subject and whether not going to school makes for disadvantage. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/19/schools.education
Monday, 11 August 2008
1) Standby for incoming
2) A batch of interesting case studies
A case study of an AIMHIGHER visit to an Oxford college http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/05/accesstouniversity.highereducation
A case study of cared for child who become a lawyer http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/16/children.childprotection as Tracy said it’s a mixed message good and bad….
3) One step forward, one step back
4) SATs results
5) Crime down, fear of crime up, why, why, why?
However, for those who still crave for a balance between perception of crime and crime statistics, I think I can see some good news coming your way. There are signs that recent rises in food and utility bills are already setting off a splurge of shop lifting. Have you noticed that Tesco are not only security tagging expensive cuts of meat; they have started tagging the chickens, well they have in Finsbury Park. When people start stealing battery farmed chickens you know that the financial pressure is on. As gas, electricity and food prices are now consuming the sum total of many low income families’ financial resources there will be nothing left for Christmas. My guess is that as the festive celebration looms, rises in retail theft will balloon; not just on inner city estates, it’s going to be a ‘knock off Christmas’. Consequently, statisticians, police officers and politicians will enter the New Year with the satisfaction that the numerical balance between the fear of crime and the actuality of crime statistics has begun to be restored.
6) Happy land
7) It's research, it must be true
8) Happiness needs to be constructed
Good news item of the week
Since 2004, care leavers have gone from 1 per cent of the student population to 6 per cent and that’s before the Brightside Trust’s projects have fully kicked in. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/in-the-loop-why-a-rising-number-of-careleavers-are-going-to-university-880934.html On a more abstract level, I think this is also a classic example of a successful social policy intervention. It shows how life changing contributions to people’s lives, can be achieved, even where initial prospects don’t look good.
9) Not poor enough
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
1) A bit of good news (after a gloomy start)
2) Where are they now?
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2290865,00.html the analysis seems tough on parents but this is a recurring theme.
3) Absence makes the heart ….
4) Firm but fair
5) Knifes are us
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/justice/article1418367.ece I think it important to note that it was the cutting, the slashing, that was the purpose for these gangsters, not murder. The cultural and social context of knife use is important and not just in London, for decades Glasgow has had a much higher level of knife crime than the rest of the UK but as I understand it, once again the aim is to slash, hurt, humiliate but not kill. Silly boys carrying knives does not automatically lead to murder.
Are we even dealing with a single phenomenon? Details of these murders are hard to find but in at least one instance, murder followed a perceived slight in a bar where the attacker then went home, armed themselves with a knife and returned to kill the victim. This would seem very different to the theme of government and popular commentary where it is assumed that these fatal stabbings are the result of ‘situations get out of hand’ where young men carrying knifes find themselves using the knives, spontaneously and unplanned, resulting in an unintended death. The gangster slasher, the revenge stabbing, the panic wounding are all very different and I worry that they are being grouped together as a simple single phenomenon. If there are these differences then solutions might have to be both specific and different, depending on the detail of what is really happening.
6) Not that difficult
In short, I would suggest that those universities who fear that they will be disproportionately hit by a diminishing student population should act now to develop a more overtly vocational slant to their courses and move away from an obsessive focus on traditional honours degrees. Indeed, perhaps we should give these new style universities a special name – how about polytechnics?
7) A report I welcome
8) Interesting fact
Did you know that summer babies are less likely to go to university http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1034773/Babies-born-summer-likely-study-university.html
Saturday, 5 July 2008
1) Aspiration
The Sutton Trust has found that the numbers of students saying that they were very likely or fairly likely to go to university is now three in four. While I'm sure this response rate is in part dependent on the questions asked and the circumstances of asking them, this is still a significantly larger number than will actually find their way into higher education http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7370869.stm To be optimistic, for once, this would suggest to me that poverty of aspiration, which in the past was seen as a major obstacle to achieving the governments target of 50% young people going into higher education, is now much reduced and that the opportunity exists to build on this aspiration to meet that 50% target or even to exceed it. The detail of that venture must include addressing the widely different rates of participation by social group, especially for that of the least successful group: white working class boys on free school meals. Only 6% of white working class boys on free school meals go onto university, compared to 66% of girls from an Indian background http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2151025/White-working-class-boys-becoming-an-underclass.html . On the other hand, maybe attempts at widening participation are a waste of time, as Newcastle University’s reader in evolutionary psychiatry believes, because ‘fewer working class students at elite universities was the “natural outcome” of class IQ differences’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7414311.stm . For myself, I'm sure that the numbers of working class boys going onto university could be greatly improved without resorting to IQ boosting drugs or genetic engineering but I would advise them against attending a university that appoints readers in evolutionary psychiatry.
2) The living finger writes
I think that when the history of the Brown government is written, the most significant effect of its time in office will be seen to be the increased outsourcing of government services. Not just in the NHS, where outsourcing has been underway for some time but at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) http://www.dwp.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2008/jun/drc-082-050608.asp and in local government http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/02/voluntarysector.localgovernment
In a week or so, John Hutton, the enterprise secretary, will publish a review by DeAnne Julius, which is expected to give a further boost to outsourcing, indeed it has been widely trailed that she will recommend a significant expansion, arguing that the contracting out of 100% of government services is theoretically possible. As you all know, I’m not one to gossip, but while you might have guessed from the name that Dr DeAnne Shirley Julius is no horny handed daughter of toil, would you have guessed that she is a former CIA analyst http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeAnne_Julius I wonder what the reaction in the UK would have been if a former KGB functionary was writing Labour government policy. However, enough of such trivia, I think some really important issues are beginning to emerge from outsourcing. Such as the recent conundrum thrown up by ECT Group, one of the UK's most successful and diversified social enterprises, who has sold its recycling business to a private company http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/News/DailyBulletin/828078/News-analysis-Whats-price-social-enterprise/4C32FEE7AF154B2D4A8223156D5F0D37/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin We are rapidly moving into an environment where there are no clear boundaries between the private, charity and government sectors. I could see this impinging directly on how third sector organisations, including ourselves at The Brightside Trust, will organise our business and work in the near future.
3) Minimum income
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) made a bit of a press splash with their report discussing what is the minimum income required for an adequate standard of living in the UK today http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/02/welfare full report at http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/2244.asp This is an interesting addition to the more common debate about relative and absolute poverty. Minimum adequate income was calculated on the basis of what goods and services were needed to pay for an "adequate" standard of living as defined by a panel of adjudicators who assessed a range of goods and services that are widely available and deciding if they were a necessity or a luxury. I was interested by their classification of broadband access as being a luxury, except for families with secondary school students. I feel they are a bit behind the times on this one, and I would have included it as a necessity for all citizens wishing to live an adequate life and I would further argue that without it families with children of all ages slip below the threshold of an adequate life into the disadvantaged. For example, if one looks at the type of home/school internet links that will soon be in place http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2288247,00.html these will fundamentally alter interactions between parents and teachers and as the article shows will put those who are not able to engage on a routine basis over the internet at a major disadvantage. I don’t think the existence of public points of access are equivalent to home access.
4) Short and sweet
“By the age of three, children from disadvantaged homes are up to a year behind in their learning than those from more privileged backgrounds.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6740139.stm
This reminded me of a Sutton Trust study that described the way in which children from poorest homes were less equipped to cope with starting school http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2284405,00.html
5) Political correctness gone mad
Well, quite a good idea really http://education.guardian.co.uk/further/story/0,,2288262,00.html I think it is always sensible to offer people learning opportunities that relate closely to their real immediate needs and existence. I could see some of the people who are successful at this then moving onto tackling other qualifications or training, not that the great British public will see it that way.
6) Sciences harder
I think this simple truth has long been understood by students http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels/story/0,,2288309,00.html and yet another report that highlights the problem of recruiting and keeping specialist physics teachers in state schools http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7478302.stm which will be compounded by problems of future recruitment http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2288115,00.html but wait, a little hope, physics can be made more interesting by the use of games http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/03/physics.video.games
7) The vision thing
Gordon Brown has announced that there will be a government white paper later in the year that will draw together the government’s plans to increase social mobility in the UK. In a recent speech to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust he gave us a flavour of what will no doubt be in that paper http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page15837.asp The thing I find most puzzling about Gordon’s policy is the way he turns to the USA for ideas and projects to improve social mobility for the UK, when the USA has such a poor record in this matter, as the report by Jo Blanden, Paul Gregg and Stephen Machin, at the London School of Economics has shown http://cep.lse.ac.uk/about/news/IntergenerationalMobility.pdf To quote from their key findings “International comparisons indicate that intergenerational mobility in Britain is of the same order of magnitude as in the US, but that these countries are substantially less mobile than Canada and the Nordic countries. Germany also looks to be more mobile than the UK and US”.
So, why are we looking for examples of good practice to the USA rather than our near neighbours?
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
1) Second chance
The government has announced that more than one and a half million young people in England are to become eligible for £7,000 each to spend on improving their qualifications. The offer is open to 18-to-25-year-olds who want to boost their education to GCSE or A-level standard http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7448213.stm
2) Snail’s pace
Another batch of statistics and a report finding that widening participation into higher education is only making slow progress http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article4069357.ece
3) Off-site units and PRUs
The government has produced a white paper, ‘Back on Track: A strategy for modernising alternative provision for young people’ http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/backontrack it is discussed here http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2281099,00.html I feel that it is very wrong to assess the effectiveness of pupil referral units (PRUs) by the number of GCSE passes and it suggests to me that the people driving this policy review have little idea about the reality of such places. For example, it has always been the stated aspiration of off-site units to re-integrate into mainstream: it simply doesn’t happen in practice. Why? Because frankly everyone, student and mainstream school, are thoroughly sick of each other by the time the move to the PRU is undertaken. Its not surprising that few students get 5 GCSEs A to C, the kind of young people I came across were more like the characters in this article describing a unit that combines boxing with study http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2285860,00.html From my experience it should be seen as a success if students leave the PRU functionally literate and numerate with a sufficient repertoire of ‘soft skills’ that they are employable. Forget 5 GCSEs, once employed they can get an equivalent trade qualification that will serve them better.
4) Conservative Assessment
In an article by Oliver Letwin, interestingly placed in The Guardian, he argues that ‘Our aim is to be as radical in social reform as Margaret Thatcher was in economic reform.’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/jun/03/conservatives.labour spelling out that project, the Conservative Party has produced a discussion paper, ‘welfare to work’ and their spokesperson Chris Grayling has outlined in a speech what he calls the ‘next steps in welfare’ http://www.cps.org.uk/latestlectures A common mistake and a common theme that I think I see in both Labour and Conservative analyses is that the out-of-employment population are seen as languishing away in their homes, sullen but ready to be swept up by programs of training or employment. From what I’ve seen over the years in Finsbury Park and from working as a social worker this is not the case. The lifestyle is not so much one of being gloomily stuck, it is more that of hanging out with friends, having a laugh, ducking and diving, being a gangster or at least a shoplifter or small time dealer. They are in a state of permanent adolescence, a careless nihilism. If you do pester them about their plans they will tell you that one day they will go to college and become a plumber or a beautician and earn more cash than you. Living in a haze of drink and drugs, time passes quickly enough and there is always one more money making scheme to be tried. Some exist for years thinking they just need a break and then they will become a celebrity.
In short, they have aspirations but little plausible idea as to how or when they will achieve them, however the offer of doing something hard, like picking vegetables at the minimum wage is not on their agenda. Shifting them will be a much more difficult project than government or opposition seem to realise.
5) Poverty statistics going the wrong way
This report makes for gloomy reading as it shows child poverty rates seem to be on the rise again, as reported in The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/failure-on-child-poverty-targets-is-moral-disgrace-842780.html and at The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jun/07/socialexclusion.taxandspending and http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jun/11/socialexclusion.children1 but I thought the charts at the end of this last article were interesting, in particular, the way they show a fall in the percentage of national income going to the middle and fourth cohorts of the population as well as to the poorest. I think this explains, at least in part, why in the UK the middle classes are feeling unloved, insecure and not particularly sympathetic to the poor. Yes, there has been consistent economic growth over the past ten years from which they have benefited in real terms, but it would also seem that the middle classes are right in feeling that their share of these gains has been minimal and that it stands to be wiped out by the present burst of commodity price inflation. I feel that another thread in the current middle class consciousness is paralleled in another article which focuses on a single parent who is quoted as saying ‘it feels like I am not giving my children what I had’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jun/11/socialexclusion.children2?gusrc=rss&feed=society . I think many middle class married couples could be found expressing the same sentiment albeit using different criterion. In turn, I think this is linked to the mood of public pessimism, which seems to be impervious to genuine improvements, such as the falling levels of crime. On the upside, I guess the Labour Party could save money and catch the popular mood by recycling the 1997 ‘things can only get better’ campaign song for the next election campaign.
6) Tomorrow belongs to OFSTED
“Strong leadership, self-knowledge and a strong school identity are key to a successful journey out of special measures, according to Ofsted's new report, 'Sustaining Improvement: the journey from special measures'.” http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/070221
I had hoped that the 20th century had disabused people of the general folly of wishing for strong leaders. However, when it comes to headteachers there is form here. We have seen many decades of reinforcing the powers of headteachers and in particular of asserting their autonomy from local education authorities. In my opinion, what this has shown is that headteachers are only a marginal factor in school improvement and only in some circumstances. Where is the OFSTED study of those schools who appointed ‘superheads’ at salaries of over 100k and then got worse. I think that OFSTED have confused a description of some superficial outcomes with causal factors. It is the fashion for headteachers to present as strong leaders when ‘their’ school is improving; while the finding that ‘self-knowledge and a strong school identity are key’ is banal even in consultant-speak. The only good thing about this report is that it shows that whatever the problems schools face, OFSTED is not the answer.
7) ULN, a new acronym for you
I don’t know if people had noticed, and I’m afraid I hadn’t, but the government has willed the means for assigning every person undertaking education and training in the UK state system a unique number, which they will then carry through their academic life. An Oracle database has been constructed to keep the data associated with each Unique Learner Number (ULN) and it goes online in September. I don’t know who will have access to the database but it potentially opens up the possibility of much easier and more detailed research into widening participation and educational choices. If it is available to employers it should also make educational career counterfeiting a more difficult project.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
1) Diploma dancing
This in turn will then no doubt be reflected in higher education, with private schools consolidating their grip on the Russell group universities who will give preference to the pre-U students; A levels will be the qualification of choice for the other older universities; while diplomas will get you into an old polytechnic. The result will be that social mobility in the UK will diminish and the introduction of diplomas will have achieved the exact opposite of its originator’s intension. I think both scenarios are possible, what’s your bet?
2) Ending child poverty by 2020
3) Mentoring for the difficult
It will be interesting to see if these projects are pursued. It is not clear how the youth task force action plan will engage and mentor 1,000 difficult teenagers but one for us to watch.
4) Are you NAGTY or Iggy?
5) More to do
6) Happiest days?
7) Inadequate advice
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
1) Shameless
Over the past few weeks, the disappearance and then discovery of Shannon Matthews has been the subject of much press interest and seems to have left many commentators thrashing around for explanation and understanding of disadvantaged Britain, for example http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=557960&in_page_id=1770&ct=5 While coverage has been diverse, the comments are always written from the perspective of outsiders struggling to understand ‘people like that’. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that writers have cast around for a schema that structures and ‘explains’ with the most popular comparisons being with the TV series Shameless, which is seen as prescient or even causal to the events in Wakefield. Apparently we live in post-modern times where fiction shapes reality. I think not, rather it was because the author of Shameless drew on his own life experience, that of growing up in a chaotic and disadvantaged family that he had a repertoire and way of writing about ‘these people’, which others are now borrowing. When reading this Sun article I noted that the family had three computers in the home; one apparently supplied by social services. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1034032.ece It would seem that it is not just the newspapers who try to understand social disadvantage in the UK using categories of analysis borrowed and mediated by fiction, albeit Oliver Twist rather than Shameless. For my part, I can only hope that things work out for Bianca and Ricky.
2) Poverty
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recently published a report that argued child poverty could double over the next 10 years in the UK unless significant steps are taken to up-rate welfare benefits. See report summary http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/09/welfare.socialexclusion and full report at http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/2194-benefits-taxation-poverty.pdf The authors assume a constantly rising median income in the UK over the next 10 years and that government does nothing in response to this; even I think that a little unfair to government. It is however in the context of other reports that claim to show that the poverty gap has not narrowed under labour http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/03/socialexclusion.labour and http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-is-burying-bad-news-of-poverty-study-until-after-elections-803990.html However, despite this pessimism, I would argue that it is still a good time to push the issue of child poverty in the public domain as all three main political parties say that they are committed to abolishing child poverty, albeit none are very clear about how and when they will achieve it. For this reason, I think that The End Child Poverty Campaign, which brings together over 110 organisations, has a potentially important role to play at this time http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/assets/plugins/fckeditor/editor/index.html Maybe we should join?
3) Mentoring
As I’m sure most people are aware, the government are to launch a major mentoring scheme where secondary school pupils are to be mentored by university students http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7328464.stm I think it worth reading the linked description of Westminster’s scheme and how they pay mentors, £7 per hour. Are the days of the free volunteer over?
4) Texas – home of progressive thinking
As we have seen from the gifted and talented scheme in the UK, simply defining the top few percent of children in every school as gifted and talented can create anomalies and complications but I thought that the use of that approach in Texas seems to have achieved some genuinely innovative practice http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/comment/story/0,,2273636,00.html . Whatever the government intention, I’m worried that we are about to put in place a system of qualifications in the UK that will entrench the existing class system in higher education. Private schools are rapidly moving away from A levels to the new Cambridge Pre-U qualification http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels/story/0,,2273115,00.html . IN state schools, the middle classes will continue to pursue A levels while the rest will be steered to diplomas. The result will be a three tier HE sector, with the old prestigious universities recruiting the Pre-U students, the middle range universities recruiting the A level students, while the old polytechnics will admit the diploma students. Once again, the British class system will be re-enforced and graduates class coded by their university. Rather than that scenario I think we should seriously consider the Texan alternative, which builds on student potential and achievement, rather than family background and school.
5) London calling
The conservative party have sponsored a report that raises many questions about poverty in London, it is entitled Breakthrough London http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/default.asp?pageRef=240 This comes at a time when government are also launching an initiative to help more children out of poverty in London http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0069 It is interesting to note the importance of children’s centres in the government’s plans and how many services, including training and employment, are to be child centre focused.
6) Gold star
A major report from the government looking at life chances in the UK
http://www.dius.gov.uk/publications/life_chances_180308.pdf This is an excellent reference document. Indeed this report was recently given the rarely awarded Sue Maskrey prize for readability and relevance.
7) Firm foundations
Foundation degrees are designed to be organically generated, or at least intimately connected to the skills needs of specific industries and careers. In that sense I see this debate about foundation degrees as paralleling the debate about the new diplomas http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7343027.stm There is some evidence that industry specific training can be the most financially rewarding type of training for individuals at the lower grades. Will this prove to be true for higher qualifications such as the likes of foundation degrees? The government are pushing strongly ahead on this course of action http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2273466,00.html and also see this interview with John Denham for the direction of travel http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2273417,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=8 Also Bill Rammell has launched a consultation on strengthening England’s skills base http://www.dius.gov.uk/press/14-04-08.html. Note the particular attention to STEM subjects. Maybe someone at The Brightside Trust would like to give Bill some advice.
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
1) End child poverty by 2020?
When listening to the Prime-Minister’s speech to the Labour Party spring conference last week, I thought that it was only the cause of ending child poverty by 2020 and some utopian ‘world’ projects, such as abolishing malaria, that triggered any real audience applause and enthusiasm. Even the party faithful seem to be finding it hard to express their passion for the many re-announcements, such as rebuilding schools or the minimum wage. I know this observation is widely shared and quietly voiced in government and there is now sufficient political impetus to try to make progress on ending child poverty in the UK by 2020; however, is this a credible project? Could we really be living at such an amazing point in history, when child poverty was about to be abolished? The signs are frankly not good, with headlines such as ‘Whitehall forecasts child poverty failure’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/03/children.tax and ‘poor children pay for non-doms’ tax break’ or http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/03/economy.economics or ‘child poverty targets ‘will fail’’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7273808.stm
However, it may surprise regular readers of this blog that I am not as pessimistic as these commentators. There are two reasons for this. First, a technical statistical point but one that is often misunderstood and confuses this debate: note that the government always speak of poverty being defined by 60% of median income; that’s average defined by the numerically middle household (whose income is then taken as a statement of average) this is not the way average is more commonly used (where total income for the population is divided by the number of its population to get the average income) which in statistical terms is called the mean. Why does this matter? It matters because as long as the magical median household remains on a static or only slowly rising income then what happens below and above them i.e. the rich and the poor, makes no difference to the calculation of average income and hence the income that represents the 60% poverty target. So it is statistically quite possible to upgrade everyone to beyond the 60% target without having to downgrade those above median income in order to keep the ‘average’ at the same level.
Secondly, I think some recent research has shown that specific and often localised factors seem to be highly influential as to why some families remain in poverty. For example, the recent London poverty review http://213.86.122.139/docs/capital-gains.pdf found that high housing costs were a major disincentive to work and suggested that changes to housing benefit rules might have a significant effect. While elsewhere in UK, such as the north-east of England, the emphasis would probably be on getting people off incapacity benefit and into work. There is also the question of rural poverty http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7273516.stm . I would argue that it is possible to analyse each of these areas, in turn, and identify specific and often relatively minor changes that would make a major difference to people. For me, this finding is a cause for optimism.
I’m not suggesting these things are going to be cheap or easy, far from it, but with serious money going into job training and support (see below) combined with localised measures, such as for example, changes to London housing benefit, then I see a real basis for taking another major bite out of the poverty figures. I don’t know if we will reach zero poverty by 2020, but as Larry Elliott concedes in the article above; to get to the Scandinavian level of 5% poverty would still be a stunning achievement.
2) A great scheme
A short report on a scheme to get disadvantaged students into St George's Medical School, University of London http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/students-from-poorer-backgrounds-catch-up-at-university-786755.html I think it interesting that course applicants academic results are judged, in part, by reference to their school peers and that this as a valid measure of potential has been proved valid by their subsequent course performance.
3) Jackpot
The government has announced a potentially enormous budget for getting people into work. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/plan-to-aid-jobless-will-cost-16375bn-789343.html £35 billion: you could build a hell of an e-mentoring scheme for that kind of money!
4) Sure Start Centres
While many of the disadvantaged seem to be mired in poverty, I think it is generally agreed that disadvantage is not the same as poverty. Sure start centres are at the very centre of the government’s attempts to combat disadvantage and this week saw the publication of a government sponsored evaluation and report into the effectiveness of sure start. The short summary report can be found at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/NESS2008SF027.pdf The government press releases accompanying this publication stressed how this research found that having a sure start children’s centre in a disadvantaged area produced a positive effect, in most ways, in most communities; however, what was not said, was that the positive effects found were mostly rather modest. Still, it was positive.
5) Literacy and disadvantage
By any measure, being an adult and unable to read must count as a disadvantage. The story of Scott Quinnell, the famous Welsh rugby player, illustrates this article ‘Why a million UK adults cannot read this headline‘ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/02/socialexclusion.adultliteracy and a simple but apparently effective tool; the short story of quick reads http://education.guardian.co.uk/further/story/0,,2261782,00.html