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 20^th 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.

1) Diploma dancing

It has been announced that student numbers for the new diplomas are to be cut by a quarter http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2274658,00.html embarrassingly it has been leaked that Ministers and education experts in Whitehall would not recommend studying the new diplomas to their own children http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/20/nedu120.xml This comes at a time when a government committee is asking what the future is for A levels? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7397084.stm It also comes at a time when the pre-U is coming into use at private schools http://education.guardian.co.uk/alevels/story/0,,2273115,00.html Overall, this is an interesting time for post 16 qualifications. We seem to be at a point where we are either on the eve of the establishment of a single system of post 16 qualifications after the phasing out of A levels in 2013. Or, we are seeing the establishment of the most divisive system we have ever had in the UK, where qualifications will reflect the social class of the student and the type of school attended. In this latter scenario, diplomas will identify students as being lower class and having attended a poorer performing comprehensive school; A levels will indicate middle class students who attended a superior state school; while private schools students will study the pre-U.
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

The charity 4children have published a report entitled, ‘Turning up the volume on child poverty’ http://www.4children.org.uk/information/show/ref/1224. The publication begins with 3 relatively detailed and well argued statements from Labour, Conservative and Liberal spokespersons about what they would do to end child poverty. I found it significant, and admittedly a little surprising, that all 3 say they are committed to ending child poverty by 2020. However, I think it fair to say that all are rather vague as to how this will be achieved. Consequently, the analysis that 4children make of this challenge, between pages 28 and 40, is particularly useful. Of specific note to The Brightside Trust is the identification of the importance of various forms of mentoring if poverty is to be made history. From page 42 they identify ‘five end child poverty tests’, which they suggest should be used to judge social policy pronouncements.

3) Mentoring for the difficult

Most of the time, most social policy in the UK is not directed at the hardest to reach or hardest to change populations. However, a couple of recent initiatives are apparently aiming to do just that and have mentoring as a core component of their strategies http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2266449,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/30/socialexclusion1
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?

Information update about the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) program http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2275354,00.html

5) More to do

Educational gap grows between cared for children and others http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7367250.stm

6) Happiest days?

A million students since 1997 have left school without achieving 5 GCSE at level G or better. http://education.guardian.co.uk/gcses/story/0,,2275280,00.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/21/nschool121.xml In my opinion, not reaching a grade G at GCSE is indicative of a complete failure to engage in a GCSE course or, in a small number of cases, a serious undiagnosed learning difficulty. I see this finding as proof that a significant number of students learn little or nothing in their final years at school.

7) Inadequate advice

Yet more interesting research from the Sutton Trust http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article3828407.ece They found that many students reported the level and type of advice they received at school about university was inadequate. This would seem to match anecdotal information that has emerged from a number of Brightside projects. In turn, this seems to parallel concerns about careers advice expressed elsewhere http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7318919.stm However, I think it unwise to read too much into the detail of this type of survey. Firstly, I have doubts about administrating questionnaires in classrooms where the students inevitably feel they are under the disciplinary gaze of the school and hence most of them wisely try to give the correct responses. Also, I wonder if there is any real relationship, especially for the younger students, between their replies and their subsequent actions. A few years ago, I asked a classroom of 10 year olds what work they thought they would do when they grew up. The majority were going to be teachers, most of the rest vets. I don’t suppose that is what happened but I also don’t think it significant – they were children.

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.