1 The state of UK schooling

Sometimes I don’t understand this government’s way of doing things; this is one of those occasions. Last week, the department for children, schools and families released an excellent research report called Breaking the Link between disadvantage and low attainment – everyone’s business. http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/00357-2009.pdf In my opinion, this is the most convincing case that I have seen supporting the government’s claim that they have overseen a general improvement of schooling in the UK. In particular, it makes a strong case that significant progress having been achieved in overcoming the effects of social disadvantage within the education system. Yes, the report emphasises the successes and glosses over stubborn problems but it makes a very positive case for the success of past policies and identifies specific problem areas that now need considering. Most importantly, I think they make a convincing case that educational attainment in the most deprived areas of the country has shown the biggest improvement over the past 10 years. And yet this report is hidden away on the recent publications website of teachernet. I’d say if you are only going to read a single publication this year about schooling and disadvantage then this is it! In my opinion it should be up there in lights on the DCSF website and should have been the subject of a publicity offensive. Instead, the Minister got into a tussle over introducing American style report cards for schools and it was this that took prominence in the DCSF press release http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0057 and then worse, this minor idea dominated the newspaper coverage http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1161807/School-league-tables-scrapped-replaced-wellbeing-charts.html I guess we will have another shot at this subject with the publication of the White Paper in the spring. However, I think a more aggressive and positive campaign is urgently required if only to combat the common perception that education standards are worsening http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/02/education-standards-poll and that the great social divide shows little change http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1160314/Not-single-GCSE-nearly-half-UKs-poorest-children.html while there is evidence that private schools are doing better at A levels http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5871124.ece and more likely to study hard subjects http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4957568/Private-school-pupils-four-times-as-likely-to-get-straight-As-at-A-level.html I was surprised by the report that 1 in 10 parents may be using private tutors for their children http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/4839415/Tutors-in-demand-in-race-for-grammar-schools.html negative news and analysis swamps all talk of improvement, this is a shame and not the full story.

2 Outraged of Westminster

A House of Commons Committee has expressed dismay at the slow progress of widening participation into university http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7911211.stm the full report can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmpubacc/226/9780215526557.pdf I think it worth quoting one of the findings “The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Higher Education Funding Council know too little about how universities have used the £392 million allocated to them over the last five years to widen participation.” However, in a more optimistic vein, a couple of ideas here seem to be worth a try http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7937527.stm The suggestion that students might study university courses at school illustrates how the shape of higher education delivery continues to change. Last week it was announced that “Newcastle College was on course this week to become the first English further education institution to receive more funds for its higher education teaching than a university.” http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6009793

3 Mentoring good practice

I came across these Transition Mentoring Good Practice Case Studies which the DCSF say ‘We have collected case studies that show how many agencies and partners are offering mentoring support to young people at times of transition to support them into further education or training.’ http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19/index.cfm?go=site.home&sid=42&pid=456&ctype=None&ptype=Contents

4 Hogwart’s express

Would an expansion of state boarding school provision help disadvantaged students? http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/10/conservatives-private-schools I’m sceptical, especially the idea that it is fostered children who would especially benefit from a boarding school placement. This seems a bit hard on those who have just been received into foster care only to find themselves moved on again into a boarding school.

5 Child protection for slow learners

The Lamming review (again) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7938826.stm further reforms http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/more-training-for-social-services-bosses-after-baby-p-tragedy-1643084.html and a later report http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/mar/13/child-protection-laming-babyp-report

I can remember 25 years ago, when working in a neighbouring local authority, being told that one in five children on the ‘at risk’ register had no allocated social worker in Haringey. Any reports or information about those unallocated children would be dealt with by whoever was on duty in the area office at the time. In short, there has never been an adequate child protection system in place in this area of north London; demand has always been greater than the social work resources available. While being a difficult area, Haringey was not extraordinary, its problems placed it at the end of a spectrum of difficulty but these problems were common to most urban social work departments in the UK. The present government came into office pledging to address this.

As with much government reform, the emphasis has been to seek to make the work processes of child protection more efficient, so that the existing staffing and expenditure would then be adequate to the level of demand. In management terms, this led to the adoption of a simple form of Taylorism, where you had only to define the one best way to do child protection work and then put in place a management and organisational structure to ensure that that this happened and you have resolved the problem. Hence the focus on procedures and managerial/organisational structures for last 12 years.

Unfortunately, good child protection work is more craft than science. Every effective child protection social worker I have known has worked differently. People develop their own style and ways of doing things. Try to do it by standardised procedures, painting by numbers as it were, and all you achieve is to do it badly. That is what Lamming and his government friends don’t seem to grasp, child protection work is volatile; families don’t go into crisis at convenient times or in a convenient sequence. For a social worker, their case load can be undemanding one week and then manic the next. In Taylorist terms, these differences are an undesirable inefficiency; but in social work terms this isn’t inefficiency, it is how people behave in the real world and that any work load has to include contingency time for the unexpected. There is no alternative to improved resourcing and lower case loads.

On a more optimistic note, some of the discussion of the baby P case would seem to show that learning is emerging from this debate. It is being said that senior managers should have some experience of child protection before being appointed (Sharon Shoesmith had none). This is an improvement, but who thought it wasn’t necessary when Sharon and half of her colleagues were appointed? Similarly, computer systems which demand standardised modes of work and standardised inputs are now being criticised. Fine, but Lamming was their loudest advocate. It does seem to be taking a rather long time for some fairly obvious child protection pennies to drop for our leaders.

6 Scottish cared for children

Report finds that “Students in care achieved, on average, two Standard Grade passes in 2008, fewer than pupils from even the poorest social backgrounds” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7934884.stm

7 Six months to train to become a teacher?

Departmental press release http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0048 and sceptical daily mail report http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1160835/Failed-City-staff-offered-fast-track-route-teaching.html I think it is interesting that this announcement met with a general scepticism that these recruits will be ill equipped to deal with the hurly-burly of a demanding student group as they simply won’t have adequately developed skills of classroom management in such a short training period. The example of an earlier migrant offers hope http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/17/ex-bankers-teaching-city

For life at the chalk face, this French film would seem to be worth a view http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/01/pupil-behaviour-schools-class-control and an article from the Times about how schooling can destroy even for the most confident: the headteacher’s tale http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5821872.ece Overall, while sharing some of the scepticism, I think the experience of previous recessions has been that the teaching profession benefits from an influx of individuals who in other times might well go elsewhere.

8 Science is important

The importance of science for economic recovery http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/10/roy-anderson-imperial-college-london it must be true, the prime-minister thinks it http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7915233.stm he seems to be morphing into Harold Wilson.

1) Poly come home

The return of the Polytechnic? http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article5780304.ece This could be seen as just the harbinger of another reversal of a state policy, which will waste many millions of pounds of public money. However, I don’t think it is that simple or clear. Elsewhere, the government continues to push ahead with new schemes to encourage disadvantaged students to apply to the ‘top’ universities http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/02/teachers-university-expectations-achievers Analysis of the existing student populations shows that there is a structural tendency for disadvantaged students to attend the new, post 1992, universities. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/03/access-university1 For those who want more detail a recent study examined this trend http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/03/university-access-social-exclusion and at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/03/universities-admissions-social-mobility and this trend continues to excite some MPs http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/26/university-elitism-access

As an aside, I think it is interesting that these research reports used the Acorn system of social classification, this schema seems to be gaining the upper hand in education studies and we would be wise to use it in any studies that we undertake in the future.

However, back to the main point, I think I am with John Denham on this one. I’m not so excited about ‘top universities’. I think the difficult problem is getting disadvantaged students to stay in education, get 5 GCSEs A to C and then to consider higher education of any sort. The disadvantaged student group seem to be gravitating to the old polys; so why not bend those institutions to fit the customers. I admit that there remains the old British quandary of the divide between academic and vocational qualifications and the assumed inferiority of the latter. This was never addressed when the old polytechnics were converted into universities; the problem was assumed to have been transcended by a simple change of name. Without a serious attempt to make ‘parity of esteem’ real this time round then the vocational route will continue to be seen as second best and unattractive to all types of students.

A utopian thought: It seems to be a chronic problem of UK social policy that old policies and strategies are described in a caricature way by the advocates of each new policy that comes along. I know it’s an old-fashioned idea but I still believe that an honest and thorough understanding of a policy’s history will always help to both better understand the present situation and might even ensure that the new policy is an improvement on the old. We could really do with this approach in education policy.

2) Crisis, what crisis

There has been a late surge in the numbers applying to go to university http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article5733614.ece with more detail at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/16/university-applications-recession there is also a major increase in the numbers going into science and maths teaching http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/trainees-sign-up-to-teach-maths-and-science-1630449.html

3) There should be a law against it

The target to halve child poverty by 2010 is to be missed, no real news there; but the apparent increase in the numbers of families in poverty who have at least one adult wage earner is worrying http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/18/child-poverty-research there seems little appetite for recognising the problem of low wages in government http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/04/ed-balls-poverty-wages if you are interested in a rigorous analysis of the extent and nature of poverty levels in the UK in 2009 and prospects for abolishing poverty by 2020 then I’ve seen nothing better than this report from Joseph Rowntree and the Institute for Fiscal Studies http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm108.pdf . I think the government’s response to the stalling of their anti-poverty drive is rather odd; they are going to legislate in order to make the abolition of poverty a legally binding duty on government. You have until the 11th of March if you have any advice or tips for the government http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultationDetails&consultationId=1590&external=no&menu=1 apparently they’d love to hear from you

4) Thus conscience does make cowards of us all

Teachers failing to spot Special Educational Needs (SEN) among students, according to this expert http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/06/pupil-behaviour-school-discipline forgive me, but I see no such nuanced difficulty, the key to this ‘difficult problem’ is the percentage difference, noted in the article, between expected and actual statements of special educational needs in the student population. Every statement of SEN I ever saw, recommended greater expenditure on the assessed child’s education, usually in terms of allocating them teaching assistant time. As the recommendations of special needs assessments carry legal force, they have to be implemented by schools. So, in practice, schools and local authorities try desperately to avoid carrying out full assessments in order to avoid the inevitable extra cost that a statement will bring. Hence the enormous gap between the estimated level of SEN in the student population and the actual number of assessments being carried out. Mild autism being missed by teachers; baloney, this is the self justifying guff of a guilty liberal conscience; this problem is not new and teachers are not missing it. It is the old problem of rationing. It’s about keeping the costs of special needs within existing education budgets, which is achieved by ignoring the bulk of special needs among the student population. Who runs this process - Headteachers.

5) A rose by any other name?

One of the most thorough reviews of primary schooling ever undertaken in the UK has reported. They found that there has been an overemphasis on the ‘3 Rs’ in primary education, causing the educational experience to become too narrow and to stifle pupil development http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/schoolchildrens-lives-are-being-impoverished-1627047.html Some see this as a spoiler for the government’s sponsored review of primary schooling, the Rose review, which is due to report later in the year. I’m happy to await the Rose review, I rather like the emphasis on the 3 Rs and I’m not convinced that a broader educational experience would help those who are failing to become functionally literate and numerate.

6) Children’s university

Its for under 11s http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/24/primaryschools-schools maybe it will help younger students think beyond the limits of their world before too many educational choices have been made.

7) Schools IT

The Independent newspaper occasionally carries reviews of educational software being used in schools. I thought I’d offer you this past week’s selection, if nothing else, it shows just how IT is now central to school learning programs http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/education-reviews-digital-resources-1625431.html I notice that the list includes moneysense, a managing your money program.

8) Braveheart

There is to be a fearless review of university tuition fees by the government http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/feb/03/tuition-fees-cap-review . Well, after the election, maybe.

9) National service for young people

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5780325.ece I think this, or something very like it, will happen. It ticks all the government’s boxes; it will cost very little, it fixes broken Britain, and it will hide youth unemployment. Whatever form it takes, it will involve masses of mentoring. Do we want some of this?

Where there is hope

Nearly as weary as the Spanish, probably as miserable as the Estonians, no its not me, it has to be another survey of UK happiness http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/24/british-identity-new-economics-foundation-happiness the full report http://www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/public-data/files/national-accounts-of-well-being-report.pdf In my opinion, it is worth considering this kind of research because happiness is essential for optimism and optimism is necessary for people to even try to begin to overcome disadvantage. Also, if one takes a broader view of social wellbeing then I guess one has to take a wider view of what is social disadvantage. However, I can see this debate becoming contentious, especially when it seems to question the appropriateness of mothers entering paid employment instead of engaging in full-time child care, as here in another report about to hit the streets http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5627605.ece

1 Digitally challenged

Following an investigation by Lord Carter, an interim report into the UK's digital future has been published by the UK government http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7858498.stm the full report can be found at http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digital_britain_interimreportjan09.pdf This report will be a disappointment to anyone who is worried about the effect of the digital divide in the UK: the division between those who use the internet and those who don’t. Curiously, this report seems to assume that the lack of a household internet connection by 17 million people or around 30% of households is because they don’t understand or see the advantage of using the internet. One of the report’s recommendations is that there should be a popular champion to encourage the take up of the technology by these excluded people. Frankly, I think this is a marginal point, however my only plea, is please, lets not have another Tsar, if the champion has to be named after some feudal relic, how about a people’s Kaiser or a community Shah.

In my opinion, the main problem isn’t ignorance or fear or indifference to the internet, I think the problem for poor families is almost entirely about cost; and moreover, not the cost of a device to access the internet but the cost of an ongoing connection for that device. As far as I can see, this is not seriously addressed anywhere in this report. Instead we are treated to many pages about reassuring adults about child safety, ensuring every building in the country is able to connect to the internet, stopping illegal file sharing and the future of publicly funded broadcasting. On the issue of access for disadvantaged groups there are only two short sections. First, there is praise for what is claimed to be the widespread availability and success of UK Online Centres.

“Since their creation in 2000 UK Online Centres, based in libraries, citizens’ advice bureaux, internet cafes and other publicly-available locations, have helped millions of people in England. They have particularly helped the disadvantaged or older people who have not encountered digital technology at work or do not have supportive family networks. The Centres provide a safe and supportive environment, often working well with voluntary and community organisations, to show the practical uses and benefits of the internet and the essential skills to use it. The Government is currently looking at how to harness the potential of UK Online Centres for supporting digital inclusion policies as a whole.” Page 61

However, at a recent Brightside Trust team meeting, when we discussed single parents accessing potential e-mentoring schemes, the general feeling was that one of the problems with any such scheme was that public access to the internet was in reality very poor, rendering such initiatives problematic. So, I’m sceptical.

The nearest the report gets to addressing the problem of cost is this second, delphic paragraph,

“This will include working with industry to develop affordable, reliable and easy-to-use IPTV boxes – particularly relevant to those households currently without a PC and, when a critical mass of digital public service delivery is reached, around 2012-13, there could be a new scheme to assist remaining elderly and disadvantaged households to get online. This would draw on key lessons from the digital switchover scheme in television, notably the vital role of engagement with the third sector in identifying those most in practical need and providing the level of trusted quality contact to demonstrate the practical benefits of the technology and impart the basic skills to use it.” Page 62

Yet between now and 2013, many thousands of children will find their relative disadvantage increased because of this gap. Nowadays, even primary school students routinely use internet resources to complete their work, which gives them a major advantage over those without home internet access. A recent survey found that a third of young people insisted that they “could not live” without their computer http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jan/19/internet-generation-parents

I still think that the only real answer to the digital divide would be to offer internet connections free at the point of use to every household, as part of the local infrastructure provided by the local authority, like rubbish collection or schooling. To make it a little more acceptable to middle England, then perhaps restrict it to families with children and pensioners. Unfortunately, I cannot see anyone pursuing that policy in the UK today and so the digital revolution will only exacerbate the social divide. Lord Carter’s full report is due in June of this year, so still time for a revelation, but judging from this report he’s going to need the full road to Damascus experience.

2 Not so clever

A recent report found that 1 in 7 of those students categorised as gifted and talented failed to get 5 GCSE A to C including Maths and English. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/scheme-for-gifted-pupils-is-a-failure-1452286.html My first thought was that this reflects the confused criteria for selecting pupils for the gifted and talented scheme. However, maybe there is more to discover here, perhaps this is an interesting insight into the disillusionment of bright children.