Aspect spring 14 by Nick Wright

ASPECT

IMPROVEMENT SPRING 2014

Street level social pedagogy Esther Pickup-Keller and Nick Wright discuss the Kids Company

THE MANCHESTER CHALLENGE Mel Ainscow on the ‘self-improving school system’ ACADEMIES INQUIRY Aspect Group evidence to the Commons Select Committee

IN GOD WE TRUST Nick Wright discusses the relationship between religious selection and socio-economic segregation in the school system TABLETS OF WISDOM Ian Benson and Melody Drewry investigate software and technology acquisition

PARENT PARTNERSHIP Ollie Pardo looks at the changing professional environment for parent partnership staff SCHOOL PERFORMANCE AND AUTONOMY New research casts doubt on Michael Gove’s central thesis

NEWS GCSE results Gender pay gap Academy injunction Teaching assistants Assessment Two-tier system Tribunals Aspect Group GEC

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CONTENTS

01924 207890 | aspect@prospect.org.uk | www.aspect.org.uk

Regulars 4 5

LESLIE MANASSEH NEWS GCSE results | Gender

24 39 46

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

TABLETS OF WISDOM Reporting

PARENT PARTNERSHIP Ollie Pardo looks at the changing professional environment for parent partnership staff

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE AND AUTONOMY New research

BRIEFINGS JOBS ROUNDUP

Features

12 16

01 New Terrain – New Models of Education and Children’s Services Delivery

Improvement is the quarterly magazine from the Aspect Group of Prospect. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of the Aspect Group. The Aspect Group cannot accept any liability for any insert or classified advertisement included in this publication. While every reasonable care is taken to ensure that all advertisers are reliable and reputable, the Aspect Group can give no assurance that they will fulfil their obligation under all circumstances. The views expressed in Improvement are the contributors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Aspect Group policy. Official policy statements issued on behalf of the Group are indicated as such. All information correct at the time of going to press.

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STRESS STIGMA Prospect event offers solutions, reports Penny Vevers

STREET LEVEL SOCIAL PEDAGOGY

Esther Pickup-Keller and Nick Wright discuss the Bristol operation of Kids Company

THE MANCHESTER CHALLENGE

ACADEMIES INQUIRY Aspect

32 ASPECT GROUP PUBLICATIONS

Mel Ainscow on the ‘self-improving school system’ Group evidence to the Commons Select Committee

from the Tablets for Schools Conference, Ian Benson and Melody Drewry investigate software and technology acquisition

casts doubt on Michael Gove’s central thesis

IN GOD WE TRUST Nick Wright discusses the relationship between religious selection and socio-economic segregation in the school system

02 Improving Children’s Services: Lessons from European Social Pedagogy

03 Learning – The Key to Integrated Services

Improvement magazine is published by the Aspect Group of Prospect in partnership with Archant Dialogue Ltd

IMPROVEMENT EDITOR Nick Wright

Email: Nick.Wright@prospect.org.uk ADVERTISING Alison MacRonald Archant Dialogue. Tel: 01603 772854 Email: alison.macronald@archantdialogue.co.uk

04 National Standards for Educational Improvement Professionals

05 United Minds, United Purpose: A Charter for Modern Professionalism in Children’s Services

ASPECT GROUP OF PROSPECT

International House, Turner Way, Wakefield, West YorkshireWF2 8EF Tel: 01924 207890 Fax: 01924 369717 Email: aspect@prospect.org.uk Website: www.aspect.org.uk COVER PICTURE: Kids Company child at play

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LESLIE MANASSEH

Education not for sale “STATE EDUCATION IS one of England’s success

“…the roots of success or failure lie in the complex interaction of factors associated with the nature and history of the school and the community it serves”

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stories.” So begins the forthcoming TUC pamphlet entitled Education not for sale. The reasons for this claim are simple: test and exam performance are improving year by year, the number of graduates is increasing year by year and the number of schools failing to reach minimum standards is down year by year. Of course, not all schools are good and there will always be room for improvement. And, unfortunately, while success attracts little attention, bad schools make big news. But what can possibly justify the wholesale dismantling and rebuilding of the structure under the direction of Michael Gove? According to the TUC, for every excellent academy mentioned by ministers, there is an equally excellent school which has stayed in the local ‘family’. Take Tower Hamlets, one of the poorest boroughs in the country, where schools work together and achieve significantly above the national average. It has just two academies. Market-based reforms are rooted in the idea that schools compete against each other for the ‘business’ of attracting pupils. Bad schools will improve or close and good schools will expand. But the evidence from home and abroad is that ‘marketised’ schools, like academies and free schools, have no marked effect on pupil achievement. The quality of school leadership and what happens in the classroom are the decisive factors. Nowhere was this clearer to me than in the couple of episodes I saw of the TV series ‘Educating Yorkshire’. That school was in fact an academy, but the quality of teaching was due to the ability and commitment of teachers, support staff and leadership – not the governance structure of the school. To assume that the latter determines the former in some simplistic, causally linear way is nothing more than faulty logic masquerading as conclusive evidence. In this issue, we report on new research which casts more doubt on the central claim from the heart of the DfE that school autonomy is the surefire route to higher standards. It’s high time for a better debate about the education of the nation’s children and a recognition that the roots of success or failure lie in the complex interaction of factors associated with the nature and history of the school and the community it serves. However, some on the right are arguing that the market theory would work if reform were taken further and schools were run for profit. If we’re serious about the benefits that market discipline will bring, the argument goes: “Let’s go

for the real thing rather than some pale replica.” ‘For profit’ schools operate in Sweden and a few of the states in the US. In May 2013, JB Education (whose schools educate more than 10,000 pupils in Sweden) announced they were selling 19 of their high schools and closing down the remaining four because they weren’t making enough money from them. If other companies had not stepped in to take most of them over, tens of thousands of children across the country could have been without an education. Is this a risk that we wish to take in Britain? As I have said many times before, market failure will have very serious consequences for thousands of children. JB Education is owned by a Danish private equity firm and so it was with some concern that I learned that, at a recent conference in London entitled ‘Private Equity in Education’, one of the speakers indicated that ministers were very open in private to the idea of profit-making in relation to English education in general and private equity involvement specifically. Was this part of a wish list or a glimpse into the future?

“Expert advice based on real experience” In Prospect, we will continue to argue for evidence-based policy making. We represent professionals across the private and the public sectors, across both regulated and unregulated industries and in small bodies and large corporations. But, whether they work in educational improvement, the energy industry, the communications sector, the civil service or in public bodies such as the Environment Agency, our members are specialists. They are the kind of people who are well-placed to give expert advice based on real experience to policy makers faced with an increasingly complex world. At a time when the marketisation of public services is trumpeted as the only way to drive up standards, we in Prospect will repeat our demands for the facts, for careful consideration and for evidential rigour. Public policy is too important to be a testing bed for ideologues and public services are too vital to be offered at ministerial whim to the lowest bidder. Leslie Manasseh

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ROUND UP GCSE RESULTS

Educational inequality rising Educational inequality is rising, according to an analysis published by the think tank Demos. An analysis of the 2012/2013 GCSE results reveals a 0.3 per cent increase in the national attainment gap, which now stands at 26.7 per cent. However, when London schools are excluded from the latest data, the gap jumps to 29.5 per cent – 2.8 per cent above the national average. The figure represents the difference in educational attainment between pupils who receive free school meals and their peers, based on the percentage who attained five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including both English and maths. Demos says that the Pupil Premium is supposed to finally close the attainment gap, “but it seems we’re now seeing a national increase and London’s disproportionate success is masking wider gaps across the country. Many local authorities are seeing either no change – or worse – an increase in the gap between the rich and poor.” Almost half of local authorities (72 out of 152, 47.4 per cent) saw their attainment gap increase last year. Sixty-six out of 152 (43.4 per cent) have a larger attainment gap now than before the Pupil Premium was introduced in 2011. Sixty-five out of 152 (42.8 per cent) have a larger attainment gap now than they did four years ago, when the Coalition took office. One in 12 local authorities (7.9 per cent) have seen successive increases in their attainment gap in the last two years. The disproportionate success of London’s local authorities has skewed the national picture in recent years. Seventeen of the 20 authorities with the narrowest attainment gaps are in London. Three-quarters of local authorities outside London have a higher attainment gap than the national average (89 out of 119, or 74.8 per cent). Before the latest increase, annual figures show that the attainment gap had been decreasing but only by 1.2 per cent in the two-year period before the latest results.

GENDER PAY

Gender pay gap rising Gender equality may be stalling, reports the Institute for Employment Rights (IER). Figures from the Office for National Statistics show an increase in the full-time gender pay gap. “When the coalition came to office, it declined to put into effect that part of Labour’s Equality Act 2010 which forced companies with more than 250 staff to report the difference between men’s and women’s pay. The coalition claimed a voluntary approach would be more effective than a regulation,” said IER Director Carolyn Jones.

However, when looking at the annual pay statistics published in December 2013 by the Office for National Statistics, the full-time gender pay gap had increased from 14.8 per cent to 15.7 per cent. Commenting on the statistics, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It is not right that, in Britain today, women still earn 15 per cent less per hour than men – a pay gap that costs full-time women more than £5,000 a year. “The UK’s five million women parttime workers are faring even worse on pay, with two in five now earning less than the living wage.”

ACADEMY INJUNCTION

High Court blocks forced academy A bid by the DfE to impose academy status on a Barking and Dagenham school has been halted by the High Court. In January 2014, the local authority and the governing body of Warren School were granted a High Court injunction against Michael Gove’s imposition of an Academy Order on Warren School and the replacement of its governing body with an interim executive board (IEB). This is the first time that an academy order has been successfully challenged through the courts. The injunction stays the imposition of the IEB and Academy Order until there is meaningful consultation on the school’s alternative school improvement strategy, involving plans for a hard federation with neighbouring Robert Clack School. Mr Justice Collins said “this decision should never have been made” and that the Secretary of State had failed to make any arguments against the council’s alternative proposal. He said that Mr Gove “thinks academies are the cat’s whiskers – but we know some of them are not”. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

INEQUALITY AND ATTAINMENT Local authorities with the greatest educational inequality are: Wokingham (42.5 per cent), Buckinghamshire (39.6 per cent) and Cheshire East (39.4 per cent). Local authorities with the narrowest attainment gap are: Kensington and Chelsea (4.2 per cent), Southwark (7.7 per cent) and Lambeth (9.5 per cent). Full data, including all local authorities by attainment gap, is available at: bit.ly/1b0glIc Statistics (Key Stage 4): tinyurl.com/lc8u2pa

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Two-tier system

Rushed education reforms leave thousands of schools without adequate support at a time of intense change, says a leading education academic. Toby Greany, Professor of Leadership and Innovation at the Institute for Education (IOE), said: “Many schools have responded enthusiastically as the coalition has given them more autonomy and stripped away support from national agencies and local authorities, but many more lack the confidence and capacity to take on greater autonomy. For example,

five out of six schools have not yet chosen to become an academy.” “I have always been a great advocate of school self-improvement, but I fear the wheels are falling off the policy. We’re starting the see the impact of rushed reform already. For example, the E-ACT chain was allowed to expand to encompass 34 academies and free schools after 2010, but will now have to give up 10 of them after a series of damning Ofsted inspections. This could have been prevented.”

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Reports PSHE The Department for Education is to grant-aid an expert panel on PSHE education, chaired by PSHE Association Chief Executive Joe Hayman. Commenting on a statement by junior Education Minister Lord Nash in advance of the Lords debate on the Children and Families Bill, the PSHE Association criticised the lack of Government action to make PSHE education statutory and the failure to address the current accountability system for schools which too often serves as a disincentive for heads to focus on PSHE education. The Children and Families Bill Briefing on SRE Guidance can be found at: tinyurl.com/ooxzsr3

Gove’s new Spad The Department for Education has confirmed that Jamie Martin has been appointed as a special adviser to the Education Secretary Michael Gove. He previously worked for Deloitte Consulting, the Boston Consulting Group and the Conservative Party and worked in Michael Gove’s office between March 2008 and July 2010.

Heads fear “culture of fear” Brian Lightman of the Association of School and College Leaders has called for heads to be given more time to improve failing schools. This would “lessen the threat of career suicide” that discourages good leaders from taking up posts in tough schools, he said. “In order to attract the best leaders into challenging schools, there could be an agreement with Ofsted that the school is inspected early on into a new headship and then left alone, in the recognition that it takes time to improve.” He went on to criticise the present inspection system, arguing that there was inconsistency in judgements and confusion about what Ofsted was actually looking for. “There is lack of clarity about the role of performance data, and the extent to which it pre-determines inspection outcomes. “The quality of inspector training, especially by inspection service providers, is not up to standard. Finally, there is a culture of fear around inspection which hampers innovation and sensible risk-taking.” The inspection workforce itself should be drawn from serving or recently retired school leaders who were well-trained and worked directly to Ofsted, he said.

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ROUND UP SCHOOLS WORKFORCE

Teaching assistants under threat

The trade union representing teaching assistants has warned that recommendations by the Teachers Pay Review Body to dismantle part of the 2003 Workforce Agreement will have a detrimental impact on both teachers and support staff. The changes include the removal of the list of 21 administrative tasks that teachers are not required to do which are currently carried out by teaching support staff. The union is warning that the move will lead to job cuts among support staff and see teachers washed away in a flood of administration and bureaucracy, taking them away from their primary job of teaching.

Jon Richards, Unison’s National Secretary for Education said: “Asking teachers to do bulk photocopying and chasing pupils and parents for money is a complete waste of teachers’ time. “The announcement also further diminishes the role of Higher Level Teaching Assistants who are in danger of being written out of history. After axing national funding for training and hiding support staff guidance and resources on its website, these proposals take out important guidance on the role that Higher Level Teaching Assistants can play.”

ASSESSMENT

‘Tweaking league table not the answer’: CBI

The Confederation of British Industry has called on Ofsted to move towards “a more rounded assessment of pupils through more narrative reporting.” Commenting on the publication of the latest school league tables for England, CBI Director for Employment and Skills Neil Carberry said: “Tweaking the structure of league tables is not the answer. “The big fall in pupils stuck in underperforming schools is a sign of genuine progress, but education reforms have a long way to go if the UK is to compete with the very best It’s critical that young people see vocational courses as a route to success, but this will only become a reality when they are as highly regarded as more traditional academic pathways.” TRIBUNALS

Claims drop Employment Tribunal claims by workers fell by 79 per cent since fees were introduced last July. Fees to bring a tribunal claim were introduced from July 29 2013. The cost of bringing an unfair dismissal or discrimination claim is £1,200. Prospect argued strongly against the introduction of fees as it would deny access to justice for many people. From January to June 2013, there was an average of 4,300 single claims each month. However, from September

to December, it drops to 1,491. The number of new claims fell by 79 per cent compared to the same period in 2012. Prospect legal officer Marion Scovell said: “The plummet in the number of claims shows the impact of the government’s attack on workers’ rights. The extortionate level of fees is unsurprisingly deterring people with valid claims. Prospect pays the fee for cases we support, so our members are protected from this unfairness.”

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ROUND UP PRIMARY

Children eating their lunch, Norland Nursery, Bath © Paul Box/reportdigital.co.uk

School meals squabble Michael Gove’s former special advisor Dominic Cummings has sparked a row with ministers after he attacked proposals for free school meals for Reception, Year One and Year Two children. Cummings emailed the World at One BBC programme to claim that DfE civil servants thought it “a bad gimmick” and introduced in a way that makes it hard to avoid implementation chaos. “Our opposition was because it is a dumb idea, badly executed, that shows why politicians should have less power over schools,” he is reported to have said. The challenges faced in improving the nutritional intake of children in the UK call for a collaborative approach to addressing this issue. A concerted effort between schools, families, government departments and other agencies is necessary to improve children’s nutritional intake inside and out of school. A 2007 Hull City study concluded that children who ate healthy school meals instead of packed lunches scored higher marks in tests, were less disruptive and concentrated longer in the classroom. Hull study: tinyurl.com/qckcxg6

GEC

Failing academies challenge Summing up a wide-ranging discussion at the first meeting of the newly elected Aspect Group executive committee, Leslie Manasseh said this question haunted government ministers and was a challenge for the opposition. School improvement was a highly charged issue. Even extreme free-marketeers don’t deny the need for some form of school improvement, he said, but we should be clear that the inevitable corollary of a marketbased school system was market failure. Ministers are quite comfortable with this, he warned. The union was actively engaged in lobbying around the policy agenda and had submitted evidence to the Commons education inquiry into the academies programme, had held consultations with Labour members of the committee and worked closely with teacher union colleagues in the TUC alliance of education unions. The TUC is shortly to launch its Education not for Sale campaign and the Aspect Group is to play its full part. In dealing with the impact of cuts in local authority funding and the consequent job losses, the Aspect Group is developing a three-pronged attack, said Group President Sean Maguire. “Our core task is protecting jobs and conditions,” he said.

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The union was stepping up its work around professional issues and services for both independent consultants and school improvement professionals working with academy chains. The GEC agreed to update its professional standards policy for English education and review the parallel standards for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A work programme for developing a business register service for the increasing numbers of union members working in the consultancy sector was agreed. The Aspect Group, working with sister Soulbury committee unions representing educational psychologists and youth service managers, had commissioned a report on job evaluation. A set of profiles for three educational improvement jobs corresponding to EIP, SEIP and LEIP was under review for any gaps or inaccuracies that could feed into the scoring regime and would be the basis of the joint union submission. The Group Executive Council agreed to submit to the forthcoming Prospect National Conference the following motion on academies, accountability, transparency and profits: Conference expresses its deep concern at the government’s headlong rush to convert the entire stock of schools in England to

academies and free schools without the necessary checks and balances that must accompany such a monumental shift to a market-driven education system. Conference calls upon the National Executive to mount a vigorous campaign to oppose the dismantling of a publicly funded, quality assured, open and accountable system of education that has delivered increasingly raised standards of education in recent years. Conference further calls on Prospect National Executive to enlist the support of fellow trade unionists in the TUC to ensure that all avenues of inﬂuence are utilised to sustain the necessary existence of a strong, independent quality assurance body to provide essential monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of our schools and the equal necessity of a robust middle tier with the resources and powers to provide advice in support of development and to intervene when the delivery of high standards of educational service to the nation’s children and young people falls short of expectations. The Aspect Group delegates to the national conference are: Sean Maguire, Esther PickupKeller, Mike Hardacre, Tommy Doherty, Vinod Hallan, Susie Hall, Peter McAlister, Paul Watson and Mike Wooller.

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IN THIS ISSUE

All you need is (more than) love Love is...

That children recover from multiple disadvantage with unrelenting love is the basic principle which underpins the theory and practice of Kids Company. The public face of Kids Company is the remarkable Camila Batmanghelidjh, who combines a brilliant public relations style with an entrepreneurial drive that perfectly complements the Kids Company’s mission. But it is not just show. The theoretical model takes repeated antisocial and dysfunctional behaviour by children with complex psychological, developmental and social needs – who fail at school and display bad behaviour – as acting in a rational manner given their difficult circumstances. Drawing on neuropsychological studies and research into the physiological and psychological basis of impulsive behaviour and into responses to violent experiences in their daily lives, Kids Company works with the most challenging of children. Critical of school exclusion policies and of the limited success of children’s services meeting the needs of these children, Camila Batmanghelidjh reserves her sharpest criticism for the government, charging the Education Secretary with a failure to tackle the full spectrum of institutional failure and a collapse into “the appearance of potency by generating delusions of order and power”. Nick Wright and Esther Pickup-Keller explore how the Bristol operation of Kids Company is meeting these challenges.

Stress epidemic

For professionals working in our sector – especially those with mounting workloads and declining resources – Penny Vevers’ report on the recent Prospect stress conference is particularly relevant. Note the discussion around the ways in which performance management, ‘lean’ working and sickness absence management have emerged as tools for disciplining a workforce that traditionally was trusted to work with a high degree of autonomy and professional discretion.

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Manchester Challenge

An earlier piece in Improvement analysed the foundation of success revealed by the London Challenge. In his evidence to the Commons Select Committee on Education, Professor of Education and co-director of the Centre for Equity in Education in Manchester Mel Ainscow summarises the conclusions reached in evaluating the equally successful Manchester Challenge. A key conclusion, especially significant for school improvement professionals and their colleagues in related disciplines, is the important role of local authority staff in acting as the conscience of the system – making sure that all children and young people are getting a fair deal within an increasingly diverse system of education and the critical importance of an effective ‘mediating layer’.

Class and faith

The Sutton Trust asked parents what steps they would consider to get their children into the school of their choice. The survey revealed that nearly a third of parents in ‘professional’ occupations with school age children had moved into an area which they thought had good schools. Seventeen per cent of working class parents admitted taking no special steps to select a school for their children. Drawing on personal experience and the competing claims of fair admissions campaigners and churches, Nick Wright discusses the relationship between religious selection and socio-economic segregation in the school system.

Tablets of wisdom

Tablets for Schools (T4S) represents a new public-private model for systems strategy in the public sector, say Ian Benson and Melody Drewry. Reporting from the T4S conference, they observe that, in this new world, government has seemingly stepped aside. Citing schools-based case studies and comparing software and technology acquisition models, they begin to chart out new territory for schools and school improvement professionals and present compelling arguments that a one-to-one

deployment of a computer network in a school is a complex technical, administrative and social process with profound pedagogical consequences and substantial resource implications.

Parent partnership

An important and growing sector of the Aspect Group’s membership are parent partnership staff, who play a critical role in aiding parents with children with additional needs to negotiate the complex system and meet their child’s particular educational needs. Ollie Pardo – who chaired Aspect Group partner the National Association of Parent Partnership Staff – looks at the changing professional environment, the specialist training needs and options for professional development and the productive character of the union’s partnership.

School performance and autonomy

Michael Gove’s number is up. A Cambridge Assessment researcher has found that the numbers on which the Secretary of State for Education bases his key policies don’t add up.

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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Stress, stigma?

Prospect event offers solutions

Prospect health and safety representatives gathered in London last month to examine the work-related stress epidemic, reports Penny Vevers

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ADVICE

any reps shared their experiences, highlighting the reluctance of members to admit that they were suffering from stress as it was perceived as a ‘career killer’. The conference’s key messages included that organisations must manage stress like any other occupational health and safety danger and that it makes business sense to do so.

The wellbeing gap

Professor Cary Cooper of Lancaster University (www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/ people/all/cary-cooper/) introduced some of his research relating to mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. It had shown, for example, that ‘presenteeism’ costs employers twice as much as absenteeism – a trend even before the recession took hold. Long working hours were another major issue, with Britain topping the league tables, yet there was no evidence that they increase productivity. He said every job was different but work overload was becoming a growing problem. The issue of underload should not be ignored either, as people afraid of losing their jobs were unlikely to mention it. Many people would rather say they had a musculoskeletal disorder than own up to stress.

“Workers’ rights were under attack in three ways – performance management, lean working and sickness absence management” The need for workers to feel control and autonomy over their work was very important although in some professions, such as uniformed services, people worked in a structured environment and were not unhappy, provided they were involved. “Your relationship with your boss is the most important thing,” he said. A 2012 survey with the Chartered Management Institute of 10,000 managers had revealed two problem management styles: bureaucratic

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and autocratic. “We are getting the wrong kind of manager. They are not selected on the basis of their social and personal skills,” he said. Professor Cooper called for much Penny Vevers more auditing to diagnose the causes of problems. He also advocated a much wider use of employee assistance programmes using occupational health professionals, as well resilience training for managers and staff. Addressing resilience organisationally ensured stress was not individualised, he added. There was a very strong business case for tackling stress and promoting wellbeing at work, he added. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence was among those producing good evidence on this. For more information, please see www.nice.org.uk/ nicemedia/live/12331/46023/46023.PDF

THE UNION EFFECT A session was held on the positive eﬀect of union H&S reps in the workplace. Sarah Veale of the TUC publicised its manifesto for reclaiming health and safety at work, A Time for Change. tinyurl.com/phvwud8

Performance management tyranny

Professor Phil Taylor of the University of Strathclyde captivated the audience with his speech on the ‘tyranny of performance management’ – a form of systemic workplace bullying which has taken hold in many workplaces as austerity creates a climate and culture of ‘doing more with less’. Workers’ rights were under attack in three ways – performance management, lean working and sickness absence management. Professor Taylor had conducted research on behalf of the Scottish TUC on the effect of performance management (www.stuc. org.uk/files/Document%20download/ Workplace%20tyranny/STUC%20 Performance%20Management%20Final%20 Edit.pdf), which was now becoming the ‘new normal’ on employees. More than half the hands in the hall shot up when he asked who was experiencing this. He said the management obsession with ‘measurables’, ‘metrics’, ‘deliverables’, ‘stats’ etc. – with quantitative measures strictly imposed – amounted to ‘pseudoscience’, since the parameters and definitions were subjective and set by management. Language was used in an Orwellian way, with words like ‘agreed’, ‘shared’, ‘mutual expectations’, ‘dialogue’, ‘support’ and ‘guidance’ masking an odious process that focused on micro-measurement and micro-management of the performance of individuals, facilitated by technology. The performance management bell curve, also known as ‘forced distribution’, was “a punitive mechanism designed to scare the sh*t out of the bottom 10 per cent of workers”. Microsoft

Professor David Walters of Cardiff University shared his own evidence on the positive link between the presence of union H&S reps and improved H&S outcomes, including in areas of psychosocial health. tinyurl.com/on4aqcp Three Prospect H&S reps shared good practice case studies from their workplaces – Ben Pye (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs); Elaine Simpson (National Library of Scotland) and Gordon Hutchinson (Met Office). had now abandoned this process in favour of team working and collective engagement, but Google had recently introduced it. Professor Taylor cited Prospect research of British Telecom members in 2012-13, which showed that performance management was also potentially discriminatory. In terms of ethnicity, 14 per cent were high performers in black and ethnic minority groups, and 25 per cent low performers. This compared to 19 per cent of white staff being high performers and 14 per cent low performers. The figures had also indicated age discrimination, with more high performers

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ADVICE

among under-50s and more low performers in over-50s. Another problem was the refusal of organisations to admit that forced ranking was taking place. Among the solutions he advocated were: Unions at workplace level actively challenging unfair ranking, before the event as well as after Breaking the culture of people individualising their scores by getting everyone who was unhappy to lodge an appeal Pushing for heath and safety and stress audits Naming and shaming companies where possible. He stressed that the situation opened up new opportunities for trade unions to organise and recruit affected people.

Prospect solutions

Prospect Health and Safety Officer Sarah Page said Prospect’s Stress, Stigma, Solutions campaign offered a range of

solutions, from self-help for members to organisational solutions that reps and managers can employ with Prospect’s support. The union has produced a new stress pack, containing three tailored guides for members, representatives and line managers. Organisational solutions included the Health and Safety Executive’s triedand-tested Management Standards and the associated competency framework to promote positive stress management behaviours. It was new for Prospect to promote this type of approach, but it provided a framework for managers squeezed from above and below to articulate their training and other needs. Page encouraged people to recruit new members to the union on the strength of its work in this area, which provided a very powerful reason to join. Members can download the new guides from the website: Members’ guide to stress (library.prospect.org.uk/id/2014/00397)

Members’ guide to stress management competencies – for line managers (library.prospect.org.uk/id/2014/00396) Reps’ guide to stress (library.prospect.org.uk/id/2014/00398)

The cost of a life

Prospect International Development Officer Beverley Hall highlighted the devastating consequences in parts of the world where inferior or no safety regulation exists, exemplified by the Rana Plaza clothing factory disaster in Bangladesh. In Qatar, the rate of construction site deaths is eight times higher than in the UK. Those present were asked to sign and share a petition to football governing body FIFA objecting to the treatment of workers, mostly migrants, on construction sites for the 2022 World Cup. To sign it yourself, please visit www.rerunthevote.org/ Do-More.

Whistle blowback

spect Group’s lead officer for early years staff Claire Dent draws on recent experience to show how the union can help in a conflicted work place Amy has been accused of serious misconduct within the nursery and does not know what to do. She has been instructed by the manager not to speak to her colleagues about the accusation and the manager is refusing to give her any further information as it is her who will be conducting the disciplinary hearing. Amy has been told not to come back to work until she receives a letter giving the date of the disciplinary hearing. She does not know if she has been suspended or

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whether she will get paid and is therefore very distressed. She reports that she raised concerns about safeguarding within the nursery with the manager within the last few weeks and thinks that this accusation is false and results from her raising concerns.

What should she do and how can the union support her?

I explain that the nursery must have a formal disciplinary policy and this should include details of what should happen if a member of staff is suspended. I suggest that she emails the manager asking for a copy of the disciplinary policy (which she is entitled to) and a copy of their whistleblowing policy. She should also inform the manager that she is seeking union advice and will

invoke her right to be accompanied by her union representative. It is likely that the nursery have breached their own policies in regard to suspension, the need to carry out a robust investigation prior to any disciplinary proceedings and to support for someone making an accusation under the whistleblowing policy. The union will support the member in challenging this and accompany her to any subsequent investigation or disciplinary hearing. The most valued part of this is having someone who is knowledgeable about what should happen and is able to discuss and support the individual through the whole process. v

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KIDS COMPANY

Street level social

pedagogy

St Paul’s Carnival Brighton Street Kids Company

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KIDS COMPANY

Some children lead lives of terrifying emotional and physical risk. Nick Wright reports from Bristol

p to half of the kids in contact with the pioneering Kids Company have seen someone shot or stabbed. A quarter of these incidents involved a friend or relative being shot or stabbed. One in five report being stabbed or shot themselves. The risks are not just physical, although physical abuse is more than four times more prevalent for this particularly vulnerable group of kids than it is for the child in a conventional safe environment.The indices for extreme emotional abuse and neglect are many times worse and, not surprisingly, extreme sexual abuse is widespread. These are not typical experiences for children. But, for some children, they are typical.The consequences are predictable: overwhelming anxiety, deepening depression, wildly directed anger, dangerous drug, alcohol and substance abuse, risky street lives involving gang conflict and weapons, fighting and highly-conflicted encounters with parents, families, police and the education system.The inevitable consequences are desperately poor educational outcomes. This is one end of the spectrum. Further along, innumerable kids cope – with varying degrees of success and failure – with neglect and poor care, bullying at school and fear on the streets while stretched and underfunded schools, social services and family support are unable to reach them. The public face of Kids Company is the remarkable Camila Batmanghelidjh, who adds to her great empathy a brilliant public relations style and an entrepreneurial drive that perfectly complements the Kids Company mission. Kids Company takes abused and neglected children who are not parented and provides a seven days a week refuge from early morning to late evening – supplemented by an 24-hour emergency phone link. It starts with basic needs and feeds, clothes and shelters children. This is backed up with a long-term fullspectrum effort. Kids Company sets out to act as an advocate for the child and young person in their encounters with the state and society, but its core aim is to deal with every barrier to a child’s development and social existence – and, critically, their education. Batmanghelidjh’s aim is to give an added dimension to child-centred intervention

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summed up under the rubric “children recover with unrelenting love”. Her underlying philosophy was sharply expressed in a devastating broadside aimed at Michael Gove’s punitive model of behaviour modification: “Setting aside the paradox of using handwriting as punishment in an educational setting and community service as a sanction rather than a moral duty, one wonders what he hopes to achieve,” she asked. “Even though we are reluctant to admit it, punishment is fundamentally the delivery of legitimate revenge.The violated regain power by violating. It makes them feel better because, in expressing power over the offender, they reassure themselves that they have regained control – a prerequisite for a sense of personal

“They don’t register learning through sanctions and, when punished, they despair and do worse ”

safety. Some element of humiliation is an added bonus, as the punisher is reminded of their supremacy by generating servitude in the offender.What would the street cleaners of Britain make of the minister’s use of litter collection as a punishment?” She then went on to argue for an evidenceled policy regime and to set out a rational response, citing a portfolio of neuropsychological and psychiatric research that has begun to shed light on the logic of antisocial behaviour in disturbed children. “This has found that a combination of maltreatment and neglect leads to structural and functional changes in children’s brains, rendering them more impulsive and less able to appraise situations calmly.They attribute to a neutral face the intention to attack; they can’t hold eye contact because they find the human glance unbearable; some of them have frontal lobes which no longer activate when exposed to violence. For children like this, punishment doesn’t work because they have disorganised thinking.They don’t register learning through sanctions and, when punished, they despair and do worse.” The key indicator of the Kids Company’s success is the fact that almost all its clients, children of all ages in trouble, are self-referred. Listen to John. Slight, with a whimsical air and fledgling beard, he is 17 years old. Earning his own (admittedly precarious) living as an aspiring sound engineer, he has spent his teenage years avoiding a succession of schools where bullying deeply undermined his learning and drove him to the relative safety of the street.Without a secure family home and without effective parenting, he still managed to slip past social services and school systems. “I was begging in Bristol city centre when a girl told me about Kids Company,” he says. Now living in a shared house, he recalls spells spent homeless, squatting and sofa surfing. He uses the centre three or four times a week, relishes the Tuesday food handouts and treats all with a wary politeness, but is clear that the centre is a stable reference point in his life and a source of advice and uncritical guidance. For a teenager, he has well-formed views that place him somewhere on a continuum that would confuse pundits with a simplistic conception of youth culture. Quietly critical of the police, not at all fond of the school system and wary of authority, his views shade into a robust individualism based on his own experiences. He is confident that he can make it in the world of work, aims to become a successful businessman, cannot see himself working in any kind of institutional structure and dislikes hierarchy and authority. In a perverse inversion of the Thatcherite canon, his experiences have taught him that there is not only not much of society, but not enough of family. But Kids Company has stood in for

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KIDS COMPANY

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT In partnership with London Metropolitan University, Kids Company offers an innovative professional development and training programme. The courses underpin the strategic planning for the replication of Kids Company’s approach and centre on developing therapeutic communication skills in practice as well as creative and relational approaches to well-being. These include the application of multi-disciplinary, therapeutic approaches to practice in the arts, sports, communication technology, fashion, leisure and complementary health towards the fulfilment of children and young people’s potential. www.kidsco.org. uk/professionaldevelopment much of what is missing in his life, as he unreflectively but honestly accepts. His encounters with the school system have left him with a low estimation of the utility of education, including higher education, although he gives a clear hint that vocational training, if he could tailor it himself, is an attractive option. A deep longing for emotional and cultural security is expressed in a contradictory preference for faith schools combined with a confused take on the heterogeneous nature of Bristol’s multi-racial society and supports his idea that small schools are infinitely preferable to the larger ones that he experienced as essentially hostile environments. The Kids Company model aims to envelop troubled children in a physical and emotional care regime that can compensate for the deeply-rooted developmental adversity that has shaped their personalities and behaviour. It is a big ask.The analytical framework takes developmental adversity to encompass multiple forms of physical and psychological trauma deriving from maltreatment and/or neglect within the family, the consequently inconsistent and attenuated attachment to adult figures and exposure to community violence, social exclusion and poverty. The model roots its compensatory mechanisms in a materialist conception of human behaviour in which highly adverse early years and intermediate stages of childhood compromise the developing architecture of the brain and the social and

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emotional capacity of the child to develop healthy attachments and a positive social life. The model is grounded in the conception that adverse developmental conditions compromise biological and psychological factors in physical and emotional growth and inhibit integration into the social and public sphere. It is a resource-intensive operation, involving 600 staff, more than a thousand volunteers and a shedload of money, some

of which comes from statutory agencies but much of which has to be raised. “It is worth it,” says Kids Company director of services Esther Pickup-Keller. Esther, who Improvement readers will know as a leading Aspect Group activist, made the move from head of Bristol’s pupil referral service to take on the replication of the Kids Company model in the city. Two new centres have opened in the city, making five in total. Le Coeur provides a sanctuary for very vulnerable children and young people who have experienced great trauma and need intensive therapy to work through their experiences.The Island drop centre in the city centre – where John found a secure footing in his unstable world – provides all-round care to young people who find their way there by its reputation. “Almost by definition, young people here are out of school or are not really learning,” says Esther. “Before we can tackle their educational needs, we need to unblock the many factors that underlie their exclusion. Nutrition is key – some children and young people have very poor diets and highly problematic eating habits – and, of course, health is an issue.” Here she chides John over his toothache and draws out the information that he has fixed an appointment at the dental hospital in the medical school. For four schools in Bristol’s most deprived areas, Kids Company provides a therapeutic support programme with a clear brief to head

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KIDS COMPANY off exclusion or truancy. Kids Company is also a repository of a wealth of child protection expertise for schools. Three of the Kids Company centres provide an alternative education programme for children who are excluded or otherwise not in school. Southwoods in Filwood caters for Key Stage 3 and 4 children and young people while Treetops in Lawrence Weston for Key Stage 2 and the Heart Lodge in Brentry cater for Key Stage 4. Kids Company is a runaway success, but this brings new problems of growth and management. Finding a harmonious working arrangement with statutory authorities is a necessary part of the work. Managing resource-intensive growth when funding is uncertain and dependent on an unstable mix of public money and private donations is fraught with difficulties. Esther sees the next stage in thereplication process as necessarily entailing a deepening

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of the organisation’s organisational capacity with more comprehensive financial planning and personnel management, more systematic training and professional development. Kids Company works with a volatile mix of full-time and part-time professional staff, volunteers of all therapeutic disciplines and none.The Bristol operation, for example, includes art therapists and communitytrained nurses, youth workers and teachers, psychologists and social workers, sports specialists and psychiatrists and not a few poachers turned gamekeepers – former clients who have seen the value of the operation first-hand and have created a career working with young people. Some of the most impressive of these young people act as Kids Company ambassadors and are able to reach out to vulnerable young people with an authority and assurance that is beyond the reach of the professionals, no matter how well

trained or empathetic, and they can make a compelling case to potential donors. Kids Company is an unashamed begging operation, but it does it with great style and wit – pulling at the heartstrings but stirring admiration and engagement.That such an initiative is necessary and that it is so successful in its own terms raises important questions about the way in which our society deals with its troubled children. It should prompt schools and children’s services professionals of all disciplines to take a continual look at the ways in which our institutions, and the policies we implement, succeed and fail. Kids Company sets itself high standards and needs to bring a sharply critical eye to its own operation so that its unique character retains its vitality and spirit of innovation in a climate where more children are becoming vulnerable as statutory services face sharp resource constraints. v

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DOCUMENT

Evidence to the Commons Education Committee submitted by Professor Mel Ainscow

The Greater

Manchester Challenge

he evidence presented in this paper is drawn from the experience of the Greater Manchester Challenge, a three-year project which involved more than 1,100 schools in 10 local authorities. Building on the findings of earlier research, including ideas developed through the earlier London Challenge, the approach involved networking and collaboration within and between schools.This provided the basis for what has been described as a ‘self-improving school system’. In summary, the strategies developed within Greater Manchester were: 1. Realising untapped potential. We found that schools have considerable expertise they can use to improve themselves – the development of new working relationships helped to mobilise this potential.

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2. Using evidence as a catalyst. A sharp analysis of data led to the identification of issues that needed urgent attention and the human resources to support improvement efforts in relation to these issues – this had to be responsive to changing circumstances. 3. School-to-school collaboration. There was strong evidence that school partnerships were the most powerful means of fostering improvements, particularly in challenging circumstances – this had to be coordinated and monitored sensitively. 4. System leadership. Many successful headteachers were motivated by the idea of taking on improvement roles with other schools – their involvement had to be encouraged, monitored and supported.

Coming out of school LS Lowry 1927

5. Rethinking the roles of local authorities. Staff from local authorities had a role in monitoring developments, identifying priorities for action and brokering collaboration – this required new thinking and practices. All of this has significant implications for national policymakers. In order to make use of the power of collaboration as a means of achieving both excellence and equity in our schools, they need to foster greater flexibility at the local level in order that practitioners have the space to analyse their particular circumstances and determine priorities accordingly. This means that policymakers must recognise that the details of policy implementation are not amenable to central regulation. Rather, these have to be dealt with by those who are close to and, therefore, in a better position to understand local contexts.

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DOCUMENT School Partnerships and Co-operation Lessons from the Greater Manchester Challenge

1. In recent years, my colleagues and I have carried out a series of studies that have generated considerable evidence that school-to-school collaboration can strengthen improvement processes by adding to the range of expertise made available (see references below). Together, these studies indicate that school-to-school collaboration has an enormous potential for fostering system-wide improvement, particularly in challenging urban contexts. More specifically, they show how collaboration between schools can provide an effective means of solving immediate problems, such as staffing shortages; how it can have a positive impact in periods of crisis, such as during the closure of a school; and, how, in the longer run, schools working together can contribute to the raising of expectations and attainment in schools that have had a record of low achievement. There is also evidence here that collaboration can help to reduce the polarisation of schools according to their position in ‘league tables’, to the particular benefit of those students who seem marginalised and whose performance and attitudes cause increasing concern. 2. For the most part, these studies focused on situations where schools had been given short-term financial incentives linked to the demonstration of collaborative planning and activity. Nevertheless, they convince us that this approach can be a powerful catalyst for change – although it does not represent an easy option, particularly in policy contexts within which competition and choice continue to be the main policy drivers. 3. The most convincing evidence about the power of schools working together comes from our recent involvement in the Greater Manchester Challenge. This three-year project, which involved more 1,100 schools in 10 local authorities, had a government investment of approximately £50 million. The decision to invest such a large budget reflected a concern regarding educational standards in the city region, particularly among children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. The approach adopted was influenced by an earlier initiative, the London Challenge. 4. After three years, the impact was significant in respect to overall improvements in test and examination results and, indeed, the way the education system carries out its business. So, for example, Greater Manchester

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primary schools now outperform national averages on the tests taken by all children in England. In the public examinations taken by all young people at 16, secondary schools in Greater Manchester in 2011 improved faster than schools nationally, with the schools serving the most disadvantaged communities making three times more improvement than schools across the country. During the same period, the number of schools below the Government’s floor standard decreased more than it did in other areas of the country. In addition, the proportion of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools, as determined by the national inspection system, increased despite the introduction of a more challenging framework.

“…policy makers must recognise that the details of policy implementation are not amenable to central regulation” 5. The overall approach of the Greater Manchester Challenge emerged from a detailed analysis of the local context, using both statistical data and local intelligence provided by stakeholders. This drew attention to areas of concern and also helped to pinpoint a range of human resources that could be mobilised in order to support improvement efforts. Recognising the potential of these resources, it was decided that networking and collaboration should be the key strategies for strengthening the overall improvement capacity of the system. More specifically, this involved a series of inter-connected activities for ‘moving knowledge around’. 6. In an attempt to engage all schools in processes of networking and collaboration, Families of Schools were set up using a data system that groups between 12 and 20 schools on the basis of the prior attainment of their students and their socio-economic home backgrounds. The strength of this approach is that it partners schools that serve similar populations while, at the same time, encouraging partnerships among schools that are not in direct competition with one another because they do not serve the same

neighbourhoods. Led by headteachers, the Families of Schools proved to be successful in strengthening collaborative processes within the city region (although the impact was varied). 7. In terms of schools working in highly disadvantaged contexts, evidence from the Challenge suggests that school-to-school partnerships are the most powerful means of fostering improvements. Most notably, the Keys to Success programme led to striking improvements in the performance of some 200 schools facing the most challenging circumstances. There is also evidence that the progress that these schools made helped to trigger improvement across the system. A common feature of almost all of these interventions was that progress was achieved through carefully matched pairings (or, sometimes, trios) of schools that cut across social ‘boundaries’ of various kinds, including those that separate schools that are in different local authorities. In this way, expertise that was previously trapped in particular contexts was made more widely available. 8. Another effective strategy to facilitate the movement of expertise was provided through the creation of various types of hub schools. So, for example, some of the hubs provided support for other schools regarding ways of supporting students with English as an additional language. Similarly, so-called ‘teaching schools’ providing professional development programmes focused on bringing about improvements in classroom practice. Other hub schools offered support in relation to particular subject areas and in responding to groups of potentially vulnerable groups, such as those categorised as having special educational needs. In this latter context, a further significant strategy involved new roles for special schools in supporting developments in the mainstream. 9. Significantly, we found that such collaborative arrangements can have a positive impact on the learning of students in all of the participating schools. This is an important finding in that it draws attention to a way of strengthening relatively low performing schools that can, at the same time, help to foster wider improvements in the system. It also offers a convincing argument as to why relatively strong schools should support other schools. Put simply, the evidence is that you help yourself by helping others. 10. While increased collaboration of this sort is vital as a strategy for developing more effective ways of working, the experience of

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DOCUMENT Greater Manchester showed that it is not enough. The essential additional ingredient is an engagement with data that can bring an element of mutual challenge to such collaborative processes. We found that data was particularly essential when partnering schools, since collaboration is at its most powerful where partner schools are carefully matched and know what they are trying to achieve. Data also matters in order that schools go beyond cosy relationships that have no impact on outcomes. Consequently, schools need to base their relationships on evidence about each other’s strengths and weaknesses so that they can challenge each other to improve. A team of expert advisers had a central role here, working alongside senior school staff in carrying out the analysis and, where necessary, mobilising support from other schools. 11. In order to facilitate this kind of contextual analysis, strategies and frameworks were devised to help schools to support one another in carrying out reviews. In the primary sector, this involved colleagues from another school acting as critical friends to internally driven review processes. In secondary schools, subject departments took part in ‘deep dives’, where skilled specialists from another school visited in order to observe and analyse practice and promote focused improvement activities. The power of these approaches is in the way they provide teachers with opportunities to have strategic conversations with colleagues from another school. 12. The powerful impact of the collaborative strategies developed in the Greater Manchester Challenge points to ways in which the processes used within individual schools can be deepened and, therefore, strengthened. This requires an emphasis on mutual critique, within schools and between schools, based on an engagement with shared data. This, in turn, requires strong collective commitment from senior school staff and a willingness to share responsibility for system reform. 13. The work of the Challenge can be seen to have involved a series of interconnected strategies that fostered stronger social capital. In particular, these strategies helped to break down social barriers within schools, between schools and between schools and other stakeholders in order to facilitate the sorts of mutual benefit that I have described. However, it is important to recognise that, within the context of changing and, at times, contradictory national policies, the gains made through such approaches were hard won and remained fragile and easily lost.

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14. Here, continuing tensions regarding priorities and preferred ways of working between national and local policy makers (and, indeed, between schools and local authorities) were factors that continued to create barriers to progress. So, for example, those near to central government often remained pre-occupied with achieving short-term gains in test and examination scores in ways that can create barriers to efforts for promoting sustainable improvements. Coupled with this was a mistrust of local authorities – the staff of which were sometimes seen as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution – and doubts about the need to have separate strategies that fit particular contexts. 15. The creation of education systems where improvement is driven by schools themselves, and that involves co-operation between schools, begs questions regarding the roles of local authorities. Indeed, it raises the possibility that the involvement of a middle level administrative structure may not even be necessary. The authors of an influential McKinsey Report, having analysed “how the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better”, express their surprise at the critical role that what they call the “mediating layer” plays between school delivery and central government. This leads them to conclude that sustaining improvements in the longer term requires “integration and intermediation” across each level of the system “from the classroom to the superintendent or minister’s office”. 16. The authors of the McKinsey Report go on to suggest that the specific functions the mediating layer plays are: providing targeted support to schools; acting as a buffer between central government and the schools while interpreting and communicating the improvement objectives in order to manage any resistance to change; and enhancing the collaborative exchange between schools by facilitating the sharing of best practices, helping them to support each other, sharing learning, and standardising practices. 17. Our experience in Greater Manchester suggests that local authority staff can have an important role to play, not least in acting as the conscience of the system – making sure that all children and young people are getting a fair deal within an increasingly diverse system of education. In order to do this, they need to know the big picture about what is happening in their communities, identifying priorities for action and brokering collaboration. I experienced many situations where local

BACKGROUND READING Ainscow, M (2012). Moving knowledge around: strategies for fostering equity within educational systems. Journal of Educational Change. 13(3), 289–310 Ainscow, M, Dyson, A, Goldrick, S and West, M (2012). Developing Equitable Education Systems. London: Routledge Ainscow, M and West, M (eds.) (2006). Improving urban schools: Leadership and collaboration. Open University Press Hutchings, M, Hollingworth, S, Mansaray, A, Rose, R and Greenwood, C (2012). Research report DFE-RR215: Evaluation of the City Challenge programme. London: Department for Education Mourshed, M, Chijioke, C and Barber, M (2010). How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better. London: McKinsey & Company

authority colleagues found these changes challenging, particularly during a time of reducing budgets. Nevertheless, I remain committed to the view that local coordination – the presence of an effective ‘mediating layer’ – is essential. 18. Finally, all of this has significant implications for national policymakers. In order to make use of the power of collaboration as a means of achieving both excellence and equity in our schools, they need to foster greater flexibility at the local level in order that practitioners have the space to analyse their particular circumstances and determine priorities accordingly. This means that policymakers must recognise that the details of policy implementation are not amenable to central regulation. Rather, these have to be dealt with by those who are close to and, therefore, in a better position to understand local contexts. They should be trusted to act in the best interests of the children and young people they serve and encouraged to work together, pooling their knowledge and experience, for the benefit of students and teachers alike. October 2013 v Mel Ainscow is Professor of Education and co-director of the Centre for Equity in Education. He is also Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology. Between 2007 and 2011, he was the government’s chief adviser for the Greater Manchester Challenge.

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NOT FOR SALE

Education not for sale

Free school and academy bureaucracy is costing millions in fees

he government’s free school and academy programme has cost taxpayers nearly £80m in private consultants’ fees, according to a new report published by the TUC.The research – which analyses official Department for Education (DfE) figures – shows how ministers have signed off £77m of public funds to lawyers, head-hunters, accountants, estate agents and management consultants since 2010. The report says the additional bureaucratic cost of starting up free schools and academies is diverting money away from children’s education. Prospect Deputy General Secretary Leslie Manasseh said: “Prospect’s members in the Aspect education sector are as affected by these changes as members of other education unions. “Market-based reforms are rooted in the idea that schools compete against each other for the business of attracting pupils. Bad schools will improve or close and good schools will expand. “But the evidence from home and abroad is that marketised schools, like academies and free schools, have no marked effect on pupil achievement.The quality of school leadership and what happens in the classroom are the decisive factors.” He stressed that failure could have very serious consequences for thousands of children. “At a time when the marketisation of public services is trumpeted as the only way to drive up standards, we in Prospect will repeat our demands for the facts, for careful consideration and for evidential rigour. “Public policy is too important to be a testing bed for ideologues and public services are too vital to be offered at ministerial whim to the lowest bidder.”

TUC Report

The findings come as the TUC and its education unions prepare to launch a new campaign against privatisation and profitmaking in schools, colleges and universities. TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The government’s education reforms are being driven by free-market dogma rather than what is best for learners. “Money that should be spent on children’s education is instead being swallowed up by private firms and in expensive property deals. “This report highlights how companies have been allowed to cream off millions in profits from running schools and support services.

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“Let us be under no doubt: our world-class public education system is under threat from corporate interests and our schools, colleges and universities are now less accountable to taxpayers and local communities.” The report raises a series of concerns about the government’s education reforms, including: The use of private consultants – £76.7m of taxpayer funds (which might otherwise have been available for children’s education) has been paid to 14 private firms to provide additional services to free schools and academies since the government took office. Value for money – the government has expanded its free school-building programme despite the fact that many remain under-subscribed. Between October 2012 and December 2013, it spent more than £200m of taxpayers’ money to purchase land and property for free schools, bringing the total spent on free school-building projects to more than £500m since 2010. DfE figures show that the 154 English free schools for which official data was available were teaching 21,973 pupils last autumn – the equivalent of 11 large secondary schools.This equates to just 0.3 per cent of the 7.5m pupils currently attending state-funded schools in England. Conflicts of interest – the TUC research also reveals that at least three of the twelve largest chains of academies (schools funded and overseen directly by the government and managed independently of local authorities) have links to the Conservative Party. The report also highlights how the academy sponsor and Conservative donor Theodore Agnew chairs the DfE’s academies board, an internal group aiming to boost the number of sponsored academies. Value extraction – the report highlights how taxpayer-funded academy chains have paid millions of pounds into the private businesses of directors, trustees and their relatives. Corporate ownership – the number of private companies applying to run free schools has tripled since 2011. Between 2011 and 2013 applications from corporate sponsors shot up from eight to 25 per cent. Over the same period, applications from teacher-led groups plummeted from 24 to six per cent and applications from parent and community groups fell by a third.

TUC Demands

A commitment from all political parties that no school should be run for profit, either directly or indirectly, and for this to be enshrined in legislation. All publically-funded education institutions must be democratically accountable to their local communities, which includes a key strategic role for local authorities. All pupils at state-funded schools must be taught by fully qualified teachers and all schools must be governed by the national curriculum. The funding and governance of all state-funded schools should be fully transparent to enable local communities to determine how state funding is being used, and potentially misused, in all local schools.This should include requiring all schools to establish a register of interests to prevent indirect profit-making by private companies. In further and higher education, the government should introduce a new requirement that public support must only go to educational and training organisations that are not-for-profit, and should put in place a tougher regulation for those organisations owned by for-profit companies. v

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ACADEMIES

Commons Academies Programme Inquiry

Aspect Group evidence to the Commons Select Committee on Education Inquiry 1. Prospect is an independent trade union representing more than 118,000 professional, managerial, technical and scientific staff across the private and public sectors. Approximately 3,000 Prospect members work as professionals in educational improvement and childrens’ services and these EIPs collectively represent a unique source of knowledge and expertise. They have strong and well-founded views on how best to create and sustain an education system which benefits all children. In this submission, we wish to focus on school improvement in relation to two particular issues from the Select Committee’s terms of reference: The role of the Secretary of State in intervening in and supporting failing academies, and how this role will work as the programme expands The functions and responsibilities in relation to academies and free schools of local authorities and other organisations operating between the Secretary of State and individual schools; what these functions and responsibilities should be; and what gaps there are in support for schools at this level. 2. Schools do not improve in isolation – most benefit from expert intervention and support at some time. Children’s education cannot be left to chance, experiment or

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gamble, and nor should it depend on the wealth of their parents. It must be based on a clear, collective sense of purpose. School improvement has to be based on six key elements: A commitment to improve educational outcomes for the whole community A determination to work with school leaders and teachers in a positive and regular way, to encourage collaboration and innovation, raise standards and create a better learning environment Effective ways to spot underperformance at an early stage alongside the right to challenge and intervene Objective, impartial, credible professionals who can capture and share best practice from across hundreds of schools in a systematic effort to deliver sustainable improvement in each one A workforce made up of well-motivated and fairly rewarded professionals who have a deep knowledge of the schools they cover A properly funded and resourced independent service. 3. Over recent years, Prospect members have witnessed and suffered from a steady erosion of the local authority school improvement function and a significant reduction in the capacity to provide a service made up of these elements. The

growth of academies and free schools, which are accountable only to the Secretary of State, has served to accelerate this trend. The loss of expertise and knowledge within local authorities, if permanent, will make it very difficult (if not impossible) to provide a service of the standard required even where there a will to do so. 4. What happens to failing academies and free schools is one of the most pressing questions in the current debate about education. As yet, there has been no satisfactory answer. Fewer and fewer local authorities have the resources and none has the power to intervene. To suggest that all that is required to galvanise an academy or free school is for the local authority to comment negatively on its performance is unconvincing. Moreover, effective school improvement is based on an ongoing supportive relationship between EIPs and individual schools, not on a ‘hit squad’ approach. There do not appear to be any plans to ensure that teams of EIPs with the requisite power to intervene will continue to exist, let alone be able to develop and nurture such relationships. Without them, it is difficult to see who will have the ability to address under performance in a systematic and enduring way. Academies and free schools might (or might not) buy in the service when

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ACADEMIES problems have arisen (or, at least, come to public attention), but would it not be preferable to take steps to prevent them occurring in the first place via a restored local authority service answerable to the community as a whole? It is clear that the favoured Government option is academy status but it is as clear that, as the number of academies grows, there is not sufficient support in the system to deal with failure. The big push to make all schools academies without the support infrastructure that used to be provided by Local Authorities will create increasing problems in the future. The notion that the Secretary of State can substitute for local knowledge, expertise, capacity and community engagement is a dangerous fiction.

A role for local authorities

5. Democratic accountability is also central to a good education system.The character of a school is rooted very largely in the community it serves – it cannot be imposed from above or outside. Local Authorities traditionally have statutory responsibilities to ensure sufficient numbers of school places; to ensure acceptable educational standards by dealing with underperformance; and to ensure the needs of vulnerable children are met. These cannot be met without powers and resources to:

ACADEMIES LOBBY OPPOSES REVIVED ‘MIDDLE TIER’ In its evidence to the Commons Academies Programme Inquiry, the Independent Academies Association said: “Any temptation to reinvent the ‘middle tier’ along previous local authority lines should be resisted.” Local authorities could continue to have strategic and statutory roles to play but they must not be at the expense of academy independence or autonomy. The duties of local authorities with regard to education should be limited to a narrow set of statutory functions e.g. safeguarding children, admissions and special educational needs. The group backed the introduction of sub-regional Schools Commissioners and Headteacher Boards as “a proportionate response to the ongoing expansion of the academies programme” and called for greater impetus to be provided to system

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“The notion that the Secretary of State can substitute for local knowledge, expertise, capacity and community engagement is a dangerous fiction” Plan and make provision for sufficient school places Secure a fair admissions policy Monitor and improve standards and promote collaboration Intervene to address underperformance Provide community involvement Support schools and school governors 6. In a situation where most secondary and many primary schools exist outside local authority control, it is not possible to carry out these duties and no other organisation offers a credible alternative.

There needs to be a proper balance between the freedom for schools to innovate and manage their affairs and the need to ensure all children have access to a good school. It is easy to make a good school by excluding children who are challenging and pouring in resources, but a collection of such schools would make a poor education system. As most free schools are set up in areas where supply exceeds demand, the coming crisis in school places is likely to prove this point all too well. 7. Prospect’s greatest concern is that the school improvement capacity which existed within local authorities is withering away. While simplistic assertions that ‘the market will provide’ are often made, there is no convincing evidence that EIP resources are being applied to areas of need – particularly to singleton academies and free schools. Moreover, schools are not like popup burger bars in the high street. Rather, they are complex organisations providing vital services central to the health and wellbeing of the nation. December 2013 v

IAA EVIDENCE tinyurl.com/p25da4y

leadership on a sub-regional basis “as part of a truly self-improving system”.

INSPECTION

The IAA said it would defend compulsion as a route to academisation, that local authorities should not have the power of veto over the choice of an academy sponsor and that existing governing bodies of schools rated less than good by Ofsted should not be involved in choosing their own academy sponsor. Any local authority powers, including any that may relate to promoting high standards in schools, should not impinge on academy independence or autonomy.

The government has defended the school inspection system after the Department for Education announced that fourteen academy sponsoring groups are to be banned from “taking on new projects” following concerns about attainment, standards and financial mismanagement.

The IAA opposed any role for local authorities or the DfE in ‘supporting’ academies and free schools. “It is far more fitting and sustainable in the long term to seek to promote a self-improving system where the very best practitioners are always outward-looking and help others to improve rapidly through a school-toschool model,” it said.

A parliamentary question revealed that, in addition to the 77-school Academies Enterprise Trust, another thirteen chains including the 16-school Academy Transformation Trust, the nine-school University of Chester Academies Trust and the six-school Prospects Academies Trust are banned. Children’s minister Edward Timpson said the chains were “restricted in full from sponsoring new academies or free schools”. The number is small compared with the 350 approved sponsors currently in operation, he said.

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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

SEN and Disability University of Derby in conjunction with the Aspect Group of Prospect

his highly relevant and up-to-date course has been developed with sector employers to develop key skills and nowledge. The course features several different pathways that enable specialisation in areas that are particularly relevant to your work and interests. It will develop you as a confident, knowledgeable and effective practitioner suitable to work with children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities and their families. It places emphasis on the knowledge and skills you will need to work effectively with this group of children and young people in ways that will bring them positive outcomes. You will study core modules and optional modules, and you will be able to specialise in SEND in Education or Health and Social Care. You will be able to reflect on your practice and enhance this through the theory you learn. Your work setting is used for work-based projects, activities and research, so everything you study will be relevant to your everyday work. Your tutors are knowledgeable, have academic and practical experience in the field and will support you on your journey. The course is flexible to suit you. You can study during the day, in the evening and at weekend study days, although some routes require you to attend specific days for specialised lectures. You’ll study a mixture of theory and practical work. ALL MODULES INCLUDE REFERENCE TO:

The development of your practice in your workplace Applying theory to practice and applying practice to theory Multidisciplinary working Reflective practice, attitudes and values Continuing Professional Development Policy and legislation

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At Stage One, you will study these core modules:

ACTION RESEARCH

STARTING TO STUDY

Small-scale action research within your work setting to support you in tackling a problem or issue.

An introduction to learning at university – study skills, selfmanagement, being critical, reflective practice, learning with others and academic writing.

WORKING WITH PARENTS TO SUPPORT THE LEARNING OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WITH SEND

INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY

The historical context for SEND, different ways of understanding special educational needs and disabilities and the relevance of these understandings to practice. HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 1

An introduction to theories of human development (physical, social, emotional, sexual, identity, psychological, intellectual). ATTITUDES AND VALUES

Understanding the relevance of your own attitudes and values on your work with children and young people with SEND and their families. PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR THE SEND WORKER

Reflective practice and action learning in your work context.

Empowering parents and families, the implications of legislation, theories of participation. You will choose from these optional modules: SUPPORTING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WITH SEND

Exploring how specific learning difficulties and disabilities are understood and responded to.

Professional skills (management of case work, communication, interpersonal skills), roles of professionals, working with other agencies. DUAL DIAGNOSIS – MENTAL HEALTH, WELLBEING AND SEND

Evaluating the diagnoses, treatment and responses to mental health problems among children and young people with SEND. INTRODUCTION TO SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

Safeguarding, policy and practice. At Stage Two, you will study these core modules:

ASSESSMENT OF NEEDS AND TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD

HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 2

Policy and practice as this relates to employment, continuing education, social inclusion and participation.

Developing a deep understanding of theories and research on human development (such as Bowlby, Erikson and Levinson) and applying these to practice.

HOW TO APPLY

UK/EU students – Part-time students should apply directly to the University. FEES AND FINANCE

THE CHANGING WORLD OF THE SEND PRACTITIONER

An exploration of competing theories of language development, developmental diversity in language development, interventions to support language development.

PROTECTING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY

should already be working in the sector for two days per week, have a relevant vocational Level 3 qualification and be doing two days’ voluntary work in the sector. You will need five GCSEs including Maths and English, but we also accept Key Skills, Functional Skills and Higher Diploma Qualifications as the equivalent of GCSEs. We will also consider all the information that you have included in your application. We will also want to see that you’re enthusiastic and motivated to take this course, and that you have the potential to benefit from coming to university.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Fees for 2013/14 (this is a classroombased course) – UK/EU students: Currently £965* per module (you usually take 12 of these modules in total). *These fees apply if you are starting this course between September 2013 and August 2014. We recommend that you check fee details with us, as they can change. Costs can increase each year. HOW YOU WILL LEARN

You’ll learn through reflective tasks, presentations, work-based activities, tutorials and using online resources. There are no exams and you’ll be assessed using your work-based activities, creative presentations, essays, discussion papers, case studies and portfolios. v General enquiries about admissions and applications, UK and overseas: Phone: +44 (0)1332 591167 Fax: +44 (0)1332 597724 Email: askadmissions@derby.ac.uk Course enquiries: Debs Robinson: 01332 591121 Rosemary Shepherd: 01332 592296

Our entry requirements are usually 80 UCAS points from A Level or equivalent qualifications such as a BTEC National Diploma, Scottish Higher etc. You

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Aspect’s BTEC Qualifications The Aspect Group of Prospect’s BTEC Professional Advanced awards and certificates have won great credibility across the range of children’s services

t the core of the professional development programme is the union’s highly-esteemed BTEC programme of advanced service training and professional career development for children’s services. The study programme provides an opportunity for reflection, review and assessment of your professional role. The portfolio is a great opportunity to focus on your achievements in your job, asking others for informal and formal feedback and gathering the evidence to show that your professional contribution makes a difference. Creating a persuasive and well evidenced portfolio that demonstrates your effectiveness and impact is of great use during performance management reviews, SPA 3 assessments, job reviews, recruitment interviews and reorganisations.

The programme provides a chance for teams to work together on what matters most to them, and confirm the impact they are having. Local authority children’s services teams have found that building portfolios together enables them to create a persuasive and comprehensive account of their work, their skills and the impact of their interventions. For some, this can also mean that a whole team portfolio, which is useful during reviews, audits and inspections, is produced. Employers, partners and client organisations are coming to realise the potential of the BTEC accreditation process as a useful quality assurance mechanism that enables individuals, teams and organisations to demonstrate the range and level of their professional skills, and to identify and work with other professionals with similar profiles and qualifications.

The first group of candidates for the new Advanced Professional Certificate in Improvement in Children’s Services, which is designed for those who work in the multi-agency context, started last May and attracted interest from team leaders and other senior local authority professionals. The Aspect Group of Prospect’s BTEC Programme provides a powerful process that can make a significant contribution to demonstrating your competence, effectiveness, achievements and impact. More than 100 candidates have successfully completed one of the four courses available. THE BTEC QUALIFICATIONS AVAILABLE ARE:

BTEC Advanced Professional Certificate in Improvement in Education and Children’s Service Development – Level 7 BTEC Advanced Award in Governor Services in Education and Children’s Service Development – Level 3

BTEC Professional Certificate in Co-ordinating Governor Services in Education and Children’s Service Development – Level 6 WORKSHOPS

Discounts are also available for groups and for upgrading onto higher levels. We have introductory workshops for those interested in undertaking any of the above courses on: BTEC Workshop/Meeting: May 19 2014 in Birmingham 10.30-2.30 BTEC Workshop/Meeting: September 11 2014 in London 10.30-2.30 v For further details, application forms or if you are interested in forming a local authority group to undertake any of the above BTEC programmes, please contact Cheryl Crossley – email: cheryl.crossley@prospect.org.uk or tel: 01924 207890

Going independent? Want to be your own boss? Facing redundancy? Fancy becoming a freelance consultant? Still motivated by school improvement? This is the course for you…

he union has provided high quality support and training for more than 1,000 members in the last year through its highlyregarded course for members. Thinking of becoming an independent consultant? If you are ‘thinking’ in the current economic climate, you need to consider:

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The professional context for independent consultancy Credibility from new skills and approaches to effective consultancy Marketing your unique contribution The practicalities of setting up a new business e.g. record keeping and financing an office Quality assurance, accounts, tax, insurance, professional indemnity, contracting and invoicing

SUPPORT IS OFFERED IN THREE WAYS

1. The very popular national course – covering the topics above (and more) THESE TAKE PLACE ON

June 11 2014 in Birmingham October 1 2014 in London (Courses are 9.00-4.30) £245+VAT for Aspect Members £295+VAT for Non-Aspect Members

2. A bespoke in-house course for groups of colleagues in a local authority or coming to the end of limited contracts – costs negotiated. 3. The Thinking of Going Independent programmes are overseen by John Pearce, one of the union’s longest-serving and most successful independent associates. v

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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Early years conference Leaders of learning in the early years

his one-day conference will provide the chance to share your views with others on current early years pedagogical issues. The conference objectives are to offer personal and professional enrichment and challenge; promote and inform your role as leaders in the early years and to discuss and debate current early years issues affecting your pedagogy and practice. KEYNOTE TALKS

Digital Childhoods Transforming Early Years Teaching in the Electronic Age Jackie Marsh is professor of education at the University of Sheffield. She has been involved in a range of research projects that have examined the impact of popular culture, media and digital technology on young children’s literacy development, both in early years settings and schools and in out-of-school contexts.

LEADING LEARNING ON OUTDOOR LEARNING

EFFECTIVE AND CARING LEADERSHIP IN THE EARLY YEARS

Challenging and expanding the role and nature of being, playing and learning outdoors Jan White works nationally and internationally to advocate and support high-quality outdoor provision for services for children from birth to seven. With twentyeight years experience of working in education, she has developed a deep commitment to the consistently powerful effect of the outdoors on young children. She is currently an Early Education Founding Associate, an adviser for several landscape and equipment companies and is active in the Flourish programme of the Save Childhood Movement and the World Forum on Early Education and Care. She teaches on the Masters programme at CREC (Birmingham City University).

As professor of ECE at the Institute of Education, Iram Siraj’s recent research projects have included leading on the Evaluation of the Foundation Phase across Wales and she is a principal investigator of the major DCSF 15-year study on Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16, 1997-2013) and of the influential Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years project (REPEY). She is an expert in mixed method and qualitative research design and analysis, and is currently working on longitudinal studies/RCTs as a principal investigator in a number of countries including the UK, Australia and Ireland. Her recent DfE publications on effective pedagogy in primary schools (EPPSEM study, SirajBlatchford et al 2011) and ‘unpacking’ the influences on the trajectories of children performing ‘against the odds’ (Siraj-Blatchford et al 2011) have received international recognition.

Friday 27 June 2014 10am-3.30pm University of Leicester, Oadby Campus, Manor Road, Oadby, Leicester, LE2 2LH in Stamford Court’s Main Hall INFORMATION CONTACT:

courses.team@northlincs.gov.uk or 01724 297281. To book a place, complete the booking form below and return to: Courses Team, Learning Development Centre, Enderby Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire DN17 2JL ASPECT Group of Prospect Early Childhood Education Group Leaders of Learning in the Early Years Conference Friday 27 June 2014 10.00am-3.30pm University of Leicester, Oadby Campus, Manor Road, Oadby, Leicester, LE2 2LH in Stamford Court’s Main Hall v

Conference Application Form Name Setting or local authority Address Postcode Contact email Contact mobile To secure a a place, please return as soon as possible to: courses.team@northlincs.gov.uk or fax to 01724 297282 Conference fees Please tick as appropriate Conference delegate SPECIAL OFFER FOR GROUPS Second or more delegates from same setting

Prospect/Aspect members

Non-members

£79

£99

£59

£74

I enclose a cheque for £ made payable to: North Lincolnshire Council. * Please note cheques will not be cashed until you have recieved confirmation email of your place on the conference Do you require vegetarian / special diet? Please specify Do you have any other needs which we ought to be aware of? Please specify Signed:

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Date :

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04/04/2014 12:08

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• Retroactive cover includes all previous educational or children’s welfare consultancy work

• Optional Employers’ Liability Insurance where staff are engaged • 5 years’ run-off cover as standard on retirement • Terms available for Corporate Entities

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FAITH SCHOOLS

In God we trust,

everyone else we verify Nick Wright reviews evidence that admission to faith schools is skewed

n England, the more far-reaching a school’s ability to select its pupils, the more it is able to determine its results. Of course, educational attainment is not the only factor that underpins the distinctive ability of some schools to fill Cabinet posts, senior positions in the civil service, top media jobs and powerful roles in industry and commerce. Peer relationships and social networks forged during school and university years are a powerful factor too. For most, however, effective parental choice in selecting a school depends on a murky mix of happenstance and strategy. The Sutton Trust asked parents what steps they would consider to get their children into the school of their choice. Just under a third (32 per cent) of parents in ‘professional’ occupations with children aged five to 16 had moved into an area which they thought had good schools while nearly one in five (18 per cent) had moved to the catchment area of a particular school. By contrast, a similar number (17 per cent) of working class parents admitted taking no special steps to select a school for their children. This Sutton Trust report, Parent Power, is more fully reviewed on p40. One interesting finding was that six per cent overall admitted attending church services when they didn’t previously so that their child could secure admission to a church school. Such self-proclaimed hypocrisy rises to 10 per cent of upper middle class parents surveyed. That invaluable monitor of middle class mores, the Daily Telegraph, reports that “rising

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numbers of children are being given late baptisms amid a scramble for places at the most popular Roman Catholic schools”. The paper adds that, at the same time, fewer ‘cradle baptisms’ of children under the age of one are taking place in both Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. Public discussion about the educational advantage gained by religious affiliation, no matter how nominal, has for a long time been a ‘no go’ area for policymakers and politicians, although every school improvement professional carries a mental map that fits their area into a matrix of attainment and admissions, religion and results, schools and selection criteria. This studied agnosticism is beginning to change. For parents with an enduring faith, those whose religious belief is an essential foundation of their moral outlook, this situation is deeply distressing. It is distressing also for many of those whose faith is more nominal but who feel pressured into pretence. I can draw on two experiences from a part of South London where the proximity of large swathes of social housing alongside rapidly gentrifying Victorian streets means that geographical proximity to a school does not necessarily guarantee levels of social segregation sufficient to reassure the anxious middle class parent that a culturally

“Only 16 per cent of schools select by religion, but they are vastly overrepresented in the 100 worst offenders on FSM eligibility and EAL”

homogenous educational experience for their children can be assured. Two similar London School Board schools within sight of each other, one Church of England and the other nominally secular, provided the immediate choices for my neighbours’ two primary age boys. By that mysterious alchemy that shapes institutional behaviour, one school had a predominately white and substantially middle class intake while its neighbour was predominately black African, Afro-Caribbean and working class. By the common consent of teachers, parents and governors, the latter (although nominally secular) was infused with a strongly religious ethos while the former displayed a quintessentially Anglican reserve in these matters. My neighbours, seized by an early-middleage attachment to religion, began attending church. The mother chose to sit in what she described as ‘atheists row’ while the father, a constitutionally more enthusiastic joiner, drew closer to the altar with every Sabbath until his wife anxiously confided that she rather thought he was ‘getting God’. It was this very divergence in their encounter with organised religion which made them both confront the hypocrisy of the enterprise – its effect on their selfrespect – and draw back. During this period, I found myself campaigning in local elections when the character and quality of the local schools was a live issue. A young black woman with two children in a buggy took my proffered leaflet and went on her way, stopped, read the leaflet and came back to challenge me with the accusation that the passage calling for a secular education system meant that I was against religion. I had to confess that I did not believe in God and that, while I respected others’ right to private devotions, I did not think schools should have a confessional character or that they should select on the basis of religious affiliation. The discussion that ensued revealed our wide range of agreement on most inner city controversies but the issue that secured the

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FAITH SCHOOLS

True believer Michael Gove is to set a precedent as the first Conservative education secretary to send his children to a state secondary school. Beatrice, aged 11, the daughter of Daily Mail columnists and former Murdoch journalist Sarah Vine and Mr Gove is to attend their first choice school – Grey Coat Hospital School in Westminster. Rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, Grey Coat is a Church of England comprehensive in Westminster which was founded in 1698 to educate the poor of the parish and shape them into ‘loyal citizens, useful workers and solid Christians’. Grey Coat Hospital, left, not only requires weekly church attendance for five years but also gives points for ‘Parent holding elected office in the church’, ‘Regular practical involvement by a parent in the church’ and ‘Regular involvement in other aspect of church life’. Fourteen per cent of pupils are eligible for FSM, compared to 33 per cent locally – putting it in the worst one per cent of schools nationally. Twenty-five per cent speak EAL, compared to 48 per cent locally – putting it in the worst two per cent of schools nationally.

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FAITH SCHOOLS KEY FINDINGS Comprehensive secondaries with no religious character admit 11 per cent more pupils eligible for free school meals than would be expected given their areas. Comprehensive Church of England secondaries admit 10 per cent fewer; Roman Catholic secondaries 24 per cent fewer; Jewish secondaries 61 per cent fewer; and Muslim secondaries 25 per cent fewer. There is a clear correlation between religious selection and socio-economic segregation: Church of England comprehensives that don’t select on faith admit four per cent more pupils eligible for free school meals than would be expected, while those whose admissions criteria allow full selection admit 31 per cent fewer. Sixteen per cent of schools select by religion but they are vastly overrepresented in the 100 worst offenders on free school meal eligibility and English as an additional language. They make up 46 of the worst 100 schools (67 out of 100 if we exclude grammar schools) on FSM eligibility and 50 of the worst 100 (55 if we exclude grammar schools) on EAL. The most segregated local authority as a result of religious selection is Hammersmith and Fulham. While 15 per cent of pupils nationally are eligible for free school meals, the segregation between the religiously selective schools and other schools is almost double that (27 percentage points). The map represents the first time any data has ever been published on the degree of religious selection by faith schools. We estimate that 16 per cent of places at state schools (or 1.2 million) are subject to religious selection criteria. This compares with five per cent of secondary places in grammar schools and seven per cent of all places in independent schools. More at tinyurl.com/p6x5saa

promise of a vote was our common position that institutionalised hypocrisy was not the best foundation for either belief or behaviour. Her sense of righteousness was as offended by the presence in her church of people who were not believers as was mine by the advantage that this conferred to some. As is

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so often the case in London, the issues of race and class were unspoken but hugely present. Work by the Fair Admissions Campaign has highlighted how socially selective faith schools are. Church of England schools admit 10 per cent fewer children eligible for free school meals; Roman Catholic schools 24 per cent; Jewish schools 61 per cent fewer; and Muslim schools 25 per cent fewer. This impressive piece of research, backed by a revealing interactive map, shows just which schools are the most socially selective. This map can be found at fairadmissions.org.uk/map/ Most striking are the facts revealed by a comparison – against the local norm – of the schools that differed most measured by the number of children of free school meals and by EAL numbers. “Only 16 per cent of schools select by religion, but they are vastly overrepresented in the 100 worst offenders on free school meal eligibility and English as an additional language. They make up 46 of the worst 100 schools on FSM eligibility and 50 of the worst 100 on EAL. If grammar schools, University Technical Colleges and Studio schools are excluded, religiously selective schools account for 73 of the worst 100 on FSM eligibility and 59 of the worst 100 on EAL.” The campaign research found that “schools with no religious character typically admit 11 per cent more pupils eligible for free school meals than would be expected”. Other non-religious schools in the state system have also proved adept at replicating and even exceeding the level of selection that faith schools have developed. The Anglican Church has responded to the publication of the Fair Admissions Campaign findings with the assertion that the latest national data, “published in the Department of Education’s 2013 School Census, shows that 15 per cent of pupils at CofE Secondary pupils are eligible for Free School Meals and that this is the same as the average for nonCofE schools”. Its Chief Education Officer, the Rev Jan Ainsworth, dismissed the findings as a “wilful misrepresentation… We do not recognise the picture of church schools the survey paints. We are proud of the way in which our schools enable children from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed.” The campaign argues that, while the census shows Church secondaries admit 14 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals, such a comparison between the national average for CofE secondaries and for other schools is overly simplistic as it does not take account of the fact that different denominations of secondaries are in different

areas – with Church secondaries more likely to be in cities where the rates of eligibility for free school meals are higher. “This is why the campaign’s research, which is also based on the 2013 School Census, compares schools to their local areas and not to the national average. It finds that CofE schools are 10 per cent less inclusive than would be expected if they admitted children living in their local community, while schools with no religious character are 11 per cent more inclusive. “Furthermore, CofE schools whose admissions policies permit all their places to be allotted on religious grounds admit 31 per cent fewer children eligible for free school meals than would be expected, while CofE schools whose admissions criteria do not allow religious selection admit four per cent more.”

“We are proud of the way in which our schools enable children from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed” It is important to maintain a sense of balance about these facts. Faith schools in general undoubtedly select in ways that privilege some groups over others and, overall, disadvantage working class children. But some faith schools are distinguished – both by accident and by intent – in catering for overwhelmingly working class communities. This detailed data set helps to put the discussion about selection on a more rational and informed footing. It locates the role of faith schools in the wider picture of an education system that is being subjected to unprecedented centrifugal forces unleashed by a Department of Education that mobilises the rhetoric of diversity to further fragment the school system and dissipate the reserves of expertise and insight that local authorities have built up over many decades of supporting a diversity of schools. v

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Ann Finlayson, SEEd

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TECHNOLOGY

Ian Benson and Melody Drewry ask if a mobile learning strategy for the nation is feasible

Tablets of

wisdom

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TECHNOLOGY Pupils using iPad apps at Clevedon School, Clevedon

chools have experienced three major waves of computer technology over the last 30 years: micro-computers, networked electronic whiteboards and now an emerging wave of individual one-to-one iPads and Android tablets. In the past, the government has found it difficult to demonstrate value from technology in schools. Despite 80 per cent of schools being rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, the country’s performance in international league tables has declined. Is it possible to do better this time? Do business-led school networks have a role in promoting one-to-one learning? Will the Coalition’s less directive approach to technology procurement allow schools to experiment with different models for learning and teaching? And, if they do, how will Ofsted assess schools as they begin to embrace a new pedagogy of flipped classrooms, enquiry and project-based learning? These were some of the questions raised at last year’s Tablets for Schools (T4S) conference. Its aim was to “develop a mobile learning strategy for the nation”. T4S is organised around the rubric that the type of tablet is irrelevant – the focus is on pedagogy not technology. The aim is to lobby government to achieve a uniform rollout comparable to the rollout of 25,000 whiteboards. T4S was inspired by the decision of three schools to move to one-to-one iPads in 2011. The sponsors engaged a company with a background in market research to study the benefits of these deployments and develop practical advice for schools which might be considering their own deployments of Apple iOS, Android or Windows devices. They extended the scope of the study by donating 8,000 devices to more than 30 schools. Michael Gove said of their investment: “I am deeply grateful to T4S for their idealism and their rigour. The focus on providing practical, impartial and data-driven advice to heads, teachers and families is a fantastic example of educational philanthropy at its best.”

These are still early days. Only a handful of the 200 schools attending the event had oneto-one deployments, although almost all 400 delegates had a device of their own.The 12 schools that presented their experiences were at different stages of planning and implementation. However, there was no comparative study of the relative merits of the different operating systems and their supporting ecosystems for software and device management, content or application provisioning. Such a study would need to recognise that a one-to-one deployment of a computer network in a school is a complex technical, administrative and social process. It has major consequences for learning and teaching.

Technical challenge

The technical challenge is to ensure that there is sufficient bandwidth and routing equipment to allow learners to move about the campus without losing connectivity. Application software (apps) need to be evaluated, downloaded and installed. Content created by learners and employed by teachers needs to be shared on the whiteboard and in workflows for comment and feedback. If apps and devices are to be purchased, the school may wish to recover some or all of the cost from parents. If devices are freely loaned to parents, the school will need its own insurance scheme for loss or breakage. If devices are kept in school and checked out on a class-by-class basis, schools will need a cart to synchronise the software and charge the batteries. Apple’s App Store, and Google’s Play Store can be used to vend apps to devices. The school needs to decide if the learner will have their own Store account or use one managed by the school. In the latter case, the apps remain the property of the school. iPad schools reported all of these models. Android schools were more restricted. Google’s Play Store doesn’t permit apps to be pushed automatically to devices (they need to be pulled), and Google does not have the equivalent of Apple’s Volume Purchase

“T4S represents a new publicprivate model for systems strategy in the public sector”

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TECHNOLOGY

Programme that enables paid apps to be bought at a 50 per cent discount and gifted to learners’ accounts.

Financial challenge

The administrative challenge is in the area of finance and pedagogy. In the past, government procurement, or Building Schools for the Future (BSF), treated ICT as an infrastructure expense. This kind of procurement has the advantage of treating PCs and whiteboards as commodities. They can be piled high and bought cheap. Lifetime cost of ownership, training and application costs are only partially accounted for, if at all. The problem with this financial model is that it can give rise to a weak sense of ownership. Rowley Learning Campus, a BSF school, reported that ICT felt like something ‘done to the school’ rather than something controlled and owned by the teachers. Rowley found that parents who were loaned equipment did not look after it as well as they might have done if they had owned it themselves. David Blunkett, who also spoke, was apologetic about this. He said: “In the past rollout of technology, we did not invest in training for the teacher.” One-to-one schools reported that they needed both to invest in teacher and in parent education. Rowley intends to use the Google Collaboration Suite of apps – docs, slides, sheets and forms with their 1,600 donated Nexus tablets. They plan training sessions with teachers and parents on system management and web safety. While school procurement of hardware for learners was still evident, some schools were experimenting with lease-purchase and co-purchase arrangements for hardware and software. This has implications for pedagogy, content creation and sharing. Hove Park School, a 1,600-strong iPad school, offered four routes to parents to acquire a device for each child.They each involved some parental contribution, ranging from £20 for pupil premium (30 per cent of the school) or bring your own device, to a two-year hire-purchase for £12 per month. Hove Park included £40 of paid apps in their package. This ensured a common set of apps for students and staff to prepare work and share it. At first, only 60 per cent of parents signed up to the scheme. However, after three weeks, this had risen to 97 per cent.This enabled the school to adapt their pedagogy to a standard

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range of productivity apps: Pages (from Word), Keynote (from Powerpoint), Numbers, iMovie, Book Creator for student and teacher content creation, and Showbie and Notability to exchange annotated work with the teacher.

Pedagogic challenge

In fact, many parents are already actively seeking apps even before their children start school. This provides a vibrant market for software developers. For example, Apple’s App Store offers ABC tracing for letter forming, Little Digits for counting, Word Wizard for spelling, Dragonbox for early algebra and Toca Shop for early arithmetic. Honywood School, one of the three initial T4S schools, reported the most determined effort to lead with pedagogical change and subordinate teaching to learning. Honywood

“How ready are schools to take on the task of system integration and development?” purchased iPads for their 1,000 students. The school does not recommend apps, nor does it supply paid apps. The initiative comes from parents and learners themselves. Before buying the devices, the school had set itself two goals for their curriculum. One was the traditional goal of understanding the world through knowledge of the subject.The other was understanding of the self so that learners can flourish in a world of change and uncertainty. A Honywood English teacher showed how she collated multimedia resources from iTunes U to illustrate Shakespeare. A dance student demonstrated how she made an iMovie of her performance to reflect on her technique, while a science student described his use of the S-cool revision site.

Capability maturity models

T4S represents a new public-private model

for systems strategy in the public sector. Exhibitors at the conference hoped to sell technical advice, software, hardware and network management services to schools. In this new world, government has seemingly stepped aside. Learners, parents and teachers have a voice, if not the dominant voice, in schools’ application of technology. Should we accept a systems strategy proposed by T4S? If so, how ready are schools to take on the task of system integration and development? Capability Maturity Models (CMMs) are sometimes used as a way of thinking about an organisation’s capacity to develop networked computer technology. Schools may well find it helpful to test the advice that they get against a CMM. Levels of capability range from initial – where efforts are ad hoc and chaotic, though repeatable (level 2) – where a process is at least sufficiently documented so that repeating the same steps might be attempted. At the highest level of capability, key processes are sufficiently well understood to enable a focus on continual improvement through technical change. On the other hand, schools may also learn from the semi-serious, and related, Capability Immaturity Model. This proposes a level ‘-3’ of capability. These are “undermining organisations that routinely work to downplay and sabotage the efforts of rival organisations – especially those implementing processes at level 2 and higher”. This behaviour “may include competing for scarce resources, draining these resources from more effective departments or organisations”. v Professor Ian Benson and Melody Drewry reported for Improvement from the T4S conference. Ian Benson is acting CEO at Sociality Mathematics CIC, asset-locked to Churchill College in the University of Cambridge For more information, please visit www.tabletsforschools.org.uk

INFORMATION

iPadteachers.org en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_ Immaturity_Model tizard.stanford.edu/users/ianbenson business.kingston.ac.uk/staff/ professor-ian-benson www.ncetm.org.uk/~crowncopyright sociality@me.com

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PARENT PARTNERSHIP

Ollie Pardo looks at the new challenges facing professionals working in parent partnership services

Statement of

intent P

arent partnership services (PPS) were set up almost 20 years ago, originally on a temporary basis, to guide parents and carers of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) through the labyrinth of the Special Needs administrative process and to offer them impartial support. It is difficult enough for parents with a child with additional needs to meet their child’s educational needs without having to negotiate a complicated system too. The 2001 Special Educational Needs Code of Practice is aimed at local authorities, headteachers, governors and early years practitioners as well as parents/carers and others involved with children with SEN. It sets out that all local authorities “must arrange for the parent of any child in their area with special educational needs to be provided with advice and information about matters relating to those needs. Local

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authorities must take whatever steps they consider appropriate to make parent partnership services known to parents, headteachers, schools and others they consider appropriate.” A whole chapter of the Code (2) Working in Partnership with Parents is dedicated to setting out the roles and responsibilities of the local authorities, schools, early years settings and voluntary organisations in relation to PPS. Minimum standards are set down for both the local authority and PPS. Parent Partnership (PP) is unique in that it is a local authority arms-length and impartial service. This was clearly set down in the Government’s Exemplification of Parent Partnership Services drawn up in the document Parent Partnership Services – Increasing Parental Confidence published in 2007 and revised in 2010 (tinyurl.com/owk8z42).

Most parent partnership services are in-house, while some are outsourced to the voluntary sector. Many local authorities have a clear understanding of how PPS should operate under the umbrella of the authority while maintaining arms-length impartiality. At the time when corporate image strategies were highly fashionable, this led to some interesting debates between parent partnership services and local authorities about logos, addresses, headed paper etc. separate from the council. Part of the remit of PPS is to be located in premises away from the local authority – the SEN team, in particular – and parent partnership staff should be line-managed outside the SEN department. This is to ensure that parents and carers are confident that the parent partnership services are provided impartially. The Aspect Group has been able to support staff where disagreements have arisen, particularly where councils have found it

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PARENT PARTNERSHIP

RECRUITMENT LEAFLET difficult to understand the principle. My view has always been that it takes a strong local authority to have the confidence to fund a truly impartial and arm’s-length PPS that acts as a critical friend. There have been difficulties in relation to job evaluation and grading process because of the unique function of PP staff. Aspect representatives have been able to support PP staff where such difficulties have arisen, and I was personally very pleased to have had the support of my representative Glenn Johnson to successfully protect my additional pay after Single Status Job Evaluation. Aspect and PPS staff have worked together closely for more than 15 years, building up a strong working relationship and understanding. The National Association of Parent Partnership Staff regard the Aspect Group as having the best understanding of how PPS works. NAPPS has always been keen to promote staff development and this has led to a very fruitful partnership with the union. Three major conferences have been organised with the support of the Aspect Group, in Northampton, Liverpool and Bristol. The union was able to provide speakers and workshops as well as advice and guidance in the planning and preparation of the conferences. The union was represented, usually by the then-general secretary John Chowcat, on the National Parent Partnership Network Steering Group – which gave Aspect a central role in the direction of PPS. The Children’s Services Professional Network, chaired and facilitated by the union, proved to be a significant vehicle for professional development for parent partnership staff and, in partnership with the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC), was able to draw down significant funding to research accredited training up to degree level and beyond. The initial research, carried out by Clare Dorothy, enabled the NAPPS steering group to see what the possible options might be and how NAPPS could link with universities and other higher education providers. With the support of Aspect and the CWDC, further funding was secured to draw up a Functional Map for PPS – breaking down the role into clear functions. This proved to be a highly beneficial exercise and was officially launched in Birmingham in 2009 and was subsequently used as a link to the Parent Partnership version of the SEN Casework Award.

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The parent partnership relationship between the Aspect Group and NAPPS was undoubtedly strengthened through the Children’s Services Professional Network. The Network has provided an excellent forum for debate and development among children’s services professionals which otherwise might not have taken place. Professional development is key to the work of NAPPS and the union has been a fully supportive partner in this work. As the BTEC SEN Casework Award began to roll out through parent partnership staff, it became clear that further development was required to take qualifications into degree level and beyond. Parent partnership staff come from a wide range of backgrounds and qualifications and some, particularly those in leadership roles, were looking for higher level courses. A working group was established with the Aspect Group, EdExcel and the SEN Casework Award managers to find an appropriate route which would enable parent partnership staff and others working in children’s services to access a course that would give a generic SEN qualification at a higher level. The objective had always been, through the Children’s Professional Network and CWDC, to find routes of employment in and out of PPS. Options for PPS staff have always been limited and it was hoped that the new qualification would allow greater fluidity of movement between parent partnership and other services. A huge amount of research and negotiation went on with various parties to try to identify a suitable pathway and eventually a partnership was established with the University of Derby for what would initially be the Foundation Degree in Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), leading on to higher degree levels. A tough meeting with the University’s Academic Board in June 2013 eventually resulted in the ratification of the course. It is a three-to-five year parttime course for those already working in the SEND sector. The degree is designed to flow on from the SEN Casework Award and then on to the higher levels. Many readers will have seen the prominent information about the degree in Improvement recently and an article about the Casework Award appeared in the September 2011 edition. New challenges arose for PPS and their staff after the 2013 Children and Families

A working group consisting of Aspect Group Negotiations Officer Glenn Johnson, Ray Muir of Prospect and Ollie Pardo has put together a recruitment leaflet aimed at Parent Partnership staff that will be distributed electronically. Links have also been made with Regional convenors of PPS with a request to attend a forthcoming Regional Meeting to talk about the benefits of joining Aspect and its links with PPS. A short questionnaire about union membership will be circulated electronically. First recruits, please see page 45. Parent Partnership Services – Increasing Parental Confidence 2007, revised in 2010. tinyurl.com/owk8z42 Bill with improvements to the statement process which will, from September 2014, include a single educational, health and care plan for children. This is a time of change for PPS staff, with considerable uncertainty about their roles and responsibilities in the new system. We will need to work across education health and social care, raising issues about training and professional development. Services will be working in a wider age range of 0-25 and will cover young people in apprenticeships, colleges and youth offending schemes as well as school sixth forms. This will raise a lot of issues for those parents of young people in the higher age range and it has even been suggested that PPS staff also work with young people – which could lead to a conflict of interest with parents/carers. The announcement in January 2014 that the government would be allocating £30 million to the voluntary and private sector for independent supporters to guide parents/carers through the Single Assessment and Plan and the local authority’s Local Offer has raised anxieties. The response of the Aspect Group to these uncertainties and challenges is focus on training and career development issues and a strategy for dealing with regrading and contract issues. Parent partnership staff are increasingly aware of the vital role of the union. v Ollie Pardo was chair of NAPPS 2008-2012 and Parent Partnership Co-ordinator for Derby and Derbyshire 2000-2013

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Not proven

PISA findings – that countries do better when their schools have high levels of both autonomy and accountability – have been challenged

Researchers at the exams group Cambridge Assessment analysed data from PISA 2009 and found it did not support a claim made by the OECD that schools do better when given freedom over which teachers they employ, for example, while still being held accountable by league tables and other measures. The OECD has stated: “Within countries where schools are held to account for their results through posting achievement data publicly,

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schools that enjoy greater autonomy in resource allocation tend to do better than those with less autonomy.” But Dr Tom Benton, of the Assessment Research and Development division at Cambridge Assessment, found that the data does not support the claim. Dr Benton discovered the anomaly while researching PISA for a presentation at the recent Association for Educational

JUSTIN TALLIS/REPORTDIGITAL.CO.UK

PISA

Assessment Europe conference. He found that when the analysis divides schools into two categories of private (independent) and public (state), the findings are rendered statistically insignificant. “The assertion that the key to driving up standards is to combine greater school autonomy with sharper accountability is far from proven,” Dr Benton said. “For this reason, we would recommend that, particularly in the case of international data, analyses should be independently scrutinised before being used to promote particular educational policies.” The findings are a potential embarrassment for Education Secretary Michael Gove, who has based his department’s policy drive to disaggregate the schools system and reduce the role of local authorities in

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PISA school improvement on the example of highly competitive models in North America and the Far East. Speaking at a recent Schools Network conference, Mr Gove said: “Underpinning our reforms is the principle – backed by the best international evidence – that autonomy drives improvement. In addition to having rigorous accountability mechanisms and a commitment to creating an outstanding teaching workforce, the highest-performing education systems are those where government knows when to take a step back. Rigorous research from the OECD and others has shown that more autonomy for individual schools helps raise standards.” At the time of the 2009 PISA data collection, Britain already had one of the highest levels of autonomy afforded schools and ranked sixth in terms of curriculum autonomy, fifth in terms of resource autonomy and fourth in terms of school accountability. Cambridge Assessment concluded that: “For this reason alone, it would appear unlikely that the UK itself can gain very much relative to other countries through any further focus on either autonomy or accountability – possible increases in these measures relative to other countries are more or less exhausted even before beginning.” The researchers set themselves the task of examining the statistical basis of the PISA evidence and, in particular, whether the claim that the most effective education systems

PUPILS MISSING OUT ON EDUCATION

Ofsted last reported on children missing from education in 2010. The present report’s subtitle – Low aspirations, little access, limited achievement – says it all. It examines the experiences of children and young people who are not in full-time education at school, many of whom are in the care of the local authority. Inspectors visited 15 local authorities and 37 schools and services, undertook 97 case studies of children and young people and interviewed leaders in 41 secondary schools. They found poor quality and insufficient provision for many

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around the world are those that have high levels of autonomy along with clear and robust accountability is supported once the analysis is restricted to state-run schools. The Cambridge Assessment research set out to estimate the relationship between autonomy, accountability and performance, taking into account a range of factors that included whether or not the school was private and the

“The assertion that the key to driving up standards is to combine greater school autonomy with sharper accountability is far from proven” socio-economic status of pupils. Also considered were gender, whether the test language was the same as the language the student spoke at home and immigration status. They took into account the average socio-economic status of pupils within schools, school location – whether in a city, town or small town/village – and school size. A significant conclusion drawn by the researchers is that the link between autonomy, accountability of these young people and often incomplete information about them at local authority level. This report does not apply to pupils whose parents educate them at home, although it is known that often sparse quality control is exercised by anyone on the quality of home tuition. A quarter of the local authorities visited were unable to tell inspectors how much educational provision the children and young people in their area were receiving, even when given more opportunity to find the data. Too often, children and young people who receive only a part-time education or who have none at all

and achievement is not supported once the data for public and private schools is examined separately. The authors conclude that the reasons why splitting the analysis by public and private schools makes such a difference to findings are not straightforward. They identify at least three probable causes. Firstly, a very small number of schools of unspecified type (that is, where it is not known whether they are private or public schools) were included in the initial analysis and were found to have a surprisingly large impact on results. These schools were not included in the analysis separated by school type. Secondly, the difference in achievement between public and private schools was found to vary significantly between countries. This fact was not accounted for in the initial analysis, which instead assumed a constant difference between public and private schools across countries. Thirdly, the relationship between several of the other background variables was found to significantly vary between public and private schools. When this is taken into account, the estimated relationship between autonomy and achievement changes. The authors have no policy axe to grind and are not particularly concerned to criticise the decisions made in the initial analysis. Rather, they argue that while the reasons for splitting the data in this way are rather technical, a more detailed scrutiny produces dramatically different conclusions. seem invisible to the local authority – no records are kept on them. This can be a safeguarding as well as an educational matter. In the 15 local authorities surveyed, approximately 1,400 pupils were not participating in full-time education. If replicated across all English local authorities, this would mean that more than 10,000 children were missing full-time education. In approximately half of the cases that inspectors followed up, the children and young people were receiving only between five and eight hours’ educational provision each week. The report highlights the critical importance of high-quality leadership. Authorities and providers

A re-evaluation of the link between autonomy, accountability and achievement in PISA 2009 Dr Tom Benton January 2014 Research Division Assessment Research and Development Cambridge Assessment 1 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1GG tinyurl.com/ob5ogws

BRIEFINGS

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BRIEFINGS who were supporting their young people successfully exercised their responsibility for leadership well – both strategically and at a personal/ individual level. One positive parent said to inspectors: “They took a broken child and a family in a mess, and brought her back to us.” That is something that a local authority could be quietly proud about. The report offers key findings and recommendations for schools, including academies and free schools, health services, youth offending services, police, education services, other partners and Ofsted. Among the headlines are the following: Failure to share information across services about the quality and amount of education being offered to children and young people who were not accessing school in the usual way, such as those in secure children’s homes, or whether they were attending. Children and young people who remained on the roll of their original school while attending a pupil referral unit or hospital school, or when they were serving a custodial sentence, were less likely to have their education interrupted when circumstances changed. Low expectations of what children and young people could achieve often meant that those responsible provided too little education. All LAs should establish a central record of all children not accessing full-time education in the usual way and maintain good information about their achievement and safety. They should also identify clear lines of accountability for the quality and amount of provision, with a named person at a senior level held to account for this statutory duty. Schools should forthwith stop unlawful exclusions and provide suitable support for children and young people with behavioural difficulties; give governors sufficient information about pupils who are not accessing school in the usual way. Ofsted, as part of its Integrated Looked After Children and Safeguarding inspections of local authorities, should ask for a report on children for whom the local authority is responsible, who are of school age and who

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are not in receipt of full-time school education at the time of the inspection. Ofsted should also regard any failure by local authorities to comply with their statutory duty as a matter likely to affect their overall judgment on safeguarding. COMMENT

These are important issues which have not been dealt with for too long. At a time of continuing budget cuts and staff losses, however, meeting the relevant statutory duties will be a real challenge for those local authorities currently not doing so.

MAINTAINING CURIOSITY, A SURVEY INTO SCIENCE EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

The report records the findings of a survey of science in 91 primary and 89 secondary schools, carried out between 2010 and 2013. Its beginning is punchy: “Physicians take an oath that commits them to ‘first do no harm’. The best science teachers set out to ‘first maintain curiosity’ in their pupils. The most successful schools visited during this survey had adopted this as a key principle in teaching science and this not only fostered enthusiasm for the subject in their pupils, but helped them to fulfill their potential.” Maintaining Curiosity highlights the importance of teaching science for understanding. For pupils to achieve well in science, they must not only acquire the necessary knowledge but also understand its value, enjoy the experience of working scientifically and sustain their interest in learning it. Pupils need to discover the concepts revealed through observing scientific phenomena and conducting experimental investigations for themselves. The report also reflects and explores the concerns often voiced by employers, higher education and the scientific community’s professional bodies that too many school leavers are not well-enough equipped scientifically with practical, investigative and analytical skills. The survey is set out in three significant sections. Part A (12 pages)

describes primary provision, Part B (15 pages) secondary provision, and Part C (five pages) explains evidence-based factors that promote achievement in science. There are a few summary charts, a short bibliography and a list of the schools and colleges visited which highlights providers where the overall effectiveness of science was outstanding. The majority of the teachers observed taught interesting science lessons and inspectors judged 69 per cent of lessons as good or outstanding. However, a minority of the secondary schools visited were preoccupied with test and examination results as ends in themselves at Key Stage 4, rather than aiming to establish pupils’ understanding and application of scientific ideas through practical, enquiry-based approaches to learning. Too few 16-year-old girls nationally continue studying physics. Not enough subject leaders analyse why boys and girls either continue or stop studying science subjects after the age of 16. One reason pupils gave to inspectors to explain why they did not wish to continue studying science was uninspiring teaching. Another was not seeing the purpose of what they were studying, other than to collect examination grades. The Key Findings relate to these issues. Where disadvantaged pupils study academic GCSEs, they achieve as well as other pupils when teachers hold the same high expectations for all. The need for senior leaders to see science as a priority and to possess or receive specific professional development in leading science. Making sure that pupils understand the ‘big ideas’ of science and master the investigative and practical skills that underpin scientific knowledge. Individual pupils being involved in fully planning, carrying out and evaluating investigations that, at least in part, they had suggested themselves. Sufficient differentiation to allow pupils, especially the more able, to build on their prior learning and make good progress. Improving the quality of feedback to pupils on how they might improve their science

01 Ofsted Report 130048 November 2013 38 pp tinyurl.com/o9fscxs

02 Ofsted Report 130135 November 2013 38 pp tinyurl.com/m2oqo7r

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BRIEFINGS understanding, regardless of the school’s overall effectiveness in science. Teachers who coupled good literacy teaching with interesting and imaginative science contexts helped pupils to make good progress in both subjects. Appropriate timetabling for science teaching is absent in a significant minority of primary and secondary schools. Giving pupils from KS1 to KS4 opportunities to work independently, particularly to develop their individual manipulative skills in practical work. This report is as full a survey as Ofsted tends to provide for the major subjects. Some of its conclusions differ little from what has appeared in past years’ reports, but this makes them no less important today.

3–

BEYOND CONTACT WORK WITH FAMILIES OF CHILDREN PLACED AWAY FROM HOME IN FOUR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES COUNTRIES

Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, this research project and subsequent report “examines the nature and purpose of work with families of looked-after children in four European countries: England, Denmark, France and the Netherlands”. It concludes that the work in all four countries is a complex, challenging and neglected area of practice. The principal recommendation is to re-think the conceptualisation of ‘contact’, to distinguish between different aims and approaches to family involvement, and think about how and why parents and other family members are involved in children’s lives. The project aimed to identify areas for shared learning with the potential to inform the development of policy and practice in England. Predictably, the differences between the four countries were considerable, so that direct comparison was not always possible. However, common ground was the principle that parents should continue to be involved in their children’s lives when they are placed away from home.

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And yet, professionals in all four countries found this a particularly challenging area – not least because, although official policy acknowledged the importance of work with families, there was little detail about how this was to be achieved in practice and why. In fact, parents’ rights and children’s don’t always coincide and, given that family problems were often the reason for a child being looked after, child protection considerations often came first and family work a poor second. Nevertheless, the importance of family-focused work was accepted in all four countries: Many children will return to their parents Family means more than parents; positive relationships within the wider family are a critical resource for children Relationships remain psychologically present for children and parents The growth of social media means that they will be in contact anyway. In the continental countries, a number of themes emerged which facilitated family involvement: The involvement of parents in decisions about the child from the outset Support for parents in adapting to their changed role; learning to be a part-time parent or a parent at a distance Better managed child-family contact The contribution of specialist professionals such as psychologists and family therapists. A focus on intervention to address the problems that led to the initial placement often enabled a child’s early return to the birth family. The principal lesson for English practice, according to the report, is the importance of developing a more sophisticated understanding of the concept of ‘contact’. It is necessary to distinguish between different aims and approaches to family involvement and to be clear about the reason for parents and other family members to continue to be involved in children’s lives. In particular: Where the plan is for the child to return home, work with families

should be concerned with maintaining involvement and relationships in everyday life. Where the child is not expected to return home, there is still a need to recognise the importance of kin networks as part of their past, present and future identities. Sometimes contact with the birth family is not appropriate. In this case, work should focus on building alternative relationship networks. For all children, there is a need to address separation, attachment and loss.

03 Janet Boddy, June Statham, Inge Danielsen, Esther Geurts, Hélène Join-Lambert and Sévèrine Euillet University of Sussex: 2013 tinyurl.com/oxtkqjm

CONCLUSION

Cross-national research offers fresh perspectives on the existing challenges and this research project aimed to prompt reflection and stimulate discussion on the best way to work with the families of looked-after children. It has led to a useful report, raising key questions and examining them in the context of practice in three countries in the near continent. In urging practitioners not only to recognise the importance of ‘contact’ but also to be clear about its nature and purpose, it raises an important issue.

PARENT POWER? USING MONEY AND INFORMATION TO BOOST CHILDREN’S CHANCES OF EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS

04 Parent Power? Using money and information to boost children’s chances of educational success Professors Becky Francis and Merryn Hutchings Sutton Trust, 9th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London SW1P 4QP www.suttontrust.com/ our-work/research/item/ parent-power/

YouGov interviewed 1,173 parents. The survey analysis found big class differences in the the strategies parents employ to secure school places for their children. A third of professional parents with children aged five to 16 moved house to be near ‘good’ school while 18 per cent moved to the catchment area of a particular school. Two per cent of parents owned up to buying a second home and three per cent admitted using a relative’s address for that purpose – twice as many among upper middle class parents.

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BRIEFINGS AND ASPECT GROUP Six per cent admitted starting to attend church services when they didn’t previously so their child could go to a church school, including 10 per cent in the upper middle classes. Seventy per cent relied on open days and school visits, 62 per cent spoke with other parents and 57 per cent used Ofsted reports. The report categorises ‘hyper choosers’ deploying five or more strategies, and ‘limited choosers’

using just one or none. Working class parent are more likely to be limited choosers while 38 per cent of ‘professional’ parents are ‘hyper’. Professor Becky Francis – who carried out the research with Professor Merryn Hutchings – commented: “Our research shows just how far equality of opportunity is being undermined by the greater purchasing power of some parents. The ability for some parents but not

others to use financial resources to secure their children’s achievement poses real impediments for social mobility, which need to be recognised and addressed as detrimental to society. “However, our findings also demonstrate the extent to which some working class parents are enacting ‘informed choice’, and policymakers may also learn from their practices.”

Member Recruit Member 2014 A new scheme that offers rewards and incentives for existing Prospect members who recruit new members was launched on March 1 2014. For EVERY new colleague who is recruited, members will be able to choose from a £10 shopping voucher or making a donation to charity. Prospect’s President Alan Grey said: “The evidence shows that the most effective recruiter is a satisfied member and we have thousands of them. This scheme is to encourage those members to spread the word about our union and to reward them for doing so.” The rewards and incentives include:

£10 ‘love2shop’ gift voucher £10 Marks & Spencer voucher £10 donation to Prospect’s benevolent fund £10 donation to Prospect’s Oxfam fund No incentive or donation required A dedicated joining form has been produced for the ‘Member Recruit Member’ initiative, which will run for 12 months – tear out and use the leaflet provided on the next two pages. Aspect Group President Sean Maguire said: “Education professionals are facing big

challenges and every new member helps strengthen our workplace presence. Our targeted material, including for specialist groups like our growing number of parent partnership staff, is a great help in winning new members.” Industry-specific versions of the form and promotional stickers are being produced and distributed. New members will also be able to join via the Prospect website and fill in the ‘recruited by’ section to enable the existing member to claim their reward.

“If every member were to recruit a colleague, Prospect would be even more influential and effective and able to look to the future with even greater confidence,” said Grey. “The increased subscription income would also allow the national executive to review subscription levels. It’s a win-win all round.” Encourage your colleagues to join online at www.prospect.org. uk/joinus, but please ask them to complete the ‘recruited by’ section so that you can receive your incentive.

ensuring that the children get the best from the system. With changes in the school system and a sharp reduction in resources available to local authorities these parent partnership staff face a complex web of professional and trade union issues and turn to the

Aspect Group for advice and support. In Doncaster, long-standing parent partnership union activist Ollie Pardo signed up the first new recruit, a delighted Sarah Lowe (pictured, left). “One chalked up, only several hundred more to go,” he quipped.

First recruit The Aspect Group’s 2014 membership recruitment drive has kicked off with a specially targeted leaflet aimed at parent partnership staff. These key staff support parent with children with special educational needs, accessing vital services, advising families and

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UNION

Aspect Group Executive Council (GEC) 2014-2016 VINOD HALLAN

SEAN MAGUIRE

Council member

President

Specialist help and advice Aspect Group regional and specialist oﬃcers GLENN JOHNSON

FRAN STODDART

MICHAEL HARDACRE

London/Southern England and East Midlands Glenn.Johnson@prospect.org.uk

Council member

Vice President

CLAIRE DENT

London and Southern England Claire.Dent@prospect.org.uk ESTHER PICKUP-KELLER

SANDRA SIMMONS

Vice President

Council member

DON MARTIN

Wales Don.Martin@prospect.org.uk

PETER MCALISTER

COUNCIL VACANCY

Northern Ireland

Wales TERESA JOHNSTON

Council member MICHAEL WOOLER PAUL WATSON

Scotland

Council member

Aspect Group executive council members can be contacted via the help desk.

JIM CROWLEY

South West and West Midlands Jim.Crowley@prospect.org.uk

BOB PEMBERTON

North of England Bob.Pemberton@prospect.org.uk

DAVEY HALL THOMAS DOHERTY

Council member

NE England, Scotland, Northern Ireland Davey.Hall@prospect.org.uk

NICK WRIGHT

Communications/Improvement Nick.Wright@prospect.org.uk NIKI ELLIOT

Council member THE NEW ADDRESS IS:

SUSIE HALL

Council member

Aspect Group of Prospect, International House, Turner Way, Wakeﬁeld WF2 8EF

Aspect has Moved !

Tel: 01924 207890 Fax: 01924 369717 Email: aspect@prospect.org.uk Website:: www.aspect.org.uk

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School improvement: job round up ADVISOR/INSPECTOR 11/03/2014 Norfolk EAL/BME Specialist Advisor £40,594 -£44,230 11/03/2014 Suffolk Early Years Leader £2,364-£5,778 + £2,535 03/03/2014 Norfolk EAL/BME Specialist Advisor £40,594-£44,230 03/03/2014 Newham London Primary Advisor £55,267-£58,158 03/03/2014 Newham London Early Years Advisors £55,267-£58,158 07/02/2014 Diocese of York School Effectiveness Advisor £39,772 07/02/2014 Diocese of Chelmsford Religious Education Advisor £35,000-£37,000 17/01/2014 Harrow PE and Sport Curriculum Advisor 07/02/2014 Diocese of York School Development Advisor £39,772 EARLY YEARS 07/02/2014 Greenfields Children’s Centres Head of Centre £56,779-£64,677 05/12/2013 Tribal (London) Early Years Inspector £31,000-£33,000

TEACHER ADVISOR 17/01/2014 Cumbria Specialist Advisory Teacher SENIOR 11/04/2014 Cardiff Council Assistant Director Education and Lifelong Learning Salary £80,000 (subject to workforce package) 10/04/2014 Blaenau Gwent Council Corporate Director of Education £95,000 3/04/2014 Orkney Islands Council Executive Education Director £85,047 09/4/2014 Church of England Chief Education Officer Attractive Salary (not specified) OTHER 07/02/2014 Teachfirst Leadership Development Coach £28,010-£34,510 04/4/2014 National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) Executive Officer £40,000 31/03/2014 Serco (No salary specified) Managing Ofsted Inspector 31/03/2014 Serco (No salary specified) Senior Managing Ofsted Inspector

05/12/2013 Fairfield Play Centre, Camden Early Years Lead Professional £23,660 05/12/2013 St George, Bristol EYPS/Early Childhood Studies Graduate

Need expert legal advice?

05/12/2013 University Commercial Service Early Years Childcare and Educational Development Manager £24,696-£34,181

Call the Aspect Group’s 24-hour legal helpline on 0161 830 4511

CONSULTANT 24/01/2014 Capita Children’s Services SIMS School Improvement Consultant

Please have your membership number to hand, as you will need it for identification purposes

17/01/2014 Babcock Primary Computing Consultant

Russell, Jones & Walker, part of Slater & Gordon Lawyers

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