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It’s that time of the week folksThis week’s Friday 5 from @TheCfEY policy team covers Opportunity Areas, place-based reporting, devolution and pupil premium spending.
Here are some of the education and youth reports, announcements and events we've been discussing. (1/17)
1. On Tuesday, @CommonsEd held an accountability session with Universities Minister @michelledonelan. Of particular interest to us was the discussion about Opportunity Areas (OAs) and the evidence underpinning the place-based initiative. (2/17) https://twitter.com/halfon4harlowMP/status/1386977180064886789
. @halfon4harlowMP expressed concern that OAs receive preferential treatment for additional government funding, which could mean areas that are more deprived, but are not part of the scheme, miss out on the support they need. (3/17)
Halfon also asked whether the OAs scheme emphasised “convening”, rather than investing in front-line services. Donelan argued that it’s useful to get local orgs together and that some place-based initiatives may, under suitable conditions, be rolled out nationally. (4/17)
2. Continuing this place-based theme, @PYL_London released a report concerning Covid-19’s impact on young Londoners, funded by @trustforlondon. The work covers a lot of ground, with chapters spanning education, policing, housing and youth services. (5/17) https://bit.ly/32Zepne
Drawing on focus groups and a survey of 16-25 year-olds, ‘Mapping Young London’ gives rich insight into what matters to young people living in the capital, with housing and employment unsurprisingly among their top priorities. (6/17) https://twitter.com/PYL_London/status/1386658842323390464?s=20
Young people in this research were not just participants but also played an active role in the report's design and dissemination. At the start of each chapter, young people like Kismet share their stories, placing them in conversation with the report's findings. (7/17)
3. Still on place, a new report from @instituteforgov compares the devolved delivery of education in the UK’s 4 nations. It highlights how different policies have led to starkly different educational outcomes for young people in similar contexts. (8/17) https://bit.ly/3aQY2gI
For example, while Scotland has had the highest per-pupil spend and teacher to pupil ratio, PISA results show performance in maths and science have declined compared to the other 3 nations. This fall maps onto the introduction of Scotland's ‘Curriculum for Excellence'. (9/17)
In contrast, England’s PISA scores have improved over time. However, England’s educational inequality is the worst of the 4 nations. They report that this is likely due to selective entry to school in England, with the trend potentially being hardened by academisation. (10/17)
Meanwhile, in Wales, the decision to remove league tables and standardised testing in 2002 led to reduced pupil attainment compared to the rest of the UK. Attainment has improved since these policies were reintroduced but Wales still lags behind in terms of PISA. (11/17)
4. A @TheNFER survey of 1,528 teachers conducted for @suttontrust looks at how schools across England are spending pupil premium (PP) funding. 1/3 heads report using PP to ‘plug gaps in their school’s budget’, which is up on pre-pandemic figures. (12/17) https://bit.ly/3t65TNA
. @suttontrust recommend further financial support for disadvantaged pupils as part of the education recovery plan and call for the government to reverse its decision to change the date of pupil premium reporting. (13/17)
Identifying FSM-eligible pupils can be challenging for both schools and families, so it’s important all parties are given sufficient time and support with this process. We covered this issue in the first edition of Friday 5, earlier this month. (14/17) https://twitter.com/Barristotle/status/1377971908499628038?s=20
5. Finally, sticking with PP, a new psychological interview study looks at how school leaders make decisions on how to spend Pupil Premium and consequent policy recommendations for how the gov can best support effective PP spend. (15/17) https://bit.ly/2PE7M6E
Only a small minority of school leaders report the use of ‘hard’ evidence like the EEF to determine PP spend. This suggests the DfE’s new PP procedures on use of evidence could be ineffective, with few school leaders drawing meaningfully on research to inform decisions. (16/17)
Generally, school leaders reported being unsure how to spend money and were interested in further guidance from other teachers, parents and even students rather than a central gov registry.
And there we are – a nice youth voice note to end this week’s instalment!
(17/17)
And there we are – a nice youth voice note to end this week’s instalment!
(17/17)
Please let us know your thoughts and share this thread if you found it useful.
Oh, and do follow @BartShaw1 and @Barristotle to make sure you catch future editions of Friday 5
Wishing you all a lovely long weekend
Oh, and do follow @BartShaw1 and @Barristotle to make sure you catch future editions of Friday 5
Wishing you all a lovely long weekend
