Grade inflation at English primary schools can increase the price of surrounding houses by up to £7,000, according to early research from economists at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL).

The study finds that as parents are drawn to areas with what appear to be higher school scores, the demand for housing escalates and poorer residents are driven out. The researchers examined data from more than 23,000 neighbourhoods in England, using results of more than five million students enrolled since 1998.

The study, published today as a QMUL School of Economics and Finance Working Paper, looked at the period from 1998 to 2007, when English schools used a process called ‘borderlining’ to regrade exams from students who narrowly missed out on a higher Key Stage result.

Erich Battistin, Professor of Economics at QMUL and lead author of the study says the period provides a “perfect test environment” to interrogate an important policy question: can grade inflation change the composition of neighbourhoods?

Borderlining

Borderlining was abolished in 2007 by the Department of Education, following evidence that the procedure caused grade inflation in primary schools for thousands of students. However, the effects of grade inflation that accumulated over one decade before the abolition of borderlining triggered inequalities across neighbourhoods that are persistent and identifiable through to the present day.

The results of the study, co-authored with Dr Lorenzo Neri from QMUL, show that a three percentage point increase (from a baseline of 26 percent) in the number of students who perform above expectations at Key Stage 2 increases local house prices by 1.5 percent.

The effect on prices is more dramatic in areas with more than one good school. According to Dr Neri, this is due to a “hedging effect”, where parents gravitate more strongly to areas that have a number of highly-rated schools. He says that in these areas the combined grade inflation of more than one school can increase house prices by three percent, or £7,000.

“What our study shows is that even very small levels of grade inflation can make a significant impact on house prices,” says Professor Battistin. “The reason for this is well documented by previous studies: parents respond to even the smallest marginal differences in the performance of local schools. Over time, this has a significant effect on the composition of the local neighbourhood and makes the area less affordable for poorer families.

Statistical noise

“It’s not new to show that prices and demography are influenced by quality – but what we show is that they can be affected significantly even by a false perception of quality. It’s not really there, it’s just statistical noise – sometimes generated by the benign intentions of markers to bump up marginal students, not necessarily for accountability purposes.” He adds that the results are relevant in the context of recent cheating scandals, in the UK and elsewhere, which he says need to be understood in terms of policy implications as well as in the context of standards and behaviour.

The researchers also show that the effects spill over to the composition of businesses and demography in local areas. They demonstrate that neighbourhoods in the catchment of schools with more grade inflation experience a more pronounced increase in the number of grocery shops, restaurants and coffeehouses surrounding schools, most likely because local retailers respond to the arrival of richer homeowners.

Methodology

The researchers compared similar blocks in the catchment of schools which, without borderlining, would have scored the same quality in national performance tables. The underlying assumption is that prices across these blocks would have changed similarly over time had manipulation not occurred.

They found a sharper price change for blocks in the catchment of schools where scores were the most inflated. The research methods included the use of large administrative databases and econometric analysis exploiting micro-level data on students, schools, house transactions and businesses. Results survived to the inclusion of neighbourhoods’ socio-economic characteristics at a very fine level; furthermore, regulation regarding the borderlining practice, coupled with a series of robustness checks, ensured that a clear causal relationship can be established.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Children can be left confused and unable to write accurate sentences because of “uncertain” grammar teaching, experts have warned. But confident teachers can enable students to use their grammar knowledge to help them craft and create their writing and positively support children’s development as writers.

Teachers concentrate on making sure primary-aged pupils can remember and repeat simple explanations—such as “a verb is a doing word; an adjective is a describing word—during grammar lessons rather than helping them understand key ideas. This hinders their learning and leaves some pupils only able to repeat these definitions rather than understanding what they mean.

A new study highlights how these activities often have no other purpose other than to provide evidence for national testing, yet children don’t often understand the feedback they are given about their writing produced for this purpose.

Experts from the University of Exeter have called for teachers to be given more support to stop grammar teaching becoming an “abstract and exotic” part of the curriculum and help them make it a natural part of lessons.

Academics working on the Economic and Social Research Council-funded project, called Writing Conversations, set out to explore in depth the relationship between children’s grammatical knowledge and their development as writers, as well as the impact of grammar teaching on children’s learning and writing. They tracked all the pupils in two primary classes and two secondary classes, each in four different schools in Devon, over three years. They spent time in school talking to children about their understanding of grammar and about their writing to analyse the relationship between what the children had been taught and what they had learned. Where teachers addressed the grammatical concept carefully, and then linked the grammar structure to what it does in a text, children were much better able to use grammar knowledge to make effective choices as writers.

The new National Curriculum, introduced in 2014, has an increased emphasis on grammar. Children in their last year of primary school now also have to take the Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation test. But teachers are given different messages about why children should learn grammar. They are told it is to help children learn how to accurately structure sentences, but also that it is to help them make effective language choices in their writing.

Researchers found children are now more confident in identifying grammatical structures since changes to the curriculum, but this is often knowledge learnt for tests or teacher assessments and children find it harder to describe how these structures affect their writing.

Dr. Helen Lines, one of the researchers on the project, said: “Our study shows if teachers explain grammar in a more practical and natural way regularly, other than something separate or abstract from other lessons, children will better understand.

“Over-focusing on labelling and identifying grammatical terms is not helpful and the Government and teachers need to think again about how children can gain a more sophisticated and enriched understanding of what grammar is. They need more space in the curriculum for children to express both their understandings and their confusions.”

Professor Debra Myhill, who led the project, said: “Children’s writing does become more sophisticated as they become older, but very often they can use a particular grammatical structure in their writing before they can describe what they have done. We don’t yet know if this is developmental, or linked to how students are taught. But what is clear is that teachers who themselves are comfortable with grammar are better able to handle children’s confusions and help them become more thoughtful writers.”

More information: Resources for teachers to support grammar teaching can be found on the project website: socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/ed … r-teacher-resources/

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

A new report by the Education Policy Institute, Access to high performing schools in England, looked at the density of high-quality secondary school places across England, comparing high-quality places in 2015 with 2010 in order to identify whether geographic access to high performing schools is improving.

Widening access to high performing schools is crucial if the government’s policy objective of improving social mobility is to be met. Indeed, the Department for Education’s recently published Social Mobility Action Plan has a strong emphasis on ‘place’, and states that ‘where you live will affect where you get to in life – while in some areas opportunity can become self-perpetuating, in other communities, disadvantage can become entrenched’.

Key findings from the report showed:

• Access to high performing schools in England has become more geographically unequal over the period 2010-2015. This is in spite of government policies aimed at improving school performance outside higher performing areas such as London. Virtually all local authorities with consistently low densities of high performing school places are in the North, particularly the North East and Yorkshire and the Humber. In Blackpool and Hartlepool local authorities there are no high performing secondary school places.

• From 2010 to 2015, local authorities with consistently good access to high performing secondary schools saw the proportion of pupils with access to such schools rise from 49% in 2010 to 58% in 2015. Many of these areas are in London.

• However, in areas with consistently low densities of high performing school places, the proportion of pupils with access to such places fell from just 6% in 2010 to 5% in 2015. These include areas such as Blackpool, Hartlepool, Barnsley, Redcar and Cleveland, Knowsley, and Middlesborough.

• When analysing access to schools at a disaggregated, neighbourhood level, in both 2010 and 2015 we also find one-fifth of local areas in England had no high performing secondary schools within reasonable travel distance. This means pupils in these neighbourhoods are unlikely to have had any opportunity to access a place at a high performing school.

Examining the 20 local authorities with the largest increases in the density of high performing secondary school places, and the 20 local authorities with the greatest decreases, the widening geographic inequality in access to high performing schools is also evident:

• Of the 20 local areas with the biggest increases in high performing school places, 16 of which were in London, the proportion of such places rose significantly from 36% to 60% from 2010-2015. The largest riser was Harrow.

• However, of the 20 areas with the largest fall in high performing places, none of which were in London, the proportion of high performing places fell from 31% in 2010 to 20% in 2015. The biggest faller was Blackburn with Darwen.

Opportunity Areas:

• There are large areas of the country which currently have no access to a high performing school. Of particular note is the North East, which as a region has virtually no high performing schools. Despite this, no part of the region has been selected as one of the government’s Opportunity Areas.

• If the government believes that introducing the Opportunity Areas initiative would address the lack of access to a high performing school, then our analysis suggests that there should be one in the North East.

You can download the report here. 

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

The Department of Education in England has today released data showing a rise in malpractice incidents when pupils have been penalised for inappropriate exam behaviours whilst undertaking GCSE, AS or A-Level exams (students typically aged between 16-18). Having access to a mobile phone was the main reason for student penalties, and the number of recorded incidents for 2017 was 2,715 – up from 2,180 compared to 2016.

Additionally, 895 penalties were issued to staff, up from 360 in 2016, and probably indicative of the pressures faced by staff to produce good grades from their students,

Yet, 120 penalties were issued to schools or colleges, down from 155 in 2016.

Malpractice is any breach of the regulations that might undermine the integrity of an exam, from deliberate attempts by students to communicate with each other during an exam to inadvertent failures by school or college staff to comply with exam board instructions.

Full details available from the Gov.UK website available here.

Images from Ofqual

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Results are convincing and ‘a strong signal to try something else’

School-based programmes aimed at preventing obesity in children are unlikely to have much impact on the childhood obesity epidemic, suggests a randomised controlled trial published by The BMJ today.

While school is an important setting for supporting healthy lifestyles, the researchers say wider influences – for example from families, local communities, and the food industry – may have a greater effect than any school run intervention.

In the UK, around a quarter of children are overweight when they start school at age 4 or 5 years – and the proportion of very overweight children doubles during the subsequent six years (from around 9% to 19%), highlighting this period as critical for preventive action.

Previous reviews of the evidence suggest that school-based interventions may be effective in reducing the proportion of overweight children, but study weaknesses have prevented researchers from making any firm recommendations.

So a team of researchers, led by Professor Peymane Adab at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Applied Health Research, set out to assess the effectiveness of a lifestyle and healthy eating programme (West Midlands ActiVe lifestyle and healthy Eating in School children or WAVES) compared with usual practice, in preventing childhood obesity.

WAVES is a 12-month school delivered intervention focusing on healthy eating and physical activity among primary school children. The results are based on data from around 1,400 6 and 7-year-olds at 54 randomly selected state-run primary schools in the West Midlands, monitored over a two and a half year period.

At the start of the trial, height and weight was recorded for each child, along with other measurements relating to body fat, diet and physical activity levels.

The programme included daily additional physical activity opportunities in schools, a physical activity and healthy eating programme in conjunction with local sporting heroes, regular information to parents about local physical activity opportunities, and workshops on healthy cooking for families at schools.

The programme introduced in schools in the study included:

• a daily opportunity to do 30 minutes of additional exercise
• a six-week healthy eating and exercise programme in conjunction with Aston Villa Football Club
• healthy cooking workshops once a term for families
• highlighting of local family physical activities

The researchers set up the healthy lifestyle programme for six and seven-year-olds in 26 primary schools.

They then compared the results with more than 700 children in another 28 primary schools who did not take part.

The researchers found no significant difference in weight status and no meaningful effect on body fat measurements, diet or physical activity levels at 15 and 30 months in children taking part in the programme, compared with those not taking part.

The researchers point to some limitations, such as possible imbalances between the groups at the start of the trial, but say strengths include the large number of schools involved and lengthy follow-up.

They suggest that “nudge” interventions – for example using financial incentives to prompt healthier behaviour – merit further investigation, but they conclude that school-based motivational, educational approaches “are unlikely to halt the childhood obesity epidemic.”

These findings are important “and could perhaps help break the cycle of policymakers continuing with ineffective educational preventive approaches that can never hope to greatly impact on the obesity epidemic,” argues Professor Melissa Wake, paediatrician and scientific director at the GenV initiative in Victoria, Australia, in a linked editorial.

She believes that “effective, scalable, and affordable strategies are needed that reduce childhood obesity, can be implemented locally and do not widen health inequities.”

And she concludes: “It is time to step back, take stock, carefully examine longitudinal data from contemporary children, and generate new, solution-focused approaches that could maximise health gain and be rigorously and speedily tested.”

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Working within schools, it is easy to be scared, follow the crowd, and dance along to a tune which you know, deep down, does not resonate with the values of teaching and learning you have inside. Examination systems, accountability structures, and whimsical policy changes all make individual teachers and school leaders look like rabbits caught in headlights, being easily bemused by the latest initiative they are expected to put into place, whilst ensuring exam outcomes are higher than last year. No one can deny that high standards and outcomes in schools are bad – we all want the very best for our pupils – but the narrow pursuit of results can lead to despair and conformity.

Let me introduce you to Brian. Brian is a (fictional) primary school head teacher in England, UK. Well, maybe not fictional, as many working in schools will relate to the story created by Will Ryan in his ‘Dare to be Different’ book. Following the internal dialogues, reflections and incidents that Brian is faced with on a daily basis, the story unfolds telling how an individual can strive to take back ownership of what happens in the classroom and build vibrant curriculum with which to hook the imaginations of pupils. How? Will has cleverly inserted over 100 tips based on exciting primary practice, along with nearly fifty significant ideas to strengthen leadership, and accompanied a similar number of inspiring quotations throughout the story that encourages head-teachers to be brave and follow their own rules for what is best for that school community.

Without spoiling the plot, or ruining the ending (this is not a spoiler alert!), the book concludes in a reflective manner, reminding the reader that without struggle, there is no progress. Offering staff the opportunity to participate in hubs of excellence allows individual teachers to keep updated with pedagogical advances, a strong sense of efficacy, and the opportunity to value and celebrate their own learning. Also, offering three-generational lessons within a fourth-generation curriculum (earlier discussed in the book) allows for a rich, experiential and inspiring learning opportunities.  One of Brian’s final reflections in his notebook concludes:

Children should enjoy a curriculum that provides a rich variety of knowledge and experience in school, no matter what their skills and abilities, and regardless of their personal circumstances…

…it is vitally important that schools offer a broad and balanced curriculum that contributes to the social, moral, spiritual and cultural development of pupils.

Ask yourself….does your school reflect this?

We are usually confronted with books that can sit on shelves and be picked up, dipped into and used for pithy activities whenever suits. Very few books demand to be read from start to finish, but Will Ryan’s book tells a story and deserves to be given time to follow the flow, absorb the advice, and learn from the lessons underpinning the narrative. If you are the teacher, or school-leader who doesn’t want to follow the herd, satisfy the policy-makers, but take action to do justice to your colleagues and pupils, then this is a story that should encourage and inspire you.

 Visit next page to read the publisher promotional information

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

The UK government, who set the requirements for schools in England, have announced that trials of a times tables tests are to be launched for pupils in Year 4 (aged 8&9) with a mandatory national launch due for 2020.

The new on-screen check will last no longer than five minutes and is similar to the checks many schools use already. The government claim that the tests will enable teachers to monitor a child’s progress in a consistent and reliable way but has been carefully designed to avoid causing additional stress for children and teachers.

It will be sat by 8 and 9-year-olds in Year 4, after teachers and schools told the Government this was the best point for it to be introduced. Results from the check will not be published at school-level, and the government claims that they will not be used by Ofsted and others to force changes in schools.

The system is being developed in active partnership with schools, with two trials already completed. This consolidation of basic mathematical knowledge is in line with the principle of the maths ‘mastery’ pedagogy, which is successfully practised by world leaders in mathematics, Shanghai and Singapore and is now being introduced to schools in England.

In the most recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), England’s mean score was 546, compared to Singapore which scored 618, topping the study for maths at both year 5 and 9. Approaches like this aim to close that gap and raise national standards in mathematics.

The multiplication tables check was announced as part of the government’s response to its primary assessment consultation last year. This consultation proposed a number of other changes to make assessment in primary schools more accurate and reduce the burden of tests on teachers and children.

This trial comes ahead of the national voluntary roll out of the multiplication tables check for all Year 4 pupils from June 2019, before it becomes mandatory in June 2020. A national sample of schools has already been selected to participate in the trials and they will soon receive their invitation to participate. The trials will ensure the check is robust, accessible and minimises any additional burden on schools as a new assessment.

Speaking to the BBC, Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said it was “hugely disappointing” that the Department for Education was still determined to bring in a multiplication tables test.

“This test won’t tell teachers and parents anything they don’t already know about their children. Although school results won’t be published, this government test will be scrutinised by Ofsted when they visit and will therefore become even more significant.

“A pupil’s primary school years are already cluttered with tests and checks. We want all children to succeed at school, but the answer isn’t to test them more.”

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Press release from the Department for Education, England.

Steps to transform education for children with additional needs and ambitious plans to improve the experiences of children in alternative provision have been announced today by Education Secretary of England Damian Hinds.

Evidence shows children educated in alternative provision, school settings for children who face challenges in mainstream school, are less likely to achieve good GCSE grades and are less likely to be in education, employment or training post-16. Previous analysis also shows that children excluded from school are more likely to end up in the criminal justice system.

The plans announced today (16 March) aim to tackle those inequalities and ensure Britain is a country that truly works for everyone by looking at the experience and outcomes for children who face the most challenges in mainstream school – including those at greatest risk of exclusion – such as those with special educational needs (SEN), children with autism or children in need of help and protection, including those in care.

They include an externally led review of school exclusions, originally announced by the Prime Minister in response to the Race Disparity Audit, which will look at why some children are more likely to be excluded than others. Plans also include a new £4million fund to develop new ways to help children with additional needs move from alternative provision in to mainstream education or special schools and measures to drive up standards in alternative provision education settings.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:

It’s a mark of a strong society how we treat children who are most in need of our support. Every child, whatever their background and no matter what challenges they face, should have access to a world-class education that prepares them for life in the modern world.

Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers, standards are rising and we are already encouraging schools to focus on the achievements of all pupils, not just the highest achievers.

Children only get one chance at their education and they deserve the best. But for too many children – and often those who are most vulnerable – there are inconsistencies when it comes to their experiences of school and too many parents are left worried and concerned.

That’s not good enough which is why we are going to improve our understanding of these important issues and tackle them head on.

The proposals outlined today include:

• The launch of an externally led review of exclusions, led by former Children’s Minister Edward Timpson to look at how the use and levels of exclusions vary from school to school focusing on those children who are more likely to be excluded.
• A ‘roadmap’ setting out how the government will transform alternative provision to make sure these education settings provide high-quality teaching and an education that meets the individual needs of young people in their care.
• A £4 million Alternative Provision Innovation Fund to test and develop projects that support children back into mainstream or special schools, as well as encouraging parental and carer involvement in the education of their child. The investment will also fund schemes that support young people as they move from alternative provision in to training or further education at post-16, so all young people can succeed in the next stage of their lives.
• A call for evidence on how to improve educational outcomes for Children in Need – children that need additional help or protection, including children in care. The call for evidence will gather best practice from school leaders, social workers and other professionals, fulfilling a manifesto commitment to find out what works in improving the educational outcomes for these children.

New analysis published today reveals how far Children in Need fall behind their peers from the early years, making less progress throughout school. Children in Need are three times more likely to have special educational needs than other children, and this compounds poor educational outcomes.

Today’s plans will sharpen the focus on the core essentials of education and improve educational outcomes for these children, widening the options available to them so that they can succeed later in life.

Leader of the external review into exclusions and former Children’s Minister, Edward Timpson said:

I’m delighted to have been asked by the Secretary of State to lead this important piece of work. As someone who grew up in a family who fostered, I’m all too familiar with the disproportionately higher levels of exclusion of some children, including those in care.

This review provides a real opportunity to fully understand what drives the different rates of exclusion in our schools system and the impact it has on the outcomes of children involved.

I intend to draw from the best possible expertise, knowledge and evidence of what works in the field to ensure the review can help address the clear disparities and variability that still exists in the practice, impact and experience around exclusions, starting with an open ‘Call for Evidence’ I am launching today.

Building on the Race Disparity Audit, the review of exclusions will look to tackle some of the inconsistencies highlighted including exploring why Black Caribbean boys are more than three times as likely to be excluded from school.

Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation:

Outcomes for these pupils across education, health and employment are poor. The government’s new plans provide a welcome opportunity to refocus our efforts and transform life chances for this important group of learners.

It is good to see a focus on evidence for improving outcomes too. Making the best of what we already know about ‘what works’ and sharing that knowledge across the system is key to getting it right.

Dame Christine Lenehan, Director for the Council for Disabled Children said:

We welcome these important announcements on behalf of children with special educational needs and their families for too long the education system has disproportionately excluded these children and failed to celebrate their achievements. This affects, not just their childhood but their whole lives.

We will want to work alongside the review and ensure that it makes a real difference.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Research published by The National Foundation for Educational Research has shown that teachers in England work long hours even after accounting for extra holidays. Among other findings, comparing to other public sector workers, the research found that teachers work similar hours each year to police officers, but in fewer weeks.

The findings are published in “Teacher retention and turnover research – Research update 4: How Do Teachers Compare To Nurses And Police Officers?“, also revealed that teachers’ real average hourly pay has fallen more than it has for the other professions since 2009/10, yet despite this seem to be satisfied with their jobs and income, but less so with their leisure time.

Compared to nurses and police officer, the report also highlighted the age demographics of the three professions, showing how the teaching profession is now spread across a range of ages.

The authors conclude that, despite reporting relatively strong job and income satisfaction rates, teachers are more likely to leave their profession than nurses or police officers. The research identified that teachers who leave appear to be more motivated by reduced working hours and more opportunities for flexible working. Further work to reduce the number of hours worked by teachers should be a priority for school leaders and the Government.

The full PDF report is available by clicking here.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

In an exclusive interview, @digicoled from the @UKEdPodcast caught up with Sean Harford, who is an HMI and Ofsted’s National Director, Education – leading on our policy for EY, Schools and FE & Skills in England.

Questions from the UKEdChat community were put to Sean, exploring some of the myths around inspections, what is expected in terms of measuring progress, and a discussion about libraries.

To listen, scroll down and listen via SoundCloud, via your regular podcast listening app, or via Apple Podcasts above.

Like what UKEdChat does? Support the work we do, helping teaching and learning to educators globally by becoming a Patron, for exclusive access, resources and support. Click here for more information.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Pupils from schools with greater ethnic diversity have more positive feelings towards pupils of different ethnicities, according to a new study of attitudes in English secondary schools from the University of Bristol and the London School of Economics and Political Science.

While pupils tend to have warmer feelings for their own ethnic group, the more mixed the school, the warmer the feelings for other ethnicities, promoting social cohesion.

Nearly 4,000 Year 10 pupils, aged 14 and 15, from 96 English state schools were asked about the warmth of their feelings towards fellow pupils of different ethnicities. They were also asked about their friendships and how many friends they had from a different ethnic background. Social and political attitudes on openness to others were also surveyed. The focus was on three broad groups; White British, Asian British and Black British.

In terms of warmth, the study shows that the warmth of a black pupil for white pupils increases by 1.04 points for each 10 percentage points increase in the share of White pupils in the school. Reciprocally, the warmth of a white British pupil for black British pupils increases by 1.74 points for each ten percentage points increase in the share of black pupils in the school. This reduces the gap between feelings for their own compared to the other group by over 10 percent.

The study also shows that school composition is more important than local area composition. In local authorities with high fractions of Asian British pupils, for example, White British pupils have substantially and significantly more positive feelings towards those pupils in schools where they are numerous than in schools where they are not. It is the first national study to relate inter-ethnic relations to both school and area composition.

Using the results to examine the effects of a fully segregated school system, researchers considered a hypothetical city with 20 per cent Asian pupils and 80 per cent white. If each went to a school with pupils from only their own ethnic background then 47 per cent of Whites would feel negatively towards Asian, and around 30 per cent of Asians would have a reciprocal attitude, so overall 44 per cent of pupils in the city would be ill-disposed to the other group. By contrast, in a fully integrated system, overall around 20 per cent of pupils would have negative feelings for other groups.

Social cohesion is high on the political agenda and is central to the recently-published Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper and to the Mayor of London’s Social Integration Strategy.

The authors, Professor Simon Burgess of the Department of Economics at Bristol and Professor Lucinda Platt of LSE’s Department of Social Policy, commented: “All around the world people tend to prefer their own group – it’s a pervasive phenomenon. This paper provides new evidence on the issue of social cohesion which is high on the political agenda. Tomorrow’s citizens are today’s schoolchildren and time in school has the potential to shape attitudes towards others.

“Encouragingly for policy-makers, our results show that even small moves away from largely mono-ethnic schools towards more mixed ones produce positive changes. It is not the case that anything short of full integration is pointless. The policy questions then focus on how to encourage mixed schools, and how to encourage contact. Of course, neither of these are easy. But our results now quantify just how valuable that is.”

More information: Inter-ethnic relations of teenagers in England’s schools: the role of school and neighbourhood ethnic composition: www.cream-migration.org/publ_uploads/CDP_07_18.pdf

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Children in England have already consumed more than a year’s worth of sugar, according to figures from Public Health England (PHE).

Children aged 4 to 10 years should have no more than the equivalent of 5 to 6 cubes of sugar each day, but are consuming on average 13 cubes. This means they are on track to consume around 4,800 cubes of sugar by the end of the year, more than double the maximum recommendation.

Sugary soft drinks remain one of the main contributors of free sugars to children’s diets, more than ice cream and puddings combined.

Apart from fruit juice, which counts as one of our 5 A Day, the other main sources of sugar in children’s diets are:

1. Sugary soft drinks (including squashes, juice drinks, energy drinks, cola and other fizzy drinks) 10%
2. Buns, cakes, pastries and fruit pies 10%
3. Sugars, including table sugar, preserves and sweet spreads 9%
4. Biscuits 9%
5. Breakfast cereals 8%
6. Chocolate confectionery 7%
7. Sugar confectionery 7%
8. Yoghurt, fromage frais and other dairy desserts 6%
9. Ice cream 5%
10. Puddings 4%

Fruit juice with no added sugar can be a healthier alternative to soft drinks. However, it contributes a significant amount of sugar to children’s diets when consumed in large amounts. Therefore fruit juice and smoothies should be limited to a combined total of 150ml per day.

Too much sugar can lead to weight gain, obesity and tooth decay, a third of children leave primary school overweight or obese, while around a quarter of 5-year-olds suffer from painful tooth decay. Children above a healthy weight are more likely to remain so as adults, increasing their risk of preventable health conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

It is not too late to reduce children’s sugar intake for the remainder of the year. PHE’s Change4Life campaign is urging parents to make simple changes:

• swap sugary drinks for plain water, lower fat plain milks, sugar-free or no added sugar drinks.
• the Change4Life website has easy drink swaps and helpful tips for families
• limit fruit juice and smoothies to a total of 150ml per day and only consume these drinks with meals – they count as a maximum of one portion of our 5 A Day
• cut back on sugary snacks by swapping cakes, biscuits, chocolate and sweets for fruit, plain rice cakes, toast, fruit teacakes, malted loaf or bagels with lower fat spread

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at PHE said:

We’re barely halfway through the year and already children have consumed far more sugar than is healthy – it’s no surprise this is contributing to an obesity crisis.

Snacks and drinks are adding unnecessary sugar to children’s diets without us even noticing. Swapping to lower or no added sugar alternatives is something all parents can work towards.

Parents can visit the Change4Life website for helpful swaps and tips, and download the Change4Life Food Scanner app to see the sugar, fat, salt and calories in popular foods and drinks.

Tackling obesity and tooth decay requires wider action and does not rely solely on parents. PHE is working with the food industry to cut 20% of sugar from the foods children consume most by 2020. Sugar reduction guidelines for juice and milk based drinks outside the scope of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy are to be achieved by mid 2021.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Two-thirds of head teachers believe that inequalities between schools (in England) are becoming wider as a result of current government policy, according to a new ‘state of the nation’ report by the UCL Institute of Education (IOE).

The four-year study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, evaluated the government’s ‘self-improving school-led system’ (SISS), which has become an overarching narrative for education policy since 2010, making schools more autonomous and accountable for their own improvement.

The reforms have included an expansion in the number of academies and the development of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), the rollback of Local Authorities (LAs) from school oversight, and the development of new school-to-school support models, such as Teaching School Alliances (TSAs).

In order to assess the impact of these changes, IOE researchers Professor Toby Greany and Dr Rob Higham collected case studies from 47 schools across four localities and worked with the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to evaluate the impact of Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) on pupil attainment and progress, conduct a survey of almost 700 head teachers and analyse Ofsted results over a 10 year period.

The researchers found that despite the government’s claims to be ‘moving control to the frontline’ and giving schools more autonomy, the reality is very different.  Schools are more tightly regulated than ever, facing pressure to get good exam results and Ofsted grades or face being taken over by a MAT. Many schools have felt the need to narrow their curriculum and focus relentlessly on test outcomes in response.

The government has encouraged schools to collaborate with each other to share expertise and to support schools that are struggling.  But the competitive pressures in the system have made this challenging, with schools also incentivised to prioritise their own interests in order to attract pupils and funding.

“The idea of a ‘self-improving’ system in which schools collaborate on behalf of all children is appealing, but we cannot simply rely on the goodwill and moral purpose of school leaders to make it work. The problem is that the system is hard-wired to encourage selfish behaviour because the consequences for schools of a drop in exam scores or Ofsted grade can be so catastrophic. At present we see a chaotic system of winners and losers, with increasing incoherence and a loss of equity as a result,” says co-author Professor Greany (IOE).

The research found that the school system has become less equitable since 2010, with higher-performing schools admitting relatively fewer disadvantaged pupils.

Dr Rob Higham (IOE), co-author of the report added: “Lower-status schools frequently face a concentration of challenges including under-subscription, movement of pupils throughout the school year and disproportionate numbers of disadvantaged and hard to place children. These schools were also most likely to report a negative impact as a result of austerity cuts to wider local services for the most vulnerable children, which were previously provided by local authorities.”

In a supplementary statistical analysis of MATs, the researchers found there is no positive impact on the attainment and progress scores of pupils in MATs when compared to equivalent non-MAT schools.  There were, however, important differences between MATs of different sizes. While students in smaller MATs (those with two or three academies) tended to perform better than comparator schools, pupils in larger MATs (those with 16+ schools) did worse, particularly in secondary schools.

Commenting on the methodology, Simon Rutt, Head of Statistics at NFER said: “The research undertaken by NFER statisticians and colleagues at IOE involved a complex methodology to ensure analysis was able to make like-for-like comparisons.  This is getting harder to achieve with the increase in academisation and being able to find similar schools that are not yet academised, particularly for the cohort of sponsored schools.”

Josh Hillman, Director of Education at the Nuffield Foundation said: “The fact that higher performing schools are accepting fewer disadvantaged pupils suggests increased school autonomy is perpetuating inequality, and that is a major cause for concern. This research reveals the contradictions inherent in an approach that simultaneously encourages self-improvement and collaboration, and yet offers a very narrow definition of success in terms of exam results and Ofsted grades. In practice, schools are incentivised to compete, and that is not always in the best interests of pupils, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman and the National Schools Commissioner, Sir David Carter will be among guest speakers at tomorrow’s report launch (3pm, 2 July 2018), hosted by The Nuffield Foundation.

The full report findings will be available to download on Tuesday 3 July at 3pm BST.

Image credit: Nick Clegg and Michael Gove visit a school in 2010 (Cabinet Office on Flickr, CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Release via UCL

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

With the UK government pressing ahead with plans to introduce a baseline assessment for early years children in England, a new report has been published concluding that the government’s proposals, which will cost upward of £10 million, are flawed, unjustified, and wholly unfit for purpose. They would be detrimental to children, parents, teachers, and the wider education system in England. In the report, the authors consider whether the evidence from the assessment literature can justify such a test being used for this purpose – concluding that it cannot.

The authors, writing for the British Educational Research Association, claim that the new system will not lead to accurate or fair comparisons being made between schools for the following reasons.

• Any value-added calculations that will be used to hold schools to account will be highly unreliable.
• Children will be exposed to tests that will offer no formative help in establishing their needs and/or in developing teaching strategies capable of meeting them.
• This is an untried experiment that cannot be properly evaluated until at least 2027, when the first cohort tested at reception has taken key stage 2 tests.

The authors argue that, as it is currently proposed, the reception baseline assessment is likely to produce results with little predictive power and dubious validity – and that the assessment of very young children is hard to justify when it is not being used to support a child’s learning’.

The panel argues that the tests cannot be accurate or fair because:

• just a few month’s difference in age in the early years produces pronounced developmental differences, yet plans for the RBA do not take this properly into account
• pupil cohorts within primary schools are statistically small, and often have uneven distributions of younger and older children, which makes it hard to draw valid comparisons between schools
• pupil mobility, teacher turnover, and the likelihood of a change in head teacher will all muddy the issue of accountability – either pupil data will be missing, or schools may be held to account for pupils they have not taught continuously in the seven years since the data was first collected
• it is widely recognised that a range of contextual factors – such as parents’ educational levels, family income and having English as an additional language – affect both attainment and relative attainment, but under the government’s current proposals no such factors will be taken into account.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Expanding the number of grammar schools is unlikely to promote social mobility by providing more opportunities for disadvantaged pupils, a new study published in Educational Review finds.

Study author Binwei Lu, of Durham University, used England’s National Pupil Database to show how a child’s chances of going to grammar school varied depending on the Local Authority (LA) in which they lived, their social and ethnic background, and their attainment level at primary school. The database included more than 600,000 pupils, of which around 186,000 were in the 36 LAs with grammar schools.

In those LAs, the proportion of pupils attending such schools varied widely: from 1.4 to 37.4 per cent. Selection criteria also varied, with pupils in certain LAs needing to achieve more than twice the Key Stage 2 marks of those in other LAs to have any chance of being admitted.

As a result, applying in a different LA – an option more readily available to more affluent families – could increase a child’s chances.

“While it is often mentioned that coaching gives more affluent pupils an unfair advantage in grammar school selection, our study suggests that a simpler, but effective action for the rich would be to let their children sit the 11+ in other Local Authorities with more grammar school opportunities,” Miss Lu noted.

The study also found that pupils eligible for free school meals, pupils with special educational needs, native English speakers, and white pupils were less likely to go to grammar schools, while those from more affluent areas and from minority ethnic groups were more likely to attend.

Despite these differences, the research showed that, during the selection process, attainment was more important than personal background, indicating no bias towards certain groups of pupils in the selection process itself. Rather, the inequality of opportunity to go to grammar school for pupils from different backgrounds was probably the result of diverging attainment among these different groups at the end of primary education.

“While this outcome demonstrates the relatively equitable process of grammar school enrolment based on selection criteria, there is also no evidence that grammar schools can help the poor, as their likelihood of attending such schools is limited,” Miss Lu said.

“If secondary schools are allowed to select based on attainment, they are thus selecting pupils from more advantaged backgrounds. The assumption that grammar schools promote social mobility is therefore unsound.

“On the contrary, if grammar schools do perform better than other state schools, they will widen the gap between children from high and low socioeconomic groups by offering higher Key Stage 4 results for their pupils. In the meantime, pupils without sufficient family support, who thus perform worse than they would have otherwise at the age of 11, will lag further behind as they will be enrolled in less effective secondary schools.”

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

All schools in England will teach children about good physical and mental health, how to stay safe on and offline, and the importance of healthy relationships under new plans published today by Education Secretary Damian Hinds.

Under the proposals, all pupils will study compulsory health education as well as new reformed Relationships Education in primary school and Relationships and Sex Education in secondary school.

The guidance – last updated in 2000 – will become compulsory in all schools across England from September 2020, and will put in place the building blocks needed for positive and safe relationships of all kinds.

Schools will be supported as they prepare to teach the new subjects and will be able to begin doing so as soon as the materials are ready and available from September 2019, building on the existing best practice that will be shared by high performing schools.

By making health education compulsory we will ensure pupils are taught about the benefits of a healthier lifestyle, what determines their physical health and how to build mental resilience and wellbeing. It will also make sure children and young people learn how to recognise when they and others are struggling with mental health and how to respond.

The proposals, which follow the publication of the Childhood Obesity Plan and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Green Paper, will ensure that the importance of good physical and mental health is an integral part of the updated subjects.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:

I want to make sure that our children are able to grow up to become happy and well-rounded individuals who know how to deal with the challenges of the modern world. Part of this is making sure they are informed about how to keep themselves safe and healthy and have good relationships with others.

Many of today’s problems did not exist when we last gave schools guidance on how to teach Relationships and Sex Education 18 years ago. The action we’re taking is important to help support teachers and schools design a curriculum that will enrich their pupils in an age appropriate way.

Good physical and mental health is also at the heart of ensuring young people are ready for the adult world. By making health education compulsory we are giving young people the tools they need to be ready to thrive when they leave school.

Under the updated guidance, teachers will talk to primary school pupils in an age-appropriate way about the features of healthy friendships, family relationships and other relationships they are likely to encounter. At secondary school, teachers will build on the foundation of Relationships Education in primary and, at the appropriate time, extend teaching to include intimate relationships as well.

At both primary and secondary, pupils will learn about staying safe online – complementing the existing computing curriculum – and how to use technology safely, responsibly and respectfully. Lessons will also cover how to keep personal information private and help young people navigate the virtual world, challenge harmful content and balance online and offline worlds.

The new guidance has been developed in response to a national call for evidence earlier this year and includes topics like mental wellbeing, consent, keeping safe online, physical health and fitness and LGBT issues. It will now be subject to a further 12-week consultation on the content and how the subjects are taught.

As well as teaching about the benefits of healthy eating and keeping fit, the new compulsory health education will include content on the prevention of health problems. It will help support the development of qualities such as confidence, resilience, self-respect and self-control. Good quality education on wider social and economic issues will continue to be taught in schools across the country through PSHE or other subjects, for example teaching about financial issues through maths and citizenship.

Barnardo’s Chief Executive, Javed Khan said:

We welcome the proposed guidance, and its focus on the issues Barnardo’s has campaigned for such as consent, healthy relationships and staying safe online. We are pleased to see emotional, reproductive and mental health included as requested by our young service users.

It’s vital teachers have quality resources and proper training so they can deliver sensitive subjects that are age-appropriate and answer any questions children have confidently. Schools must communicate regularly with parents to help them feel comfortable about what their children are being taught.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher, so the ancient Japanese proverb goes.

But as children across the country head back to school after the summer break, many headteachers are already thinking about what impact the unfilled teacher vacancies in their schools will have on the progress of the new pupil intake.

Attracting and retaining good teachers is rapidly becoming one of the greatest challenges a headteacher can face – and the situation is exacerbated by a diminishing pool of candidates.

So, what is it that’s most important to teachers when they’re looking to move jobs? And what can schools do to increase their chances of finding the right staff?

Great expectations

A survey of teachers recently conducted by Affinity Workforce highlighted some interesting insights into the key issues that are most often at the forefront of teachers’ minds when they are planning their next career move or thinking about joining a new school.

According to 95% of teachers questioned, the reputation of the school as a good employer was the most important factor when they were choosing where they wanted to work. High-performance aspirations and the leadership of a school were each cited by 94% of teachers as important to them too.

So a school could look at raising its profile in these areas, showcasing the success of its leadership team or promoting the benefits of its staff CPD programme more widely, for example.

Putting more detailed information onto the website about the career development opportunities teachers at the school benefit from is one way to do this. Or there could be a dedicated area online detailing the succession planning measures the school has put in place to support staff who are looking to progress into leadership roles.

Actively promoting the achievement of staff as well as pupils on social media channels can be a great way for schools to reach teachers too. And a targeted marketing campaign designed to highlight a school’s strengths in relation to CPD could really help it to stand out in a crowded market.

Clearer picture

The insight schools can gain from data is crucial for getting a clear picture of staffing gaps and supply costs, but the survey results suggest that in many schools and MATs more could be done to inform decision making.

More than half of schools stated that they do not regularly review teacher supply costs. This is a key area where money could potentially be saved for schools – costs that could be redirected into delivering greater consistency of teaching in the classroom.

One trust I know is taking a long-term approach to teacher recruitment by building up a pool of supply teachers they can draw from who know the school, it’s policies and culture. A little forward planning can result in a more efficient way of getting good teachers into classrooms, when they are needed, saving time, effort and resources.

Looking ahead

The teacher recruitment crisis is unlikely to ease any time soon, so schools need to become much savvier when it comes to attracting and retaining the staff they need.

Understanding what teachers look for in a school when they are ready to move on can really help to put the fire behind a recruitment campaign. And by taking a more strategic approach to staffing, schools can focus their efforts on delivering the consistent, quality teaching that inspires children and drives progress.

Mike Ruddle, a director at specialist recruiters Affinity Workforce, is looking at alternatives ways of addressing the skills shortage in education. 

* The full report Resourcing the Performance Agenda in Schools and Multi-Academy Trusts can be seen here.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Children, like adults, can improve their response to difficult tasks by the power of group work, new research led by the University of Bristol has found.

The ‘Wisdom of Crowds’ is well documented in adults, but previously children were thought to lack the social and cognitive skills to make effective group decisions together.

The study, published today [Monday 24 September] in PLOS ONE, evaluated the habits of 219 pupils from schools in the South West of England between the ages of 11 and 19 revealing that in fact, pupils as young as 11 years possess the skills necessary to ‘crowdfund’ knowledge in order to decipher the correct answer.

Participants were asked to guess the number of sweets in a jar individually and then after discussion, to give a group answer. The researchers looked at how the children used their original guesses to come to a final group answer.

An international team of scientists led by Dr Christos Ioannou from the University’s School of Biological Sciences found that the children reduced their estimation error after group discussion. Even more surprising, to reach a group consensus, they intuitively used a geometric mean rule-of-thumb to combine their guesses, especially when there was a lot of disagreement.

Collective intelligence has rarely been investigated in children, although there has been a lot of research using adults and other animals such as bees, ants and fish.

Since children are not as socially and cognitively developed as adults but have better skills than most other animals, investigating how collective intelligence works in children might be the bridge to connect research on adults and other animals.

Looking at collective intelligence in humans while still in their developmental stage might reveal how and why humans are so remarkable when working in groups.

Dr Ioannou, Lecturer and NERC Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, said “This result suggests that children naturally dealt with the estimates on a logarithmic scale. Using a geometric mean is the best way to combine estimates of the number of sweets when there was a lot of disagreement in the group, and the children spontaneously used that method.”

###

The international team of collaborators on this research also includes Gabriel Madirolas (Cajal Institute, Madrid); Faith S. Brammer (University of Bath); Hannah A. Rapley (University of Bath) and Gonzalo G. de Polavieja (Champalimaud Research, Portugal).

Paper: ‘Adolescents show collective intelligence which can be driven by a geometric mean rule of thumb’ by Christos C. Ioannou, Gabriel Madirolas, Faith S. Brammer, Hannah A. Rapley, Gonzalo G. de Polavieja in PLOS ONE

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Amanda Spielman, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector for England schools, today announced details of planned changes to the way Ofsted inspects schools, colleges, further education institutions and early years settings from September 2019. These changes will move Ofsted’s focus away from headline data to look instead at how schools are achieving these results, and whether they are offering a curriculum that is broad, rich and deep, or simply teaching to the test.

The changes will be designed to allow teachers and leaders to focus more of their time on the real substance of education.

Ms Spielman acknowledged that the current inspection model has contributed to excessive workload in some schools, much of which falls on classroom teachers. She said that when it comes to assessing a school, Ofsted should complement, rather than intensify, performance data. It should reward school leaders who are ambitious for their pupils, rather than those who jump through hoops. Therefore, the new framework will place greater emphasis on the substance of education, and actively discourage unnecessary data collection.

Ms Spielman said:

For a long time, our inspections have looked hardest at outcomes, placing too much weight on test and exam results when we consider the overall effectiveness of schools. The cumulative impact of performance tables and inspections, and the consequences that are hung on them, has increased the pressure on school leaders, teachers and indirectly on pupils to deliver perfect data above all else.

But we know that focusing too narrowly on test and exam results can often leave little time or energy for hard thinking about the curriculum, and in fact can sometimes end up making a casualty of it. The bottom line is that we must make sure that we, as an inspectorate, complement rather than intensify performance data.

Because our curriculum research, and a vast amount of sector feedback, have told us that a focus on performance data is coming at the expense of what is taught in schools. Our new focus will change that, bringing the inspection conversation back to the substance of young people’s learning and treating teachers as experts in their field, not just data managers. I don’t know a single teacher who went into teaching to get the perfect progress eight score. They go into it because they love what they teach and want children to love it too. That is where the inspection conversation should start and with the new framework we have an opportunity to do just that.

Ms Spielman announced that Ofsted will consult on the introduction of a new judgement for ‘quality of education’. This will replace the current ‘outcomes for pupils’ and ‘teaching, learning and assessment’ judgements with a broader, single judgement.

This new judgement will allow Ofsted to recognise primary schools that, for example, prioritise phonics and the transition into early reading, and which encourage older pupils to read widely and deeply. And it will make it easier for secondary schools to do the right thing, offering children a broad range of subjects and encouraging the take up of core EBacc subjects at GCSE, such as the humanities and languages, alongside the arts and creative subjects.

At the same time, Ofsted will challenge those schools where too much time is spent on preparation for tests at the expense of teaching, where pupils’ choices are narrowed, or where children are pushed into less rigorous qualifications purely to boost league table positions.

The Chief Inspector also announced the 3 other inspection judgements that Ofsted will consult on:

• personal development
• behaviour and attitudes
• schools’ leadership and management

The ‘personal development, welfare and behaviour’ judgement in the current framework will be split into 2 distinct areas. This change recognises the difference between behaviour and discipline in schools, and pupils’ wider personal development and their opportunities to grow as active, healthy and engaged citizens.

An overall effectiveness judgement will continue to be awarded, and all judgements will be made using the current 4 point grading scale.

Responding to the suggestion that these changes should be postponed for a year, Ms Spielman said that she was confident that this will be the most researched, evidence-based and tested framework in Ofsted’s history, and that to delay would let children and teachers down. She also addressed concerns that Ofsted will have a preferred approach to the curriculum.

Ms Spielman said:

We are not talking here about an Ofsted-approved approach. We are talking about an approach that leaves plenty of space for diversity, but nevertheless makes it possible to recognise and discourage things that just aren’t good enough. Our curriculum research showed quite clearly that it’s possible to acknowledge a range of successful curricular approaches – approaches that cross any perceived ideological divide.

She continued:

With teacher workload and retention such pressing issues, I am firmly of the view that a focus on substance will help to tackle excessive workload. It will move inspection more towards being a conversation about what actually happens in schools. Those who are bold and ambitious and run their schools with integrity will be rewarded as a result.

And we know from talking to you, as well as from our research, that this is the right way to go. One year of delay in this framework is the equivalent of more than 8 million child years of delay and half a million teacher years of delay. In the middle of a teacher recruitment crisis, the changes to inspection simply can’t wait.

Ms Spielman said the new framework will make it easier to recognise and reward the good work done by schools in areas of high disadvantage. By shifting the focus away from outcomes, Ofsted hopes to reverse the incentive for schools to put overall results ahead of individual children’s needs. These changes will empower schools to always put the child first and make teaching in high disadvantage schools even more rewarding. In turn, this will encourage the best teachers to work in the schools that need them most, rather than those where their career may feel safest.

In January, Ofsted will launch a consultation on the new inspection framework. Unlike previous consultations, views will also be sought on each individual inspection handbook. Ofsted will consider all responses carefully before finalising the framework. Further details of the consultation and how to respond will be published early next year.

Notes

The 4 judgements inspectors make under the current education inspection framework are:

• effectiveness of leadership and management
• quality of teaching, learning and assessment
• personal development, behaviour and welfare
• outcomes for children and learners

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Primary schools in England are set to receive extra support and improved guidance to help make sure all children can swim confidently and know how to stay safe in and around water.

Working in partnership with Swim England, the Department for Education and Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport have today (Thursday 25 October) announced extra help for schools to make sure every child knows how to swim and be safe in and around water by the end of primary school, supported by the £320 million PE and Sport Premium.

To coincide with the announcement, Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi and Sports Minister Tracey Crouch have also backed a pledge by Swim England – signed by the likes of British Olympic swimmer Steve Parry – calling on teachers and parents to do all they can to ensure children are taught swimming and water safety at primary school.

The extra support will help deliver the government’s sport strategy ‘Sporting Future’, which committed to ensuring that every child leaves primary school able to swim. It includes:

• using the PE and Sport Premium for extra lessons for children who have not yet met the national curriculum expectation after core swimming lessons, and extra training for teachers on water safety and swimming techniques through courses provided by Swim England;
• extra guidance, provided by Swim England, will be available to help schools deliver safe, fun and effective swimming lessons; and
• a drive to boost partnerships with independent schools to offer the use of facilities, coaching and other forms of support to schools in their area.

Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi said:

Swimming is great fun and helps children to stay fit and healthy. But swimming at school also teaches children vital skills on how to stay safe in and around water.

We want every child to be a confident swimmer by the time they leave primary school. By funding extra lessons for the pupils that need it most, providing extra training for our teachers and working with our independent schools to offer access to their pools and expertise, we can help children stay safe and learn to love swimming.

Tracey Crouch, Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said:

Swimming is a vital life skill that is proven to boost both physical and mental wellbeing.

We are committed to ensuring that every child who leaves primary school is able to swim. This plan will support schools and the sport sector to get more children swimming confidently and learn water safety.

The measures announced today follow a government-backed review of swimming and water safety in primary schools, which found that swimming standards vary in schools, despite being compulsory on the national curriculum. Following its recommendations, the government is working with Swim England to provide extra guidance to help schools deliver safe, fun and effective swimming lessons.

Steve Parry, Olympic bronze medallist and Chair of the Swimming and Water Safety Review Group, said:

Since my competitive days I’ve been championing the need for all children to be taught swimming and water safety at primary school. Along with Swim England and the Swim Group, we have been working to raise awareness of the issues and provide support for all those involved in the delivery of curriculum swimming and water safety.

Ensuring our children are able to enjoy the water safely is everyone’s responsibility. That is why it’s great to hear the government is raising awareness of the issue and pledging its support. We want everyone – schools, parents, lesson providers, decision makers – to do likewise and pledge to support schools to achieve our joint vision of every child having a full knowledge about water safety and learning how to swim by the time they leave primary school.

Julie Robinson, Independent Schools Council general secretary, said:

We completely agree that all primary age pupils should learn to swim – it is a basic life skill. Many independent schools with swimming pools are already working in partnership with state schools and the wider community to ensure others have the opportunity to benefit.

There is much goodwill from schools fortunate to have facilities that may be in short supply locally, and the Schools Together website features plenty of examples of partnership working.

Raising awareness of partnerships and encouraging more of this good work helps state schools and independent schools develop mutually beneficial programmes, which provide education and development opportunities to all pupils and staff involved.

Today’s announcement is part of a drive to tackle childhood obesity and help children to lead healthy, active lives, with more than £1 billion invested in schools through the PE and Sport Premium to improve PE and sport since 2013.

It comes after the Education Secretary announced a cross-government school sport and activity action plan that will consider ways to ensure all children have access to quality, protected PE and sport sessions during the school week and opportunities to be physically active throughout the school day. The action plan will be launched in spring 2019.

You need to Login or Register to bookmark/favorite this content.