Transcript WHITE WORKING CLASS ACHIEVEMENT

WHITE WORKING CLASS
ACHIEVEMENT
Dean Jackson,
Assistant Director, Education
Hartlepool Borough Council
The Problem…
1.4 million: the number of children aged 4-15 eligible
for free school meals (FSM) in this country
22 months: the age at which the attainment gap
between children from rich and poor backgrounds is
detectable
75,000: the approximate number of pupils who do not
reach Level 4 in English aged 11 every year
63%: the proportion of FSM children who did not
achieve 5 good GCSEs, including English & Maths last
year
Underachievement of White Working Class Pupils:
Media and Policy Concerns
• White British pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds perform
worse than disadvantaged pupils from any other ethnic group,
and the attainment gap is much bigger’ (DfE evidence to Education Select
Committee, December 2013)
• ‘White Children from low income backgrounds are being left
behind. They have the lowest attainment compared with poor
children from any other ethnic group’ (Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s
Chief Inspector Annual Report, 11 December 2013)
• MPS examine underachievement in education of White Working
Class Children (BBC Parliament, Dec 2013)
• MPs on the education select committee delivered the verdict that
they are ‘consistently the lowest performing group in the country’
(BBC 18 June 2014)
• ‘The problem of poor, White British under-attainment is real and
the gap between those children and their better-off classmates
starts in their earliest school years and widens as they get older,"
(Graham Stuart, chair of the committee, Parliament 18 June 2014).
Is it a School Improvement Issue?
FSM GAP BY OFSTED RATING
‘the FSM gap does not result from a small number of failing schools’ (SELECT CTTE.)
National GCSE 5+A*‐C including English and
Maths 2013
White working class refers to pupils from a White British background who are eligible for free school meals
Hartlepool has a relatively high proportion
of FSM pupils in the North East
primary schools in 2013
secondary schools in 2013
Hartlepool: The performance of Hartlepool’s FSM pupils at Key Stage
2 is broadly average. Non-FSM performance is the best in the region
The proportion of pupils securing L4+ in
reading, writing and mathematics in 2013:
FSM
non-FSM
The FSM gap for pupils at KS2 is very wide in Hartlepool
Difference between the proportion of FSM and
non-FSM pupils securing L4+ in reading,
writing and mathematics in 2013:
Hartlepool schools show broadly average performance for both FSM
and non-FSM pupils at Key Stage 4
The proportion of pupils securing 5A*CEM in 2013:
FSM
non-FSM
KS2-KS4 progress in Hartlepool secondary schools is amongst the
lowest in the region in both English and mathematics
KS2-4: expected progress in English in
2013
KS2-4: expected progress in
mathematics in 2013
White Working Class Achievement:
Barriers to Learning
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Lack of aspiration among WWC families
Lack of family engagement with a child’s schooling
Marginalisation and a perceived loss of culture
Effects of poverty on WWC children’s achievement
Low literacy levels and language deprivation
Lack of targeted support
Curriculum barriers
Older WWC boys particularly prone to demotivation
leading to poor secondary progress
• Issues ‘beyond the school gate’
Key Strategies Used to Raise the Achievement of
WWC Pupils (1)
‘There is no silver bullet but the strategies that are most successful
for one group tend to be effective for others.’ (OFSTED)
• Strong and visionary leadership with high
expectations of pupils and all staff sharing
responsibility for the pupils’ performance
• A relevant, experiential curriculum
• Targeted support – ‘the right kids have the right
intervention at the right time from the right
person’. (e.g. EEF – Switch-On Reading)
• Use of data to track and raise achievement /
tracking individual pupils and using the
information to plan suitable interventions
Key Strategies Used to Raise the Achievement of
WWC Pupils (2)
• The work of Learning Mentors
• Strategies that successfully engage parents
• Working with agencies to support families that
are experiencing problems
• Early and ongoing focus on improving children’s
language, literacy and communication skills
• Using transition to raise aspirations
• Improving the attendance and behaviour of WWC
pupils
DISCUSSION
What are the three key points / issues
that you would want the Commission
to be aware of / to discuss / to
consider further to raise the
achievement of white working class
pupils in Hartlepool?