No 423
Raising Attainment in Schools in
Former Coalfield Areas
Professor Alma Harris, Daniel Muijs and Christopher Chapman
University of Warwick
Professor Louise Stoll and Jen Russ
University of Bath
The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education and Skills.
© University of Warwick 2003. Applications for reproduction should be made in writing for the attention of the author at the University of Warwick.
ISBN 1 84185 990 7
May 2003
Acknowledgement
The research team would like to acknowledge and thank the headteachers, teachers and pupils who participated in this study. The team would also like to thank the Coalfield Communities Campaign for its help and advice, particularly in the early stages of the project.
Table of Contents Page No
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: KEY FINDINGS 1 - 3
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 Introduction 4
1.2 Research Design 5 - 6
1.3 Literature Review Summary 6 - 12
1.4 The Sample 11 - 12
CHAPTER TWO
2.1 Introduction: Main findings 13
2.2 External Conditions 13 - 15
2.3 Internal Conditions 16 - 23
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 Introduction: Strategies for Raising Attainment 24
3.1.1 Improving Literacy and Numeracy 24 - 26
3.1.2 Focusing on Teaching and learning 26 - 27
3.1.3 Using data, tracking and target setting 27 - 29
3.1.4 Professional Development 29 - 30 CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Building Capacity: Opportunities And Challenges 31 - 32
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Further Questions 33
Appendix A
School Improvement in the Former Coalfields Areas – 34 - 65
Literature Review
Appendix B
Vignette of School 6 66 - 75
Appendix C
Vignette of School 2 76 - 85
Appendix D
Vignette of School 7 86 - 92
Appendix E
Secondary School Performance and Contextual Data 93
References 94
94
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: KEY FINDINGS
· The dominant factors affecting school performance in the former coalfield areas are those associated with extreme social disadvantage. These negative external factors are compounded in certain coalfield areas and present a significant challenge to schools in raising levels of achievement.
· In order to raise achievement and to sustain levels of achievement in the former coalfield areas patterns of socio-economic disadvantage have to be recognised and, where possible, addressed. The difficulties facing the schools are not independent from the problems facing the wider community.
· Other external challenges facing schools in the former coalfield areas (SFCA) include teacher shortages because of local recruitment and retention problems, external pressures from OFSTED and Government initiatives, plus, in some schools, inadequate levels of resource. These challenges all impact negatively on schools’ ability to raise attainment.
· Despite these external challenges, within the former coalfield areas the existence of other types of external conditions can greatly enhance a schools’ ability to raise achievement. These include: an increase in employment opportunities, additional resources and support through external interventions or projects such as EAZs, changes in the social mix of the pupil population and having a specialist status designated to the school.
· A number of internal conditions also make raising attainment levels in schools in the former coalfield areas more possible. These conditions are:
- purposeful and distributed leadership i.e. sharing leadership responsibilities throughout the school;
- a climate of high expectations i.e. securing high expectations of both student and teacher learning; and
- positive relationships within the internal and external community i.e. building good relationships within the school, with parents and the local community.
· The research found that the quality of leadership is a significant factor in raising attainment in the former coalfield areas. The head’s vision, commitment and belief in the school’s potential to achieve is a major contributory factor in securing raised attainment. However, the prevailing form of leadership in the schools appears to be distributed rather than top-down, as heads recognise the importance of maximising the potential of all staff to generate and sustain raised levels of attainment.
· A considerable emphasis is placed upon raising the expectations of staff and pupils concerning potential attainment. Every opportunity is seized upon by the heads to remind pupils and staff that high achievement is a shared expectation.
· The focus on relationship building within the school and with the local community is of paramount importance. Every effort is made to involve parents in the life and work of the school.
· The research found that in order to raise attainment, schools are relentless in their pursuit of improving the quality of teaching and learning. In particular the emphasis placed upon securing high levels of literacy and numeracy, in both the primary and secondary schools, is a major contributory factor to raised attainment. In addition, priority is given to professional development opportunities that focus directly upon teaching and learning.
· There are a number of strategies for raising attainment in SFCA that are currently being used successfully and that are transferable to other schools. These all focus directly on improving the quality of teaching and learning. In summary, the strategies are:
- an emphasis on raising literacy and numeracy levels;
- the establishment of special pupil groupings (i.e. express groups);
- a commitment to data gathering and target setting;
- the use of learning mentors;
- securing forms of professional support and development that impact directly upon classroom practice.
· The overarching message from this research about raising attainment in SFCA is one of schools building their own organisational capacity through empowering, involving and developing teachers to deliver high quality teaching and through providing systems of learning support, guidance and feedback to ensure that the potential of each pupil is maximised and achieved.
CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The educational reform agenda in many countries reflects a renewed interest in improving schools in difficult or challenging circumstances. However as Gray (2001: 33) concedes, ‘we don’t really know how much more difficult it is for schools serving disadvantaged communities to improve because much of the improvement research has ignored this dimension - that it is more difficult, however, seems unquestionable.’ The reason for this lack of attention resides predominantly in the inherent sensitivity and the complexity of the terrain. Schools that face multiple forms of disadvantage are least likely to be open to critical scrutiny or exposure because they are most often the schools where academic performance is below average.
Schools located in the former coalfield areas share many of the indicators of disadvantage associated with schools in challenging circumstances. As a result of the loss of the major source of employment, many of the coalfield areas suffer a myriad of socio-economic problems, such as high levels of unemployment, physical and mental health issues, migration of the best qualified young people and, not least, low educational achievement. To compound this, schools in these areas often face other pressures such as challenging pupil behaviour, high levels of staff turnover and a poor physical environment. For these reasons schools in areas such as the former coalfields potentially have to work harder to improve and stay effective. Research indicates that they also find it harder to improve and are more likely to suffer steep declines in pupil achievement levels if a successful equilibrium is disturbed for example, when succession problems occur following retirement of the head (Reynolds et al, 2001).
Many schools in the former coalfield areas experience low community expectations and a mistrust of the educational process by parents. The perpetuation of low expectations of what can be achieved through the formal process of schooling is a common feature of many schools in these areas. In addition, research has shown that there appear to be a number of common external compounding factors that make the extent of the challenge facing these schools much worse. For example, the geographical isolation of rural schools, selective local educational systems, weak support from some LEAs, low levels of formal qualifications in local adult population and poor employment opportunities make the prospect of long term sustained improvement desirable rather than achievable. This is not to suggest that schools in the former coalfield areas cannot and do not improve but simply to acknowledge that the task facing them is significantly harder and potentially more daunting than schools in more favourable socio-economic circumstances.
While it cannot be denied that there is a strong negative correlation between most measures of social disadvantage and school achievement, this is not to suggest that it is impossible to ‘buck this trend’. Some schools facing difficult and challenging circumstances are able to add significant value to levels of student achievement and learning (Maden and Hillman, 1996). There is evidence to show that these schools can and do improve levels of student performance and achievement. However, in order to achieve and sustain improvement such schools must exceed what might be termed as ‘normal efforts’ (Maden, 2001). Recent research has shown that teachers in schools facing challenging circumstances have to work much harder and be more committed than their peers in more favourable socio-economic circumstances. In addition, ‘they have to maintain that effort in order to sustain improvement as success can be short-lived and fragile in difficult or challenging circumstances’ (Whitty, 2002: 109).
This research project aimed to look at the evidence concerning schools that are raising attainment and improving over time in the former coalfield areas. The study focused on eight schools (six secondary and two primary schools) that have a track record of improving pupil attainment and performance over time. An outline of the research design is provided in the next section.
1.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
The schools that participated in this study are all schools located in the former coalfield areas. All of these schools serve communities that contain pockets or wide-spread socio-economic deprivation and in many cases are in receipt of additional resources because of the particular challenges they face. In all cases they have raised attainment and are considered by OFSTED to be on an upward improvement trajectory.
The aim of this small-scale research project was to contribute to the knowledge base concerning school improvement in schools in the former coalfield areas (SFCA) but with a particular emphasis upon those strategies adopted by the schools that led to raised pupil attainment.
The research design comprised of:
· A review of the literature concerning improving schools facing challenging circumstances including the former coalfield areas. This was undertaken in order to generate propositions and hypotheses for testing at the data collection and analysis stage.
· In depth case study data collection in eight schools in the former coalfield areas. Contextual, performance and inspection data were collected.
· Semi-structured interviews with headteachers, subject leaders, classroom teachers and groups of pupils were conducted at each school.
The study consisted of three phases. Phase one involved the literature review and generation of research questions and propositions. Phase two involved the data collection, within-case analysis and initial reporting. Phase three incorporated revisiting school sites to explore initial findings in greater depth, between-case analysis and the identification of common improvement strategies.
1.3 THE LITERATURE REVIEW: SUMMARY
In the literature review we attempted to interrogate the international research evidence relating to improving schools in former coalfield areas, in other disadvantaged areas, and in less disadvantaged contexts. The latter set of evidence was necessitated by a lack of studies focusing on schools in the former coalfield areas and by a limited research base on improving schools in disadvantaged areas. A wide-ranging search was employed encompassing electronic databases such as ERIC, and a trawl of key journals such as School Effectiveness and School Improvement (for further detail see full literature review - Appendix A). Material was selected only if there was a clear focus on improving schools in disadvantaged area and clear evidence for claims made.
The main elements that have been found to lead to improvement and effectiveness in schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas are listed below. The order is based on the strength of the research evidence for each component.
1.3.1. A focus on teaching and learning
A relentless focus on teaching and learning is a key characteristic of effective and improving schools in disadvantaged areas. Research has found that effective schools focus on academic achievement and instructional practice and where school improvement is successful, either introducing new teaching methods or improving the effectiveness of existing teaching methods has been a key component (Hopkins, 2001; Reynolds et al., 2001; Connell, 1996; Teddlie & Stringfield, 1993; Lein, Johnson, & Ragland, 1996; Joyce et al., 1999).
The research evidence indicates that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit from large amounts of positive reinforcement from the teacher and need to receive the curriculum in smaller packages followed by rapid feedback. They generally need more direct instruction, and are more responsive to external rewards (Brophy, 1992; Teddlie & Stringfield, 1993). It is also important for this group of pupils to connect the curriculum to real life experience and to stress practical application (Guthrie, Guthrie, Van Heusden, & Burns, 1989; Henchey, 2001; Hopkins & Reynolds, 2002; Montgomery et al., 1993). Valuing pupils and making them feel part of the school ‘family’ are also characteristics of effective and improving schools along with an emphasis upon pupil involvement (Maden & Hillman, 1993; Connell, 1996; Lein et al., 1996).
1.3.2. Involving parents
Creating positive relationships with parents and the local community, and involving them in their children’s education and the running of the school is one of the strongest levers to school improvement (Joyce et al., 1999; Seeley et al., 1990; Maden & Hillman, 1993; Henchey, 2001; Coleman, 1998). Achieving this is often difficult in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. Parents have often experienced their own time in school negatively, and see little benefit in education as a way to improve their life chances. Becoming a community school, with interesting adult education initiatives can help build bridges to the community, as can in some cases family education programmes and integrated school and social services (Leithwood & Steinbach, 2002; Montgomery et al., 1993; Mortimore, 1991). Some schools have successfully improved parental involvement by providing them with incentives to come to school, such as providing them with transport or childcare (Guthrie et al., 1989; Leithwood & Steinbach, 2002). It is also important to note that the research evidence indicates the importance of involving parents in their children’s education as early as possible because they are more likely to stay involved over time (Maden & Hillman, 1993).