tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/uk-school-system-7619/articlesUK school system – The Conversation2016-05-09T05:34:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/589132016-05-09T05:34:42Z2016-05-09T05:34:42ZStressed out: the psychological effects of tests on primary school children<p>Some parents are so angry with the testing regime facing their children that they have come together in an attempt to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/01/parents-to-keep-children-out-of-school-in-key-stage-exam-boycott">boycott primary school exams</a>. Preparation by teachers for these standardised achievement tests (SATs) in England have involved a narrowing of the curriculum, including a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-grammar-police-belong-in-the-18th-century-lets-not-inflict-their-rules-on-todays-11-year-olds-57606">specific focus</a> on spelling, punctuation and grammar.</p>
<p>Parents believe that their children should be stimulated instead by more enriching activities and projects. There is also a worry that the tests may cause undue stress and pressure on their young children to perform well. These beliefs are widespread: more than 49,000 parents have signed <a href="https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/parents-support-sats-boycott-kids-strike-3rd-may">a petition</a> to abolish SATs altogether.</p>
<h2>An awareness of pressure</h2>
<p>Teachers are under considerable pressure for pupils to perform well on SATs. Performance-related pay and position in school league tables depend on test results. Parents believe that exam results will have a bearing on their young child’s future and understandably want them to do well.</p>
<p>But the children are also <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02643944.2012.688063">well-aware</a> that their performance on the SATs is important to their teachers and parents. Teachers may unwittingly transmit the stress they are under to their pupils. Children can also <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632750100507660">pick up</a> on their parents’ attitudes and associated behaviour and feel <a href="https://www.teachers.org.uk/files/exam-factories.pdf">under pressure</a> to make them proud. </p>
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<span class="caption">Too much, too young?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shuravaya/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
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<p>This pressure from parents is perhaps the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02643944.2012.688063">largest source of stress for children</a> aged ten to 11 who are working towards their Key Stage 2 exams. One Year 6 pupil my colleagues and I interviewed described the source of the pressure he felt:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You want to get them [SATS questions] right because other people want you to get them right and, like, you don’t want to disappoint people. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Test anxiety</h2>
<p>Stress and pressure about forthcoming exams can result in what education researchers have termed “test anxiety”. This can present itself via <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10615800412331292606">a number of symptoms</a>.</p>
<p>Children can suffer from negative thoughts such as: “If I don’t pass this test, I will never get a good job”. They can also suffer physiological symptoms such as tight muscles or trembling and distracting behaviours such as playing with a pencil. The effects of anxiety during a test can influence the child’s ability to process and understand test questions and perform at their best.</p>
<p>It is well established that pupils with high levels of test anxiety <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410020019867">perform more poorly</a> in their exams. The overall prevalence of test anxiety in primary school children is <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01443410020019867">on the increase</a> and it is fairly common for children at the end of primary school. Year 6 pupils report experiencing anxiety either <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.09.010">some or most of the time</a> when asked two weeks prior to their exams. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02643944.2012.688063">there are differences</a> in how SATs are viewed by different children. Some perceive them to be stressful, while others view them as a challenge. As well as pressure from parents, pupils in Year 6 have cited the demands of the testing situation as a cause of stress. This includes completing exams under timed conditions and having no contact with classmates or teachers. There are also concerns about exam results being used to influence which set a child will be put in at secondary school. Another Year 6 pupil my colleagues and I interviewed said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You look at your booklet and you’ve got like loads of questions left and you’re like, ‘I can’t do this’. You just want to just sit there and go ‘I can’t do this’ and walk off.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The extent to which children aged six to seven, working towards Key Stage 1 exams, feel test-anxious, is unclear. Very little research has been conducted exclusively with them. Some younger children, however, have been found to display <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632750300507010">clear signs of anxiety or stress</a> during the period leading up to the SATs. </p>
<h2>Reducing the pressure</h2>
<p>How <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0829573508316589">resilient a child is</a> can reduce the negative effects of test anxiety on performance. Specifically, children who believe they can succeed, trust and seek comfort from others easily and who are not overly sensitive, can be <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.09.010">better at combatting the problems associated with test anxiety</a>. Parents may therefore help their children by attempting to nurture and boost their resilience.</p>
<p>Keeping SATs <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632750100507660">“low-key”</a> is crucial to minimising anxiety and stress among children. Parents should reassure their children that results are not critical and that the most important thing is that they try their best. In the classroom, teachers should direct time and effort towards familiarising children to the format and procedures involved in standardised testing. For instance, practising with past test papers while children sit at individual desks, could help.</p>
<p>Both parents and teachers could also keep a conscious check of how they may subconsciously <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632750100507660">transmit feelings of stress or tension</a> to young children. Pupils who display signs of test anxiety require more space and understanding, both at school and home – this includes increased tolerance during the testing period.</p>
<p>These strategies may go some way to reducing the pressure of tests on young children. It is essential that schools and teachers take the time to <a href="https://www.teachers.org.uk/files/exam-factories.pdf">focus on the social, emotional and mental health and development of children</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58913/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Nicholson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Seven and 11-year-olds feel the pressure from their parents and teachers.Laura Nicholson, Researcher, Faculty of Education and Associate Tutor, Department of Psychology, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/584622016-04-29T09:30:03Z2016-04-29T09:30:03ZForcing all schools to turn into academies is not education’s biggest problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/120606/original/image-20160428-28040-1e8pl0e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Out of the classroom and onto the streets. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/theweeklybull/26167936335/sizes/l">The Weekly Bull/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nicky Morgan faced a grilling from MPs on the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/nicky-morgan-education-white-paper-15-16/">House of Commons Education Select Committee</a> on April 27 to answer questions – some positive and intended to be helpful and some hostile – about the government’s recent education <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdf">white paper</a>. The secretary of state for education had faced an earlier <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/tory-backbenchers-ask-nicky-morgan-look-again-academisation-plans">bruising Commons encounter</a> with backbenchers, and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35883922">teacher demonstrations</a> against compulsory academisation. </p>
<p>The greatest opposition to the white paper is to its proposal for the compulsory conversion of all schools in England to academy status by 2022. Some, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-would-a-u-turn-on-academies-do-to-conservative-education-policy-58380">members of the Conservative party</a>, are asking for a reversal of the compulsory element of the programme. Others, such as those on the demonstration, just want it reversed.</p>
<p>But it is worth considering just how significant compulsory conversion is and whether it is the most important matter facing English schools.</p>
<h2>No one model</h2>
<p>I have <a href="http://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/schools-and-schooling/equity-trust-and-the-self-improving-schools-system/">argued elsewhere</a> that six years after the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/32/contents">2010 Academies Act</a> there is no longer one set of arrangements – successful or otherwise – that constitutes “the academies model”. Despite this, Morgan continued to refer to such a model in front of the select committee – and much sterile discussion followed. </p>
<p>According to Morgan, there are already 973 Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), non-profit organisations which run groups of academies. The vast majority have fewer than ten schools, but this can vary enormously.</p>
<p>Different MATs contain different combinations of primary and secondary schools, and run schools with a different geographical spread. The trusts also vary in the amount of autonomy they give to schools. And that’s leaving aside the free-standing academies, some of which the white paper said would remain outside a trust for now. </p>
<p>Some trusts, including ones where I have conducted interviews, are centrally managed. This means there is one governing board in charge of all the trust’s schools, the performance of principals at each school is managed centrally by an executive team, and staff are moved between schools, often to their benefit. </p>
<p>Other MATs pride themselves on retaining the individuality of their schools. Each of the schools in these trusts retains its local governing body and the central board just oversees strategy and the performance of the central team where there is one. </p>
<p>Some academies I have visited, including convertor academies (those good or outstanding schools choosing to convert from 2010 onwards) in loose local arrangements, have not changed at all since conversion. They have the same governors, name and continuing commitment to the communities they serve. The people who I have encountered leading and teaching in these schools have exactly the same passions and commitment to children as those in schools still maintained and run by local authorities. </p>
<h2>Democratic deficit</h2>
<p>There are good reasons to oppose academy status, such as the lack of local democratic oversight that comes with the system change. Some chains are remote, with their offices further away than the local council HQ, making local input from parents and the community potentially harder – though not impossible. And academisation only “works” if it enables good leadership with a focus on what is important – good teaching leading to good outcomes for children.</p>
<p>But in reality, this lack of any real oversight is also the case now for maintained schools. The old local authority system (never really one of “supervision”) is passing away, through a combination of budget cuts, strategic choice by local authorities and now central direction. If schools need support, they look to other schools in their networks, local MATs or more widely still. </p>
<p>So if the critics of the white paper have their way and the government decides not to force all schools to become academies, schools that remain maintained and run by a local authority would face an uncertain future. They will be isolated with diminishing support and disappearing local arrangements. </p>
<p>Things are moving very rapidly now. Many schools – who had waited to see the result of the election last year – resumed discussions about becoming academies and forming MATs before the end of the 2015 summer term. </p>
<h2>The bigger question: reducing inequality</h2>
<p>But MPs on the select committee also asked a really significant question of Morgan: how can academy conversion help schools that are already good or outstanding? The answer has to be the same: only in what it enables them to do. And that includes addressing a much more fundamental problem: how low attainment remains inextricably linked <a href="https://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/education-policy/research-and-policy-in-education/">“to life chances in England”</a> and remains a principal mechanism for the transmission of poverty between <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/funding-for-disadvantaged-pupils/">generations</a>.</p>
<p>There have been successes in reducing attainment gaps, but the era of nationally imposed education strategies and solutions is also slowly being superseded by moves towards a self-improving schools system that holds promise for <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03054985.2014.979014">reducing such inequity</a>. The deeper reflection required on what happens in classrooms – and how learning is sometimes organised in ways that limit children’s potential – depends on much more routine relations of mutual trust between schools, heads and teachers. And the government and parents must trust them more, too – reducing external burdens that get in the way of their passions and commitment. </p>
<p>This includes Ofsted – our education should rely less on data from the schools inspectorate. There have already been some timely reductions in inspection requirements for good schools and they have earned our trust. More are to come. The white paper proposed, for example, that schools with new heads or those implementing improvement plans will face no inspections for three years. </p>
<p>All of this goes some of the way towards achieving what the head of a MAT said to me recently: that we should be “avoiding quick fixes”. Instead, how all schools – including good and outstanding ones – address inequity must be our key focus.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58462/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Riddell has received funding from the British Academy.</span></em></p>Dealing with inequality should be the main priority.Richard Riddell, Senior lecturer, Education Studies, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/563892016-03-24T16:23:51Z2016-03-24T16:23:51ZForced academisation by proxy: when schools have little choice but to convert<p>All schools in England that remain under local authority control are now living with the threat of being <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/mar/15/every-english-school-to-become-an-academy-ministers-to-announce">forced to become academies</a>. As the mother of a child who attends a school <a href="http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/parrs-wood-high-school-set-10589452">that chose to become an academy</a>, rather than have its hand forced, it is painfully ironic to watch this happen. Considering the government’s rhetoric on educational choice, freedom and autonomy that supposedly accompanies its academies agenda, parents will soon have little option but to send their child to an academy. </p>
<p>Whether the forced academisation of all England’s schools will actually happen or not remains to be seen. Over 130,000 people <a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124747">have so far signed a petition</a> calling on the government to rethink the plans announced in the recent budget, with teachers set to <a href="http://schoolsweek.co.uk/teachers-prepare-to-march-against-all-out-academisation-as-petitions-pass-100000/">march in protest</a> against the issue. </p>
<p>Regardless of what legal powers are introduced to make the plans a reality, the existence of the threat of forced academisation legislation is likely to colour all future decision-making of schools’ governing bodies. Under the cloud of such a threat the logical question for schools is: do we academise now on our own terms or wait to be forced under unknown circumstances and conditions? </p>
<h2>Act now, or be forced to</h2>
<p>I recently experienced this exact form of constrained decision-making with regards to proposals to convert my child’s school – Parrs Wood High School, Manchester – to an academy. In our case, the strongest argument in favour of academy conversion was that of the fear of being forced to do so. </p>
<p>The consultation period took place during the progression period of the recent <a href="http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/educationandadoption.html">Education and Adoption bill</a>, which introduced new measures for the government to forcibly academise any school that is deemed to be “coasting”. The lack of clarity about what this term means, coupled with the uncertainty about the direction of educational policy regarding schools’ governance, is likely to fuel rumours and instil fear. This was arguably the case in my child’s school. </p>
<p>The following excerpt from personal correspondence with the governing body at my child’s school in December 2015 exposes the underlying principle of fear driving the decision-making process, when all other arguments in favour of conversion were exposed as weak or lacking foundation. The governors stated: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>This government has made it clear that they are going to take all schools out of LA control in the life of this parliament. The greatest danger to schools is that they are forced to academise with a DfE [Department for Education] approved chain. This is currently what happens after an Ofsted report which defines the school as requiring improvement or inadequate. </p>
<p>In the Education and Adoption bill due to be law in January a school can be forced to become part of an academy chain if it is seen as coasting. We don’t know what that is, but it is clear a dip in results or even a lack of improvement could fit this definition. So the choice for a governing body is to wait to be academised or to academise on its own terms.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What is the agenda?</h2>
<p>There is still <a href="http://dro.dur.ac.uk/12119/1/12119.pdf?DDD29+ded4ss+dul4eg">no conclusive evidence</a> to support claims that academies raise standards and any success academies may have had might be explained by increased investment in schools. Add to this uncertainty <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35832743">highlighted by Labour</a> about how much turning all schools into academies will cost, and it is difficult to produce an argument of substance in favour of such aggressive change.</p>
<p>Arguments in favour of academisation are questionable and are <a href="http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/IMPB02/IMPB02.pdf">increasingly undermined by evidence-based research</a>, yet the academies agenda retains a strong foothold in educational policy. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) <a href="https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/99950/99950.pdf">recently aruged</a> for the need to articulate a clear vision of the aims of academy policy and whether it benefits pupils.</p>
<h2>Lacklustre opposition</h2>
<p>The strongest opposition to academisation has so far come from grass roots campaigns. Since the Conservative-led coalition stepped up the transformation of schools into academies, official lines of opposition have been delivered from the National Union of Teachers and the <a href="http://www2.labour.org.uk/tory-led-government-has-distorted-labours-academies-scheme">Labour Party</a>, but without any robust campaigning.</p>
<p>Disappointingly, Labour’s shadow education minister, Lucy Powell, has been somewhat lacklustre in her responses to academisation. In the case of my child’s school in Manchester (which she coincidentally attended herself as a pupil), her response was to refuse to offer her opinion on whether the school should convert or not. She adopted the party line of the school governors – that it is better to take control of academisation than to be forced into it. She <a href="http://www.lucypowell.org.uk/lucy_s_statement_on_parrs_wood_s_plans_to_become_an_academy">later stated</a> that plans to remove the consultation process for schools that the government deem coasting was a problematic development that needed to be avoided. </p>
<p>Yet the consultation process for Parrs Wood High School highlights the redundancy of such a process when a governing body is prepared to make decisions regardless of the opinions of those with an interest in the future of the school. A freedom of information request in relation to the consultation process revealed that 81% of staff, 75% of parents and 71% of outside agencies said no to academisation, still the decision to convert was taken. This gives a whole new meaning to the notion of forced academisation.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"691369326725730304"}"></div></p>
<p>Surely there is a better way. The debate on academisation needs to focus on the question of what the benefits are. Academisation leads to <a href="https://theconversation.com/conflicts-of-interest-in-academy-schools-are-symptoms-of-a-wider-malaise-31867">increased connection</a> between state education and <a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/researchingsociology/2016/03/23/playing-fields-and-political-football-the-case-of-forced-academisation/">private sector businesses</a>. Therefore the fear that academisation is another step towards the privatisation of the education system is something that can no longer be ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicola Ingram is affiliated with the Labour Party and the Paws Off Parrs Wood campaign. </span></em></p>An academic, and parent at a Manchester school that has chosen to become an academy, says surely there is a better way.Nicola Ingram, Lecturer in Education and Social Justice, Lancaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/561122016-03-21T13:54:55Z2016-03-21T13:54:55ZGoverning academies regionally may be the way to iron out inequalities in schools<p>Parents and teachers are still coming to terms with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-raft-of-education-reforms-mean-for-englands-schools-56383">series of structural reforms to education</a>, the most radical of which – as announced by George Osborne in his budget speech – will be to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508193/HMT_Budget_2016_Web_Accessible.pdf">transform all UK secondary schools to academies</a> by 2022. </p>
<p>As the dust settles, I think that the system that eventually emerges might provide a more consistent context for addressing the inherent inequalities in English children’s attainment than the dying <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-obituary-farewell-to-your-local-education-authority-56387">local authority-supervised system</a> system it replaces.</p>
<p>Osborne’s announcement was swiftly followed by the first government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508550/Educational_excellence_everywhere__print_ready_.pdf">white paper</a> on education for six years: Educational Excellence Everywhere. Among other things, it sets out the organisational arrangements for English schools the government expects to be complete by the end of this parliament. </p>
<p>All this had been precipitated a few weeks earlier by a <a href="https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula">consultation document</a> on a new national schools funding formula in which the government said: “we expect local authorities to step back from running school improvement (for any schools) from the end of the 2016/17 academic year”. </p>
<p>These are big changes, but they are not unexpected. In <a href="http://www.ucl-ioe-press.com/books/schools-and-schooling/equity-trust-and-the-self-improving-schools-system/">a new book</a>, I have argued they can easily be traced back to the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmselect/cmeduski/633/633.pdf">third education white paper</a> of the Labour government in 2006 – and arguably even further back to a 1995 Conservative letter to local education authorities. </p>
<h2>The push for self-improvement</h2>
<p>These reforms are not merely a creation of the Conservative (or coalition) governments. For more than ten years, “system leaders” – accredited national, local and specialist leaders of education drawn from high-performing schools – have been steadily replacing staff formerly employed by local authorities to provide support to schools. These schools are either those identified as being in difficulty by failing to meet an ever-widening net of expectations, or those that just want to improve their offer to some or all of their children, even if already considered “good” or “better” by the schools inspectorate Ofsted.</p>
<p>As a consequence, many headteachers I interviewed no longer find local authority (LA) staff who understand their work and can be helpful to them – <a href="https://theconversation.com/failing-academy-chains-highlight-hole-at-heart-of-education-policy-23954">local authorities have been hollowed out</a>. So although most headteachers bear no antagonism to their LA, many have just moved on mentally: they do not look to the local authority for anything now. A fundamental shift in attitudes has taken place.</p>
<p>Rapidly increasing academisation of schools since 2010 – now to be completed under this government – accelerated this shift. So did the stringent budget cuts <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cuts-to-local-councils-will-affect-you-51622">imposed on local authorities</a> from 2010, that are set to continue. But I also found a dramatic and irreversible decline in regard for local democracy in nearly everyone interviewed, whatever their professional role or background. </p>
<p>LAs have not helped themselves: moves to cabinet and now mayoral government have reduced the great public deliberative processes that were a strength of the English system for 100 years. Some council “vision” documents still show elaborate flow diagrams whereby schools implement council priorities. Even the Local Government Association has <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/publications/-/journal_content/56/10180/4047947/PUBLICATION">openly spoken</a> of the crisis in democracy. </p>
<p>The rapid pace of academisation is not the whole story. The system emerging from the now dying local authority one is being supervised by eight <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/schools-commissioners-group/about/our-governance">Regional Schools Commissioners</a> (RSCs), appointed in 2014. </p>
<p>I interviewed two of them before they took up their posts. They were hugely impressive: measured, focused practically on how schools realistically improve, and driven by a moral commitment, particularly to disadvantaged students. They are supported by <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmeduc/401/40108.htm">Headteacher Advisory Boards</a> – part-elected and part-appointed – all of whom have time built into their working weeks to support the commissioners. </p>
<p>Together, their role has been to intervene into academies and free schools in difficulty and help develop system leaders. This is now being extended to all schools, including those currently maintained by local authorities, and they will oversee the transition to a fully academised system. Currently there are eight RSCs responsible to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/david-carter">National Schools Commissioner</a> (David Carter), though the government has not ruled out there being more in the future.</p>
<h2>Signs of progress</h2>
<p>But there is a wider story of developing school partnerships I came across in my research. In some places – often originally provided with start-up funding by their local authorities – thriving school partnerships are engaging in rich development activities, using system leaders. </p>
<p>One partnership in the West Midlands, for example, provides rotating half termly “learning walks” whereby senior staff can hear about a particular innovation in a school and then spend time in classrooms seeing it in action. A teaching school alliance elsewhere, which I came across in my research, has amalgamated its professional development programme with one formerly provided by the local authority and now runs it from a local university. And some of these partnerships are already becoming the first port of call for development queries from their schools. </p>
<p>But this is uneven. In some parts of the country, the largest number of academies <a href="http://shura.shu.ac.uk/9318/1/Simkins_-_school_restructuring_in_England_-_final.pdf">are free-standing</a> – neither being in chains nor having any established partnerships of their own – leading to uncertainty. And the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-arent-all-academy-chains-boosting-results-for-their-poorest-students-45132">variable quality</a> of academy chains has been well-documented. Secondary schools generally do not yet have one consistent set of partnership relationships through which they can focus all their improvement work – an idea <a href="http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/15804/1/a-self-improving-school-system-towards-maturity.pdf">advocated by</a> the education scholar David Hargreaves. All of this is still developing.</p>
<p>Democratic it ain’t though, and schools-led not yet. Nevertheless, with a focus on inequality in outcomes for children – essential in England – the system now in development could prove more reliable and consistent than the old one, though of <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmeduc/401/401.pdf">course not yet</a>. </p>
<p>And the story of local authorities’ other responsibilities towards schools is not yet finished with this white paper. I argue for new ones for some, including supporting local communities – especially in deprived areas – to articulate their own visions for their future development involving their local academies. The LA story has just reached another staging post. It’s time to move on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56112/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Riddell has received research funding previously from the British Academy. </span></em></p>It will take time, but a education system governed by Regional Schools Commissioners might not be more reliable.Richard Riddell, Senior lecturer, Education Studies, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/354012014-12-12T12:08:37Z2014-12-12T12:08:37ZGovernance in the spotlight as Ofsted finds 170,000 children in ‘inadequate’ secondary schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66991/original/image-20141211-6060-77tnic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When things go right: Reading School.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_School#mediaviewer/File:Reading_school_berks_uk.jpg"> Zephyris</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sir Michael Wilshaw’s <a href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/ar201314/Ofsted%20Annual%20Report%20201314%20Schools.pdf">2013-14 annual report</a> for Ofsted on the progress and standards achieved by schools has revealed that, while progress has been made in the primary sector, progress in secondary schools has stalled since 2012/13. </p>
<p>One of the key areas of focus for the report was the quality of leadership and management. The report found that 23% of secondary schools have weak leadership and management, compared to just 16% among their primary counterparts. </p>
<p>Governance, school culture and a lack of appropriate challenge and support, were highlighted as the key reasons behind this apparent lack of progress. The report also highlighted continuing issues around parity of provision, particularly for white students from deprived backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Governors still too cosy</h2>
<p>While the Wilshaw Report recognises the substantial changes that have taken place in England’s education system since the coalition government came to power in 2010, it is highly critical of the “cozy relationship” between governors and head teachers, stating that in 114 schools this had declined to levels that were “less than good” and that governors had been misled by heads by being given partial or misleading data. </p>
<p>The recent emphasis on external reviews of governance – a recommendation by Ofsted in cases of weak governance – were deemed to have been fairly ineffective and in some cases, schools had refused to engage with the review’s findings. Schools falling into this category were often ones which struggled to recruit and retain governors, the report found.</p>
<p>It would be more surprising if this report had not identified failures of governance. The report begins with a summary of the changes to the the English system over the past four years, which drives home just how wide-ranging these changes have been. This sweeping – and often seemingly unfounded – change has presented enormous challenges for all involved in education – not least school governors. </p>
<h2>Dealing with change</h2>
<p>Research reveals that governor motivation is largely premised around feelings of <a href="http://www.inspiringgovernors.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/The_State_of_School_Governing_in_England_Report.pdf">doing a good job and giving something back</a>. In addition, research into areas of high deprivation has revealed a strong sense of the need to make a difference – not just to individual schools and students but also in terms of communities and the life-chances of the young people within them.</p>
<p>But research <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sensemaking-Organizations-Foundations-Organizational-Science/dp/080397177X">into change – and how people make sense of change</a> – suggests that it takes time for individuals to be able to assimilate externally imposed change into their work and their professional roles. Until this happens they often experience a sense of meaninglessness and alienation from their job.</p>
<p>Recent work analysing data provided by <a href="https://schoolgovernors.thekeysupport.com/">The Key for School Governors</a> suggested a clear difference in the questions asked by governors in areas of high socio-economic deprivation (as indicated by the number of pupils on free school meals) as opposed to those in more affluent areas. This was particularly true in terms of the question: how can we help governors to be more confident in their role? </p>
<h2>Still negating the local?</h2>
<p>Governance, like schooling, has no “one-size-fits-all solution”, as those working and researching in the <a href="https://www.bera.ac.uk/news/respecting-children-and-young-people-blog-launched">field of education equity</a> have said on a number of occasions. Yet the lack of local support for governors – due to drastic cuts in LEA education budgets, <a href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/ar201314/Ofsted%20Annual%20Report%20201314%20Schools.pdf">the isolation of some academies</a> and <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/inquiries/parliament-2010/the-role-of-school-governing-bodies/">poor standards of training and development</a> – is repeatedly glossed over by government. </p>
<p>The report gives some indication of how both government and inspectorate are attempting to combat this. It stresses the weakness of local oversight and emphasises Ofsted’s new regional structure – while also pointing out the appointment of the eight regional schools commissioners. </p>
<p>But perhaps the most telling statement within this section is the acknowledgement that these commissioners are “being set a challenging task, with relatively few resources of their own”, while also pointing out that the arrangements don’t embrace all schools (“maintained schools” are not included in their brief).</p>
<p>A recent look through <a href="https://berarespectingchildren.wordpress.com/2014/12/09/innovation-creation-or-same-old-same-old-proposals-for-educational-equity-in-2015-party-political-proposals/#more-538">party proposals</a> for education policy indicated that there is little real engagement by any of the major political parties around how they will attempt to redress the balance between local and central governance of schools – and how struggling governing bodies are to be given real support, particularly in areas of high socio-economic deprivation.</p>
<p>Until then the rhetoric around excellence in education will ring hollow for those 170,000 pupils in inadequate secondary schools in England.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Sir Michael Wilshaw’s 2013-14 annual report for Ofsted on the progress and standards achieved by schools has revealed that, while progress has been made in the primary sector, progress in secondary schools…Jacqueline Baxter, Lecturer in Social Policy, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/274592014-06-02T13:16:32Z2014-06-02T13:16:32ZPlans to renationalise school inspectors under Ofsted could help assure quality<p>The English schools inspectorate <a href="http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/ofsted-announces-plans-bring-management-of-all-school-and-further-education-inspections-house-0">Ofsted has announced</a> it will be terminating contracts with its three private inspection services providers from September 2015 and will be employing school inspectors in-house. </p>
<p>This ends what many of us have seen as a most curious practice. When the history of the privatisation of English public services comes to be written, the contracting out of quality control to private providers, albeit loosely regulated, will be seen as particularly problematic, even perverse.</p>
<p>When Ofsted was created in 1992 it faced a political imperative: all schools in England had to be inspected in a four-year period. Yet the number of inspectors, known as Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools or HMIs, then in post following reorganisation, was less than 200. </p>
<p>The result was a flurry of activity involving the hurried, inadequate training of large numbers of would-be inspectors employed by a number of different agencies. Inspection handbooks were compiled which tried to codify inspection practice in a form which relied less on professional judgement and more on compliance with explicit, so-called “objective” criteria. </p>
<p>But an inadequate number of inspectors could never assure quality closely enough across the whole process. The political imperative was met – but at a cost to the reputation of Ofsted and to the authority of inspection as an art requiring a high degree of educational judgement. </p>
<p>That system could have been replaced in the late 1990s given political will, but was allowed to continue. The very large number of agencies involved in the contracting out of inspections has gradually reduced – to three by September 2009 (CfBT, Serco and Tribal) and as we’ve now learnt, to zero by September 2015.</p>
<h2>Inconsistent inspection ‘lottery’</h2>
<p>Since 1992 Ofsted has engaged in a series of national inspection cycles permeated by constantly changing frameworks and guidance documents intended to assure consistency of quality across the privatised inspection teams. In the absence of detailed evidence from Ofsted itself, but backed up by a wealth of anecdotal evidence, that consistency of judgement has not been achieved. </p>
<p>Ofsted has <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/apr/17/ofsted-inconsistency-atl-union-mary-bousted-inspections-lottery-schools">been widely criticised</a> for overseeing an inspection “lottery” with privatised teams varying unacceptably in judgement and insight. </p>
<p>It is often acknowledged that uniformity of judgement over a myriad of school contexts is unattainable, except in an ideal world. But there is a common perception of a lack of reasonable consistency, resulting in injustices to the policies and practices of individual schools when inspection reports are published. </p>
<p>This is not to deny the expertise of many, though not all, Ofsted inspectors and the very real, if only partially successful efforts of inspection agencies to assure the quality performance of their teams.</p>
<p>The new arrangements are part of what I have previously described as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/ofsted-reforms-are-a-cultural-shift-to-celebrate-best-teaching-24692">cultural shift in Ofsted</a>. The schools inspectorate is planning to alter the frequency and pattern of its inspections and to devise more flexible inspection frameworks. It wants to take on more inspectors and to directly employ additional inspectors, including an increased number of school and college leaders on brief attachments or longer secondments.</p>
<h2>Push back against privatisation</h2>
<p>Rather ingenuously – or diplomatically? – Ofsted claims that the end of contracting out does not reflect discontent with the work of the private inspectors. But it is on firmer ground <a href="http://community.tes.co.uk/ofsted_resources/b/weblog/archive/2014/05/30/new-contractual-arrangements-for-inspection.aspx">in arguing that bringing the contracts</a> of additional inspectors in-house: “will give us greater flexibility in the deployment, training and quality assurance of inspection activities”. How productive that flexibility proves remains to be seen.</p>
<p>School inspection in England needs radical reform if its perceived restricting (some would say “toxic”) influence on school policy and practice is to be replaced by a widely respected system which prioritises judgement rather than just compliance among both schools and inspection teams. The new contractual arrangements promise to be an important, though limited, step forward in realising that cultural shift. They also represent a significant counter to the creeping privatisation of the state sector – the first of many some of us hope. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colin Richards worked as a school inspector from 1983 to 1996, including four years in Ofsted.</span></em></p>The English schools inspectorate Ofsted has announced it will be terminating contracts with its three private inspection services providers from September 2015 and will be employing school inspectors in-house…Colin Richards, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of CumbriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194112013-10-23T13:00:46Z2013-10-23T13:00:46ZGrowth of academies and free schools reinforces student segregation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33499/original/bb8xhcbz-1382468845.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C303%2C3500%2C2211&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Al-Madinah school in Derby: making news for all the wrong reasons.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rui Vieira/PA Wire</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each new administration tends to try to improve compulsory education by introducing a new and purportedly better type of school. The current government has at least three, and is pushing vocational schools, free schools, and especially converter academies – state schools with more autonomy. There is now <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/28/academy-brokers-ofsted-pressure-schools-academies">considerable and not very subtle pressure</a> for many schools to convert into academies. </p>
<p>But none of these various types of school has been satisfactorily demonstrated to be more effective than any other, given equivalent pupil intake. Some, such as <a href="http://news.tes.co.uk/b/news/2013/12/12/al-madinah-free-school-quot-remains-in-chaos-quot-second-ofsted-inspection-finds.aspx">Derby’s Al-Madinah free school</a>, have even been labelled dysfunctional and threatened with closure. The expense of each of these new types of school and the disruption they have made to children’s lives and to their local communities have occurred with <a href="http://www.evaluationdesign.co.uk/the-new-book-overcoming-disadvantage-in-education/">no gain in terms of pupil attainment</a>.</p>
<p>Parliament’s Education Select Committee is now <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news/academies-and-free-schools1/">beginning an inquiry</a> into academies and free schools. </p>
<p>Although any one of these types of school might be a good idea, the way they have been introduced is somewhat unethical. Instead of being tested fairly against the best that was already on offer, they have simply been introduced in double-quick time. </p>
<p>Neither have they been introduced across the country so that all pupils could benefit from these schools that are “somehow known to be better”. This would be the fair and ethical thing to do if the superiority of free schools were genuinely to be believed. </p>
<p>Instead, they have been introduced in a piecemeal fashion. And now more than ever before, the nature of the school any pupil attends is related to where they live. This exacerbates levels of social and economic “segregation” between schools, and so <a href="http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10651544.print/">exacerbates divisions within society</a>.</p>
<h2>Segregation by poverty</h2>
<p>The extent to which pupils with similar characteristics are clustered in schools with others like them can be described as “segregation” – whether this is intentional (as in faith-based selection to schools), or a by-product (as in selection to grammar schools by prior attainment). </p>
<p>This tendency to cluster can be measured. Here the calculations are based on the <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/researchandstatistics/stats/schoolcensus/a00208045/school-census-2013">Annual Schools Census</a> of all pupils in England. </p>
<p>Taking, or being eligible for, free school meals is an indicator of whether pupils live in poverty. The level of free meal pupil segregation in any area (nationally, regionally or locally) <a href="http://dro.dur.ac.uk/10796/">is represented</a> as the proportion of those free meal pupils who would have to change schools if each school in the area was to have their fair share.</p>
<p>In any year, around one third of pupils living in poverty would have to change schools for all schools to have the same proportion of poor children, as the graph below illustrates. There are changes in this level over time and these largely reflect changes in the economy.</p>
<p>When, as after 2007, there is an economic downturn, the number of pupils entitled to free school meals tends to grow and this is linked to a slightly more even spread of such children. An exception to this is the decline in segregation from 1990 onwards, which runs against the economic cycle and is more strongly linked to an abrupt <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=USnT2GuchQ8C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Schools,+Markets+and+Choice+Policies,+London:+Routledge&ots=xlyrhAr424&sig=tT7UTHeDP26k_iHAel_s2N1bUGc#v=onepage&q=Schools%2C%20Markets%20and%20Choice%20Policies%2C%20London%3A%20Routledge&f=false">increase in school choice by parents</a>. </p>
<p>The graph below illustrates how far the national system is from an even distribution of children living in poverty. The lower the lines running along the X axis, the fairer the distribution between schools is of children who qualify for free school meals. As it is, the height of the lines on the graph show that around one third of poor children would have to change school (to a school with a lower level of free school meals) to create a national school system with a perfectly balanced intake. </p>
<p>Segregation by free school meals, all schools, England, 1989-2012</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33501/original/xjbdpmpc-1382473092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/33501/original/xjbdpmpc-1382473092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33501/original/xjbdpmpc-1382473092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33501/original/xjbdpmpc-1382473092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33501/original/xjbdpmpc-1382473092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33501/original/xjbdpmpc-1382473092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/33501/original/xjbdpmpc-1382473092.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Annual Schools Census</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The causes of segregation</h2>
<p>Apart from these changes, the actual underlying level of free meal segregation (around 30% nationally) is relatively stubborn, and it has a number of causes. Partly it is due to the geography of the area surrounding each school, transport facilities, and the nature of the local population. However, the single largest educational determinant of segregation is the diversity of local schooling. </p>
<p>Those authorities that have mostly retained “bog-standard” community schools have a much fairer mix of pupil intakes. Those with grammar schools, faith-based schools, academies and especially those with academy converter schools have much higher levels of segregation. </p>
<p>For example, Trafford in the North East is an area with one of the highest levels of local segregation between schools because it retains a grammar school system. Shropshire, on the other hand, has a much lower level of segregation and has so far retained a clear majority of comprehensive schools maintained by the local authority.</p>
<p>Similarly, areas that have embraced academies also have much higher levels of local between-school segregation. In fact, there is a high correlation between local segregation by poverty and the number of converter academies in the area. Some of the new free schools have no pupils eligible for free school meals at all! In that respect, these new types of school are linked to as much social segregation as the entirely selective grammar schools. </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>This unintended clustering of students within schools matters a great deal. A school’s mix of students influences how they are treated, how well they are taught, how well they learn, the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged, wider school outcomes such as students’ sense of justice, and longer-term outcomes such as levels of aspiration. </p>
<p>Clustering disadvantaged students together in selected schools simply does not work, and is all pain with no discernible gain. It is also easily avoidable. But the current policy on schooling seems determined to widen the poverty gradient, destroy the national nature of schooling and so make it matter more and more where any pupil lives. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gorard has previously received funding from The British Academy</span></em></p>Each new administration tends to try to improve compulsory education by introducing a new and purportedly better type of school. The current government has at least three, and is pushing vocational schools…Stephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.