tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/uk-education-8856/articlesUK education – The Conversation2023-12-13T13:31:09Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2196462023-12-13T13:31:09Z2023-12-13T13:31:09ZWales’s Pisa school test results have declined – but it’s not a true reflection of an education system<p>Every three years, an early Christmas gift arrives for the global education community from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Programme for International Student Assessments (<a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/">Pisa</a>) is an international test in which 15 year olds are tested on their knowledge and skills. </p>
<p>It relegates those far below the Pisa top ten as poor performers in desperate need of improvement, which this time includes Wales.</p>
<p>The Pisa scores for participating education systems around the world are unquestionably significant. But since its inception in 2000, Pisa has sparked much debate, especially among experts and policymakers, with many viewing it as a <a href="https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2019/11/is-pisa-fundamentally-flawed-because-of-the-scaling-methodology-used/">flawed</a> assessment of educational outcomes. In <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/Combined_Executive_Summaries_PISA_2018.pdf">2018</a>, around 600,000 students took part in the standardised Pisa tests, which measured their performance in maths, science and reading, and also looked at wellbeing.</p>
<p>Predictably, the 2023 Pisa results captured the negative impact of COVID on learners and learning, with some downward trends in performance visible across the data set. </p>
<p>The results signalled mixed fortunes for the <a href="https://www.education.ox.ac.uk/pisa-results-reveal-students-in-the-uk-have-higher-than-average-levels-of-maths-reading-and-science/">UK</a>. The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67616536">BBC headline</a>, reporting the results starkly stated: “Wales slumps to worst school test results.” Such sweeping statements are by now an anticipated byproduct of Pisa that ignore how the tests are often highly contested and <a href="https://revisesociology.com/2020/05/15/the-pisa-global-education-tests-arguments-for-and-against/">controversial</a>. </p>
<h2>Pisa in Wales</h2>
<p>Every three years, Pisa measures the ability of 15 year olds to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges. In Wales, 2,568 pupils from 89 schools took a two-hour computer-based exercise. To put this in context, there are <a href="https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Education-and-Skills/Schools-and-Teachers/Schools-Census/Pupil-Level-Annual-School-Census/Pupils/pupils-by-yeargroup-sex">approximately</a> 33,000 pupils in Year 11 in 178 secondary schools and 27 middle schools in Wales.</p>
<p>The subsequent OECD report <a href="https://www.gov.wales/achievement-15-year-olds-program-international-student-assessment-pisa-national-report-2022">acknowledges</a> that “the sample for Wales, and for many other countries, did not meet some of the Pisa standards”. It is important to reflect on how a test taken by a sample of 15-year-old students, every three years for two hours, can possibly be a valid and reliable measure of a system’s performance even in a relative sense. </p>
<p>Pisa’s statistics show that Wales’s average score for mathematics in 2022 was significantly lower than the average across OECD countries. Wales’s average scores for mathematics, reading and science have all declined significantly since 2018. This was also the case, on average, across OECD countries for mathematics and reading. Although for science, the difference between the OECD average in 2022 was not significantly different to that in 2018. </p>
<p>It also noted that the gap in performance between pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds and the least disadvantaged backgrounds was smaller in Wales than it was on average across OECD countries for all subjects. </p>
<p>The important thing to observe is that Pisa deals in averages. In the latest results, those averages are derived from the 81 countries that took part, which is a huge range. The report notes a relative fall in Welsh performance against an aggregated average of OECD countries. </p>
<p>It then highlights that this decline was also the case on average across OECD countries for mathematics and reading. In other words, this is a trend. It also suggests that Wales has been more successful in closing the achievement gap between the most disadvantaged and least disadvantaged pupils than most other OECD countries. Yet this important indicator of success has been overshadowed by the blanket headlines of abject educational failure.</p>
<p>If all countries participating in Pisa now recover fully after COVID and improve their educational performance across the board, it is highly likely that Wales will “underperform” on Pisa yet again, whatever it does. If all countries in Pisa continue a steady trajectory of improvement, the country differentials will remain largely the same. Some countries may move up or down, but that movement will be marginal. </p>
<h2>A game of relatives</h2>
<p>There were no real surprises in the latest results. Countries like Singapore, Taiwan and Japan have retained their comparative advantage and will probably continue to do so, because Pisa is a game of relatives. The complexity and dynamic of any education system cannot (and should not) be at the mercy of a single measure of assessment however compelling or lucrative. </p>
<p>But what does that mean for Wales? First, it should encourage us to look at Pisa as one data set only and to not be obsessed by its findings. It is important to put Pisa in perspective by looking far beyond the simple headlines and delving into the detail of the report. </p>
<p>Second, it should be a reminder that Pisa is a snapshot of performance at a particular moment in time. It takes no account of the possibilities and potential of ongoing reform – deep contextual detail is not on its global radar. Hence, the danger is that every three years, Pisa fuels doubt, dissent and concern, when education systems need certainty, confidence and consensus about the reforms they are putting in place.</p>
<p>Third, no education system is perfect. Getting great Pisa scores is certainly no guarantee that the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people is not compromised or sidestepped along the way. The potential of human collateral damage in achieving high Pisa performance over two decades, unsurprisingly, does not feature in the OECD reports. </p>
<p>Wales has a choice, to either let this global compass direct its educational pathway, accepting that every three years it will derail and disrupt the reform agenda, or to hold its nerve. We cannot ignore Pisa, but we can put it in perspective and continue to focus on the learning and wellbeing of all children and young people in Wales. This is what matters most.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alma Harris 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>Pisa measures 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science every three years - but is that the best way to test an education system?Alma Harris, Professor of Leadership in Education, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2057152023-05-17T11:22:20Z2023-05-17T11:22:20ZArchaeologists discover ancient Mayan game – here’s what it can teach modern educators<p>Games have been played for thousands of years <a href="https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/top-10-historical-board-games">in cultures across the world</a>. </p>
<p>There’s the chequerboard game <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/metkids/2017/ancient-egypt-board-games">Senet</a>, played in Egypt around BCE 3100. The African cup board game <a href="https://umaine.edu/hudsonmuseum/teacher-resources/games-crafts/mancala-game/#:%7E:text=Mancala%20is%20a%20generic%20name,of%20Memphis%2C%20Thebes%20and%20Luxor.">Mancala</a> has been played since BCE 1400. <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/a-game-of-thrones-how-chess-conquered-the-world-salar-jung-museum/fgUhNlxUQVZ2Kg?hl=en#:%7E:text=into%20the%20Past-,The%20game%20of%20chess%20was%20born%20in%20India%20during%20the,now,%20is%20a%20professional%20sport.">Chess originated in India</a> over 1,500 years ago. And the strategic game <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/27/464566551/forget-chess-ai-masters-wickedly-complex-chinese-game-of-go">Go</a> began in China 2,500 years ago. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmc09eng.html">Mayan civilisation</a> – which flourished in central America from BCE 2000 to 1500 AD – had several <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-antiquity/article/abs/precolumbian-maya-graffiti-context-dating-and-function-jaroslaw-zralka-2014-jagiellonian-university-krakow-357-pages-85-plates-1810-paper-isbn-9788364449161/AE12129A2622A4EDE90EEED34E9B9463">popular games</a>. These games were thought to have the supernatural power to predict war. They include a cross-shaped board game called <a href="https://otagomuseum.nz/athome/how-to-play-patolli">Patolli</a> and a ball game called <a href="https://www.amatravel.ca/articles/pok-a-tok-ancient-mayan-sport">Pok-a-Tok</a>.</p>
<p>Recently, a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-65250018">stone scoreboard</a> was found by archaeologists in Chichén Itzá, Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. The Mayan people appeared to have used it to play a ritualistic game with a heavy ball.</p>
<p>This game held significant cultural and religious importance for the Mayan civilisation. More than a simple recreational activity, it reflected the deep-rooted beliefs and values of the Mayan people. For Mayans, games provided a platform for the expression of physical abilities, the establishment of social order and the connection between the mortal and the divine.</p>
<p>The game discovered in Chichén Itzá symbolises the delicate balance between light and darkness, embodying a cosmic struggle. Like other Mayan games, it was believed to influence the fate of harvests, the climate, communities and individuals.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mayan temples photographed against a stormy sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526505/original/file-20230516-23652-xndwxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526505/original/file-20230516-23652-xndwxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526505/original/file-20230516-23652-xndwxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526505/original/file-20230516-23652-xndwxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526505/original/file-20230516-23652-xndwxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526505/original/file-20230516-23652-xndwxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526505/original/file-20230516-23652-xndwxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Jaguar temple in Chichen Itza, Mexico.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chichen-itza-yucatan-jaguar-temple-kukulkan-2111903147">ecstk22/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Mayan culture, winning a game like this was seen as a sign of <a href="http://www.historyshistories.com/maya-society.html">divine favour</a>. They believed that victorious people or teams had been chosen by the gods. Those who consistently lost were sometimes <a href="https://profilbaru.com/article/Human_sacrifice_in_Maya_culture">offered as sacrifices to the deities</a>. Mayan games were not solely intended for entertainment, but served as <a href="https://www.lehmanns.ch/shop/sozialwissenschaften/1731464-9780816513604-the-mesoamerican-ballgame">ways to connect with the divine</a>.</p>
<p>By participating in these games, Mayan people experienced a sense of communal identity and belonging. The rituals and beliefs associated with the games fostered a collective understanding and reinforced the connections between the physical, spiritual and social realms.</p>
<h2>What educators can learn from ancient games</h2>
<p>The concept of the “magic circle”, introduced by Dutch historian <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/homo-ludens-a-study-of-the-play-element-in-culture/oclc/7004042">Johan Huizinga</a>, suggests that during games, players enter a temporary world with its own rules and boundaries. </p>
<p>This is exemplified in this Mayan find, which involves rules, suspension of normalcy and shared experiences.</p>
<p>The magic circle represents a ritual space that both transforms and builds a sense of community. Understanding of this concept can be used to promote inclusion and collaboration in modern day education. Playful experiences within game spaces can facilitate learning and create a sense of belonging, enabling students to grow and learn collectively.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tomb illustration showing Queen Nefertari sat and playing the board game, Senet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526504/original/file-20230516-24-12i7wp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526504/original/file-20230516-24-12i7wp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526504/original/file-20230516-24-12i7wp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526504/original/file-20230516-24-12i7wp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526504/original/file-20230516-24-12i7wp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526504/original/file-20230516-24-12i7wp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526504/original/file-20230516-24-12i7wp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=704&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Queen Nefertari playing Senet (c. BCE 1279–1213).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548355">The Met Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ancient rituals and games possess characteristics like <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/ritual-play-and-belief-in-evolution-and-early-human-societies/play-and-ritual-forms-foundations-and-evolution-in-animals-and-humans/DD6CC910C8548E5D9FF4F89D0B032E23">repetition, structure and the use of symbolic objects</a> that aid students in understanding the world. They also <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1088868317734944">offer psychological and social benefits</a>, fostering social bonds, reducing anxiety and improving cognitive flexibility and problem-solving skills.</p>
<p>Incorporating ancient and modern games in education promotes soft skills, critical thinking and inclusivity. In fostering communication, giving students agency, and crossing cultural divides, analogue games help students to understand one another better in the classroom.</p>
<h2>Applying the lessons</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tega-project.eu/">TEGA project</a>, which we led, created a toolkit to support the development and customisation of inclusive analogue games for learning, with an emphasis on accessibility.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/51424/educational-games-and-game-based-approaches-in-hybrid-online-and-offline-learning-environments">Analogue games</a>, like <a href="https://doi.org/10.21125/iceri.2022.2205">tabletop or board games</a>, offer a tangible experience that helps teach abstract concepts which typically lack clear physical representations. Through interaction with game elements such as cards, dice and pieces, student players can grasp abstract ideas like probability and strategy more effectively than through digital games or other media.</p>
<p>By considering accessibility needs through their motor, sensory and cognitive dimensions, games can be designed to accommodate a wider range of students. So by incorporating board games into higher education, teachers can create a learning environments that works for all students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Part of this article is drawn from the research project "TEGA" conducted by authors and funded with support from the European Commission Project No: 2020-1-UK01-KA203-079248</span></em></p>Ancient rituals and games possess characteristics like repetition, structure and the use of symbolic objects that aid students in understanding the world.Sara Rye, Associate Professor in Project Management for Development, University of BradfordCarla Sousa, Assistant Professor in Media Society and Literacies, Lusófona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1943042022-11-29T17:20:59Z2022-11-29T17:20:59ZDyscalculia: how to support your child if they have mathematical learning difficulties<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497621/original/file-20221128-24-ead7sb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5607%2C3295&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-doing-exercise-math-303704459">Lorena Fernandez/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A good grasp of maths has been linked to <a href="https://www.nationalnumeracy.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-04/Counting%20on%20the%20Recovery%20(compressed)%20FINAL.pdf">greater success in employment</a> and better health. But a large proportion of us – <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00516/full">up to 22%</a> – have mathematical learning difficulties. What’s more, around <a href="https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/the-prevalence-of-specific-learning-disorder-in-mathematics-and-c">6% of children in primary schools</a> may have dyscalculia, a mathematical learning disability.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-and-centres/departments/psychology-and-human-development/child-development-and-learning-difficulties-lab/awareness-developmental-dyscalculia-and-mathematical-difficulties-toolkit-add">Developmental dyscalculia</a> is a persistent difficulty in <a href="https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyscalculia">understanding numbers</a> which can affect anyone, regardless of age or ability. </p>
<p>If 6% of children have dyscalculia, that would mean one or two children in each primary school class of 30 – about as many children as have been estimated to have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8183124/">dyslexia</a>. But dyscalculia is less well known, by both the general public and teachers. It is also less well researched in comparison to other learning difficulties.</p>
<p>Children with dyscalculia may struggle to learn foundational mathematical skills and concepts, such as simple counting, adding, subtracting and simple multiplication as well as times tables. Later, they may have difficulty with more advanced mathematical facts and procedures, such as borrowing and carrying over but also understanding fractions and ratios, for instance. Dyscalculia not only affects children during maths lessons: it can have an impact on all areas of the curriculum.</p>
<p>These persistent difficulties cannot be explained by a general below-average ability level, or other developmental disorders. Nevertheless, children with dyscalculia may also experience other learning difficulties, such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3514770/">dyslexia and ADHD</a>. </p>
<p>Here are some practical tips to support children with mathematical learning difficulties. </p>
<h2>Use props</h2>
<p>Children with dyscalculia can find additional <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33845673/">practical supports</a> useful when working out even simple sums and maths problems. They may often need to use practical aids, such as their fingers or an abacus. They can benefit from using counters and beads to make sets or groups, as well as using number lines to work out answers to maths problems.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1588430330671026176"}"></div></p>
<p>Older children may find it helpful to keep crib sheets handy, which make information such as the times tables or certain formulas easily accessible. Inclusive teaching methods like these are likely to benefit all learners, not just those with dyscalculia.</p>
<h2>Break the problem down</h2>
<p>Research shows that <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/teaching-learning-toolkit/metacognition-and-self-regulation">metacognition</a> can have a positive effect on maths learning. Metacognition is “thinking about thinking” – for example, thinking about the information you do and don’t know, or self awareness about the strategies you have to work out problems. </p>
<p>Teaching children strategies to identify where to start on a problem and how to break mathematical problems down could be a good starting point. For example, parents and teachers could encourage children to use songs and mnemonics to help them remember strategies to solve particular problems. </p>
<p>For example, the mnemonic DRAW provides students with a strategy for solving addition, subtraction, multiplication, & division problems:</p>
<p>D: discover the sign – the student finds, circles, and says the name of the operator (+,-, x or /).</p>
<p>R: read the problem – the student reads the equation.</p>
<p>A: answer – the student draws tallies or circles to find the answer, and checks it over.</p>
<p>W: write the answer – the student writes out the answer to the problem.</p>
<h2>Find out where help is needed</h2>
<p>Children with mathematical learning difficulties often get stuck with maths problems and may quickly give up. Teachers and parents should ask children what they find difficult – <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/290514/Szucs%2041179%20-%20Main%20Public%20Output%208%20March%202019.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">even young children can explain this</a> – and provide explicit instruction to support them with what they find difficult. </p>
<h2>Focus on one thing at a time</h2>
<p>As mathematical problems can be confusing for young people with mathematical difficulties, make sure to only work on one problem at the time. This could mean covering other maths questions on the page, and removing irrelevant pictures. Provide immediate feedback on both correct and incorrect answers. This will help children learn from their practice and understand the difference between correct and incorrect problem-solving strategies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Mother and daughter doing maths and counting on fingers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497698/original/file-20221128-4861-j9nre0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497698/original/file-20221128-4861-j9nre0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497698/original/file-20221128-4861-j9nre0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497698/original/file-20221128-4861-j9nre0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497698/original/file-20221128-4861-j9nre0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497698/original/file-20221128-4861-j9nre0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497698/original/file-20221128-4861-j9nre0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Focus on one topic or problem at a time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/patient-mom-teaching-daughter-schoolwork-home-489146788">Ground Picture/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It may also help to provide plenty of repetition and revisiting, teach short and frequent sessions, and make sure learners know what they should do if they get stuck, such as ask an adult for help. </p>
<h2>Use the right vocabulary</h2>
<p>Mathematical language and symbols can also be confusing. For example, a negative number carries a minus sign, but a minus sign can also be used to define an operation such as subtraction. We often use the word “minus” for both – for instance, saying “14 minus minus 9” (14 – –9). This can be difficult to interpret. Various different words, such as subtract, minus and take away, can describe the same concept. </p>
<p>It is important to use clear language (for instance, “14 take away negative 9”). Helping children expand their maths vocabulary, as well as checking their understanding, will also be useful. </p>
<h2>Play games</h2>
<p>Mathematics is everywhere around us in the environment and what is learned in the classroom also applies to our daily lives. <a href="https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/project/improving-preschoolers-number-foundations">Our own research</a> has shown that young children benefit from playing short mathematical games using the tools and materials around them. </p>
<p>Counting and collecting sets of items can be done in any place: at the dining table, in the bath, or when out and about. Practice-based <a href="https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Can-Maths-Apps-Add-Value-to-Young-Childrens-Learning-A-Systematic-Review-and-Content-Analysis_Web_final_v2.pdf">educational apps</a> can also help children master foundational maths skills.</p>
<h2>Be positive</h2>
<p>Finally, it is crucial to promote positive feelings towards mathematics. This might include not voicing your own concerns and negative feelings about maths. Rather, foster an interest in maths that will help children persevere and overcome their difficulties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Van Herwegen receives funding from Higher Education Innovation Funding - UKRI. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elisabeth Herbert and Laura Outhwaite do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Use props, break the problem down and stay positive.Jo Van Herwegen, Associate Professor in the department of Psychology and Human Development, UCLElisabeth Herbert, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Human Development, IOE UCLUCL IOE. Programme Director for MA SpLD dyslexia and Programme route leader for the MA in Special and Inclusive Education Specific Learning Difficulties route, UCLLaura Outhwaite, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1943082022-11-28T06:52:23Z2022-11-28T06:52:23ZEngland’s early years educators are underpaid and undervalued – only government investment can improve this<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497195/original/file-20221124-18-1hdbl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C8%2C5422%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-pupils-using-flower-shapes-montessori-641732287">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Early education and care for children aged from birth to five in England is at a critical point. </p>
<p>On one hand, the cost of care and education to parents at a time of high price rises is a key issue. In 2022, the <a href="https://www.coram.org.uk/sites/default/files/resource_files/Coram%20Childcare%20Survey%20-%202022.pdf">average annual cost</a> of a part-time nursery place for a child under two in Great Britain is £7,210. </p>
<p>At the same time, the government has been accused of “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/15/ministers-knowingly-underfunding-childcare-sector-england">knowingly underfunding</a>” early years settings, many of which are struggling to stay afloat. The sector is also experiencing challenges in recruiting and retaining staff. Early years educators may well be <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk//33301/">leaving for better paid retail work</a>. </p>
<p>The government’s most recent <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/596884/Workforce_strategy_02-03-2017.pdf">early years workforce strategy</a> for England was published in 2017. It claimed it represented “the government’s commitment to supporting the early years sector to thrive”, but the early years workforce has not seen <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/News/Latest-news-from-LSE/2021/f-June-21/Lack-of-early-years-support-costs-England-over-16-billion-per-year">sustained investment</a>. There was a notable lack of reference to any funding for early years care and education in the <a href="https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/autumn-statement-2022-government-accused-of-ignoring-the-sector-as-chancellor-announces-more-money-for-schools">recent autumn statement</a>.</p>
<p>All children in their early years should be cared for and educated by qualified professionals. <a href="https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/Quality_inequality_childcare_mathers_29_05_14.pdf">Research</a> has found a strong relationship between the level of staff qualifications and the quality of early childhood education and care. And while the qualifications of early educators are important for all children, the impact can be particularly significant when well qualified staff are supporting the development of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. </p>
<p>We also know that having university-educated staff <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181480/DFE-RR144.pdf">makes a difference</a> to young children’s learning. So the skills, the experience and the calibre of early years educators matters. But, while there have been some reforms in recent years, qualification levels still vary across the sector.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children playing with teddy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497204/original/file-20221124-12-c64pg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497204/original/file-20221124-12-c64pg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497204/original/file-20221124-12-c64pg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497204/original/file-20221124-12-c64pg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497204/original/file-20221124-12-c64pg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497204/original/file-20221124-12-c64pg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497204/original/file-20221124-12-c64pg8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research shows that a better educated early years workforce benefits disadvantaged children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cute-little-girl-boy-playing-toys-717259231">veryulissa/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>There is a diverse range of qualifications and professional roles in early childhood education and care, including teachers, early years educators, assistants and childminders. <a href="https://ndna.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/NDNA-Full-Workforce-Survey-Report-2018-2019-1.pdf">Research suggests</a> that the workforce is becoming younger, less highly qualified and less experienced. </p>
<p>At the same time, a 2020 study by the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/906906/The_stability_of_the_early_years_workforce_in_England.pdf">Social Mobility Commission</a> shows a high degree of staff turnover. The commission found that the most important barriers to a stable early childhood education and care workforce were low income, high workload and responsibilities, insufficient training and opportunities for progression and the profession’s low status and reputation. </p>
<h2>Working conditions</h2>
<p>The importance of early childhood education and care is not matched by the pay for those working in the system. <a href="http://www.natcen.ac.uk/media/1857585/Understanding-the-Early-Years-Workforce.pdf?_ga=2.59801449.513264227.1581421727-2013887984.1581421727">Research</a> from 2020 shows that low salaries and poor pay progression are forcing staff out of the early years sector. A report published in 2019 found that 45% of childcare workers were claiming <a href="https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/the-early-years-workforce-in-england/">state benefits or tax credits</a>. </p>
<p>This situation has been made worse by the pandemic. Early years educators found themselves <a href="https://childcare-during-covid.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CDC-19-Final-report.pdf">essential but undervalued</a>, resulting in high stress levels, low morale and poor wellbeing. These conditions are unlikely to be improved by the recent government suggestion of increasing the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/jul/04/plan-to-lower-nursery-staff-to-child-ratio-in-england-angers-parents-and-providers">child-to-staff ratio</a>, which would see each member of staff working with more children.</p>
<h2>International examples</h2>
<p>The Irish government and early years sector have developed a <a href="https://first5.gov.ie/">comprehensive plan</a> for qualifications and professional development alongside <a href="https://first5fundingmodel.gov.ie/">new funding</a> payments made direct to nurseries and childminders. In Australia, a <a href="https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-10/ShapingOurFutureChildrensEducationandCareNationalWorkforceStrategy-September2021.pdf">ten-year strategy</a> includes a commitment to improved pay and conditions. Meanwhile, in <a href="https://conversation-space.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/SES_0342_ELS_10YP_Final+Report_Web.pdf">New Zealand</a>, there is a commitment, including funding, for all staff members to become qualified teachers in early learning centres.</p>
<p>In England, a simplified framework of qualifications, a plan for graduate level leaders and higher pay would be valuable improvements. These developments would not only provide a pipeline of future staff members, but would help to ensure further quality care and education for children. </p>
<p>The challenges that the workforce and early years settings are experiencing are evident. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669760.2021.1892601">Improving the sector</a> will require both political will and sustained investment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194308/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathan Archer 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>Childcare is increasingly expensive for parents – and staff are leaving the sector.Nathan Archer, Director International Montessori Institute, Leeds Beckett UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1931422022-10-28T09:36:28Z2022-10-28T09:36:28ZSchools in England are facing bankruptcy – here’s what the government could do to help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492087/original/file-20221027-23824-wlff80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5222%2C3481&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/female-teacher-helping-pupil-using-computer-779645455">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We have barely reached the autumn half term and school leaders are already beginning to worry about what the academic year beginning in September 2023 will hold. The combined effect of the cost of living crisis with unexpected salary costs have already made it almost impossible for schools to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/22/exclusive-90-of-uk-schools-will-go-bust-next-year-heads-warn">balance budgets</a> in 2022. Headteachers are now warning that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/22/exclusive-90-of-uk-schools-will-go-bust-next-year-heads-warn">worse is to come</a> if urgent action isn’t taken.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://dmscdn.vuelio.co.uk/publicitem/89ae4eec-c350-4dec-8213-f8c92b490d91">open letter</a>, sent jointly by unions and leaders of educational organisations to Conservative MPs, warned of a £2 billion shortfall in school funding by 2024. On average they estimate that secondary schools will face a shortfall equivalent to losing four or five teachers. But of course many schools are far from average: one headteacher <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-62913012">simply states</a> that his school will be bankrupt within a year. </p>
<p>While things are undoubtedly more difficult for smaller schools, even large academy chains are experiencing the same crisis. Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Trust of over 50 academies, said: “No one is in a position to keep going for very long <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/22/exclusive-90-of-uk-schools-will-go-bust-next-year-heads-warn">eating their reserves</a>.” </p>
<p>So, are the nation’s schools really at risk of bankruptcy?</p>
<h2>Schools in deficit</h2>
<p>The short answer, based on <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure/2020-21#dataBlock-2613467b-f1ab-4c9c-9af5-08d9ae6661a9-tables">recent government figures</a>, appears to be yes. Tables published by the Department for Education show that by the end of the 2020/21 financial year, 8% of local authority maintained schools were in deficit. </p>
<p>Of those with a surplus, the reserve which can be carried forward – and which could potentially be used to support the budget in a difficult year – was an average of £322,000 for secondary schools. This represents about 6% of a typical school’s budget of <a href="https://www.besa.org.uk/key-uk-education-statistics-2/">around £5.5 million</a>. It’s not even enough to fill the gap left by inflation, which is <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices#:%7E:text=On%20a%20monthly%20basis%2C%20CPIH,of%200.3%25%20in%20September%202021.">currently running</a> at 8.8%.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1584496595411689472"}"></div></p>
<p>The government has been encouraging schools to <a href="https://www.s2e.org.uk/news/all-schools-to-become-academies-by-2030">convert to academy status</a> as part of multi-academy trusts, but things are little better for these schools. <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/997799/Academy_trust_revenue_reserves_ad_hoc_stats.pdf">Official figures</a> for academy trusts show they have average reserves of around £1.5 million. Though it’s a lot of money, this represents 13% of total income, so Steve Chalke’s analysis is right. Two more years of inflation at similar levels to now and it will all be gone. </p>
<h2>Government options</h2>
<p>The government does have ways to respond to this. Aside from the obvious answer of injecting more money into the system, there are some policy decisions which could ease things for schools even if they don’t solve the root cause of the problem. One example might be to relax the rules around <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium">pupil premium</a> funding. This huge pot of money – £2.44 billion in 2020-21, according to a <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06700/SN06700.pdf">House of Commons report</a> — is distributed to schools annually to support children identified as disadvantaged. </p>
<p>The targeted nature of the funding means that it is difficult for schools to spend it where it is most needed, on qualified teachers, but there is little evidence that it represents <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/berj.3775">good value for money</a> in its current form. </p>
<p>Analysis from 2019 by the Education Policy Institute <a href="https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/annual-report-2019/">suggests</a> that, at the present rate, it would take more than 500 years for the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers to close – and COVID-19 lockdowns have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/oct/20/gcse-grade-gap-disadvantaged-pupils-england-widest-decade-child-poverty-attainment">made the situation worse</a>. </p>
<p>It could well be time to <a href="https://rebeccaallen.co.uk/2018/09/13/the-pupil-premium-is-not-working-part-iii/">respond to calls</a> to wrap the pupil premium funding into the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1091988/2023-24_NFF_Policy_Document_.pdf">national funding formula</a> for schools. Schools would still receive the pupil premium in proportion to the number of disadvantaged children, but could spend it in a more flexible way.</p>
<p>Similarly, the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-tutoring-programme-ntp-allocations-for-2022-to-2023-academic-year">National Tutoring Programme</a> provided schools with £349 million in 2022-23 towards the cost of qualified tutors to help children catch up on learning lost during the pandemic. School leaders might well appreciate the same money simply flowing into their budgets, without the need for rules around how they spend it.</p>
<h2>What schools can do</h2>
<p>The measures that schools can take to save money are more limited. School leaders will be making tough decisions about every aspect of their spending. </p>
<p>Some solutions only work on paper. Reducing the number of teachers and making classes bigger sounds fine, but rooms are generally designed for a maximum of 30 children. Others need months or years of planning: reducing the choice of subjects in secondary schools can save costs but would need to be initiated now in order to take effect next September. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-cost-of-living-crisis-will-hit-schools-hard-190186">The cost of living crisis will hit schools hard</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Even losing staff is difficult. So-called “natural wastage”, where those retiring or moving on are not replaced, is a slow process. Making people redundant is not just unpleasant, but also expensive. It is hardly surprising that Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, has said that it is <a href="https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/school-funding-dfe-cuts-will-leave-schools-facing-catastrophe/">not realistic</a> to expect budgets to be balanced within existing limits.</p>
<p>Things may look particularly bleak, but the government has the opportunity to enact changes. In December the Department for Education would normally publish its 2023-24 indicative budgets for schools. This provides a chance to commit to a per-pupil funding increase that is at least in line with inflation, as well as adjusting the formula to reduce the strings attached to some aspects of funding.</p>
<p>At the same time <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/gillian-keegan">Gillian Keegan</a>, the new secretary of state for education, could thrash out a deal with the chancellor to provide a one-off injection of funds to help schools get through the next 12 months. If they don’t work together, the doomsday scenario is that our nation becomes educationally bankrupt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193142/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Rolph 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>School leaders fear they are facing bankruptcy.Chris Rolph, Director, Nottingham Institute of Education, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1894232022-09-02T07:50:13Z2022-09-02T07:50:13ZUniversities call for a tuition fee rise – here’s what that would mean for students and taxpayers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482269/original/file-20220901-25-6xvy33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C11%2C3754%2C2514&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/person-delivering-speech-725472163">Bizi88/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>University vice-chancellors in England and Wales <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11131489/University-bosses-call-tuition-fees-raised-40-13-000-year.html">have recently called</a> for an increase in tuition fees. </p>
<p>There are a number of reasons for this demand. In the face of a decade-long <a href="https://www.ucu.org.uk/media/12528/HE-unions-claim-2022-23/pdf/TUJNCHESclaim202223FINAL.pdf">decline in real pay</a> for university staff, pressure from unions for a higher wage deal is increasing. Energy costs are hitting unprecedented highs.</p>
<p>The current tuition fee cap of £9,250 in England has been in place since 2017 and the government plans for it to remain frozen until 2025. With inflation <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/will-inflation-in-the-uk-keep-rising">now hitting 10%</a>, this means that by 2025 there will effectively have been a long-term cut to university per student incomes by around a third.</p>
<p>A substantial rise in tuition fees in the near future towards £12,000 or £13,000 a year, as suggested by the founder of the University of Buckingham medical school <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11131489/University-bosses-call-tuition-fees-raised-40-13-000-year.html">Karol Sikora</a>, looks increasingly inevitable. </p>
<p>This is despite the government <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-education-funding-shake-up-what-it-means-for-students-and-universities-177778">setting out its current plans</a> for the future funding of higher education only in February this year. The government’s plans are for a lower salary threshold for student loan repayment, a longer term of repayment (40 years instead of 30), and the fee freeze. </p>
<p>So what would higher fees actually mean for students, and for taxpayers who ultimately subsidise higher education?</p>
<h2>More cost to the taxpayer</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01079/">average student loan</a> in 2021/22 was £46,000, consisting of approximately three years of full tuition fees at £9,250 a year and three years of maintenance loans at £6,000 a year. </p>
<p>Under <a href="https://www.student-loan-calculator.co.uk/">the current system</a>, a student earning a starting salary of £40,000 a year with annual pay rises of 2.5% would not pay off this loan. They would pay a total of £84,000 over 30 years, of which £54,000 was interest, and leave nearly £16,000 unpaid. </p>
<p>An increase in fees to a hypothetical figure of £13,000 a year would result in the same £84,000 worth of repayments over 30 years, but almost all of it would be the interest on the initial debt. £56,000 worth of debt would remain unpaid after 30 years, with the taxpayer footing the bill. Even with the repayment term extended to 40 years, £12,000 would remain unpaid and written off.</p>
<p>Of course, this assumes that maintenance loans (which cover students’ living costs) are not affected, which seems unreasonable in the current economic environment. The final debt figure and amount left unpaid is likely to be higher still. </p>
<p>However, loan repayments are notoriously difficult to estimate far into the future. Inflation, interest rates, increasing annual incomes and work and life expectancy changes all affect repayment calculations. </p>
<p>Under current loan repayment schedules only about <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01079/">20% of students</a> are expected to fully repay their student loan. This effectively morphs tuition fees and their associated loans into a graduate tax for everyone else. </p>
<p>The government’s planned changes to repayment schedules from 2023/24 would increase this to just over half of graduates fully repaying their debt, but this proportion would likely drop again if fees rise. </p>
<p>So increasing the nominal fee level would mean about half of graduates would pay more and over a longer time. But the other half would not actually be affected as they won’t fully pay off their debt even at the current fee level. Instead, it would shift more of the cost of higher education onto the taxpayer. </p>
<h2>Doubts about university</h2>
<p>Perhaps the greatest danger of increased fees would be that the higher debt and potentially higher lifetime repayments will put off talented young people from less advantaged backgrounds from going to university at all. We know that aversion to debt is stronger among those with <a href="https://www.llakes.ac.uk/publication/callender-c-and-mason-g-2017-does-student-loan-debt-deter-higher-education-participation-new-evidence-from-england-annals-of-american-political-and-social-science-vol-671-doi-org-10-1177/">lower family incomes</a>, and so there is a real danger for social mobility should fees be seen to be prohibitively high. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graduates in robes throwing mortarboards in the air" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482271/original/file-20220901-12-tq61jc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Increased fees might put poorer students off going to university.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-happy-graduates-throwing-graduation-hats-172074803">michaeljung/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>On the other hand, allowing the amount of income per student that universities receive to be eroded away by inflation, amid all the other increasing costs they face, is likely to lead to some universities having to cut back on places, cut courses, merge with other institutions or, in extreme cases, close their doors permanently. </p>
<p>These cutbacks would also be damaging for social mobility. If there are fewer universities and university places, the spots that remain are likely to disproportionately go to better-off students. </p>
<h2>Is it worth it?</h2>
<p>The question that is missing from popular discussion around tuition fees is: are degrees worth it? The answer to this question is key. It can change the perception of student debt immensely. </p>
<p>The short answer is yes. Even though students feel that the current cost of university is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/31/england-and-wales-university-fees-bad-value-for-money-survey">poor value for money</a>, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/924353/The_impact_of_undergraduate_degrees_on_early-career_earnings.pdf">graduating from university</a> continues to be beneficial. By age 29, men earn 8% more then their contemporaries who do not go to university. Women earn 28% more. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/uploads/R167-The-impact-of-undergraduate-degrees-on-lifetime-earnings.pdf">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a> estimated that even after taking higher taxes paid by graduates and loan repayments into account, the average financial return over a lifetime of doing a degree is £130,000 for men and £100,000 for women. These are substantial returns, and would dwarf the impact of a small increase in tuition fee costs, so lifetime returns are likely to remain high whatever happens to fees in the next few years. </p>
<p>This comes of course with the caveat that not all degrees will lead to the same return in earnings. Studying maths, medicine or economics is likely to result in significantly different earnings when compared to studying creative arts or social care. </p>
<p>The number of 18-year olds in the UK is estimated to <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationprojections/datasets/z1zippedpopulationprojectionsdatafilesuk">increase by 24 percent</a> between 2020 and 2030. This demographic boom will fuel increasing demand for higher education, and with the myriad cost pressures facing universities, something will have to give.</p>
<p>Given the returns still available, a rise in fees to support universities right now is perhaps the way to go rather than risking the financial collapse of a number of institutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Franz Buscha has previously received funding for research from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for Education. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Dickson currently receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and the Nuffield Foundation and in the past has received funding from the Department for Education, the European Union and the Low Pay Commission.</span></em></p>Higher fees might well be the best option.Franz Buscha, Professor of Economics and Quantitative Methods, University of WestminsterMatt Dickson, Reader in Public Policy, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884012022-08-18T11:54:17Z2022-08-18T11:54:17ZA-levels: A grades are up compared to pre-pandemic results<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479691/original/file-20220817-11662-syueee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C38%2C4400%2C3375&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fewer students are getting their first choice of university than in 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/female-college-students-celebrating-exam-results-763468420">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022 A-level results are in, and the number of students receiving A or A* grades <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/18/a-level-results-a-and-a-star-grades-fall-sharply">has fallen</a> – down by 8.4% on 2021. </p>
<p>For the first time since 2019, A-level results <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/ofquals-approach-to-grading-exams-and-assessments-in-summer-2022-and-autumn-2021">are being decided</a> by formal exams. Students <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ucas-alan-smithers-university-of-buckingham-higher-education-policy-institute-england-b2145311.html">were warned</a> that grades were likely to be lower than in 2020 and 2021, when cancelled exams and teacher assessments in A-levels led to record high results. Nevertheless, the proportion of students receiving A grades is up from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guide-to-as-and-a-level-results-in-england-summer-2022">pre-pandemic levels in 2019</a>. </p>
<p>A busy end to the admissions round is under way for universities and students, and the next steps for students still living with the impact of the pandemic are becoming clearer.</p>
<p>In 2021, some universities were <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-58176877">over subscribed</a> and had to offer significant incentives for students to defer their places. While the number of students in 2022 <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/record-progression-higher-education-exam-sitting-students">accepted on a UK university course</a> – 425,830 – is higher than in 2019 and the second highest on record, it is 2% lower than in 2021. Just a few days before the results were out, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/aug/14/about-28000-a-level-students-who-want-to-go-university-without-an-offer">thousands of students</a> did not yet hold an offer of an university place.</p>
<p>Over the past two years, students studying qualifications, whether BTEC, T-level or A-level, have had to cope with the consequences of the pandemic for a significant proportion of their course. This has included school closures and remote lessons, social isolation, illness and increased levels of mental stress.</p>
<h2>Highest number of applications</h2>
<p>Nevertheless, 2022 has seen the highest ever numbers of applications to higher education, with <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/record-applications-disadvantaged-students-higher-education">44% of 18 year olds</a> applying. This number includes record numbers of students from areas of the country with historically low participation in higher education. It demonstrates that many young people believe higher education can make a difference to their future opportunities. </p>
<p>For the lucky ones who get the grades to gain a place at their first choice of university, planning for their degree course starts right away. A record number of Scottish students have already been accepted to their <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/record-proportion-scottish-students-accepted-their-first-choice-university">first choice</a> of university. </p>
<p>The best advice for those students who don’t receive confirmation that they have been accepted by their first choice university is to ring the university, who will have staff on hand to explore their options. </p>
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<p>For students who haven’t got a university place, it is still possible to explore options <a href="https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/results-confirmation-and-clearing/what-clearing#how-do-i-apply-using-clearing-">though clearing</a> – which allows students without offers to find places on university courses that haven’t been fully subscribed. Students in this position should try to keep calm, write down their options and avoid quick decisions.</p>
<p>For those young people who do go to university, there will be challenges. With the cost of living for all rising rapidly, people on a lower income – as many students are – will feel the pinch of higher bills for food or rent. </p>
<h2>Support from universities</h2>
<p>The pandemic saw a serious and concerning rise in <a href="https://www.youngminds.org.uk/about-us/reports-and-impact/coronavirus-impact-on-young-people-with-mental-health-needs/">mental health issues</a> affecting young people. Universities need to be ready to give holistic support to students as they transition into university and settle into undergraduate life. This means support for academic transition needs to be delivered in the context of good available support for mental health and wellbeing. </p>
<p>However, Universities UK, an advocacy groups for universities, has recently <a href="https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/latest/insights-and-analysis/whats-degree-worth">pointed out</a> the wide range of benefits for those who study for a degree, including the £9,500 more per year on average graduates in England earn compared with non-graduates. It also draws attention to the value of degrees to improve the life chances of young people, to build skills and to contribute to society. </p>
<p>For many young people, getting a degree gives them access to a vocation such as teaching or working as a health professional. For others it is a path to travel and adventure. For many, the university journey is a place where young people find their tribe and begin to understand their identity.</p>
<p>For the class of 22, making it to university might mean life-changing opportunities. Given the challenges and restrictions of the last few years, this has never been more important.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188401/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helena Gillespie receives funding from the European Union.</span></em></p>The pandemic has has a serious impact on school pupils – but a record number have applied to university.Helena Gillespie, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Inclusion and Professor of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1820602022-06-27T08:15:41Z2022-06-27T08:15:41ZThe public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471069/original/file-20220627-19-v60bif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C455%2C5006%2C3337&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eton College, founded in 1440, is the largest boarding school in England.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/5-june-2019-windsor-uk-eton-1554469532">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some UK private schools appear to be taking advantage of their charitable status and the lax legal definition of “public benefit” by charging fees that are increasingly out of kilter with their ongoing costs.</p>
<p>Around 1,300 UK private schools, including the vast majority of the most prestigious private institutions, enjoy long-standing charitable status. This gives them substantial tax advantages but obliges them to use their charitable resources for public benefit.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211?journalCode=cbse20">research</a>, conducted over the last four years, focuses on how these schools acquire, sustain and use their wealth, and on the associated thin transparency and accountability regimes that have endured for more than a century. (Responses received are collated at the end of this article.)</p>
<p>We found that some of these schools have more than doubled their fees over the past two decades, which appears to indicate that they are pricing by what parents can pay, rather than their actual costs.</p>
<p>Charging very high fees while offering discounts (known as fee remissions) that mostly benefit the already-wealthy can be justified as lawfully charitable and delivering public benefit under the loose regulatory environment created by English charity law. Furthermore, the limited nature of the level and reach of fee remissions is often obscure, given their – quite legitimate – treatment in private schools’ financial accounts.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>This story is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> and is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects to tackle societal and scientific challenges.</em></p>
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<p>While less than 7% of pupils attend private schools in the UK, in <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/admissions-statistics/undergraduate-students/current/school-type">2020 more than 31%</a> of students at Oxford University were privately educated. This educational disparity is effectively subsidised by all UK taxpayers through a broad range of tax exemptions available to private schools with charitable status. The UK also subsidises universities by a roundabout route, meaning that privately educated students pay to get access to a state-subsidised system.</p>
<p>It is not possible to state with certainty how much the UK’s charitable private schools save through tax exemptions. However, a good estimate according to our research is around <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">£3 billion a year</a>. This equates to more than 6% of England’s total state school budget (£47.6 billion) in 2020-2021.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the UK parliament’s <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1581/financial-sustainability-of-schools-in-england/publications/">Public Accounts Committee</a> reported in March that severely straitened finances have seen many state schools in England narrowing their curriculum offerings, dropping subjects, cutting staff and reducing support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465293/original/file-20220525-14-g1t7fr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Brighton College commissioned a world-leading architectural firm to design its new Sports and Science Centre. Photograph: Laurian Ghinitoiu/OMA.</span>
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<h2>An air of exclusive luxury and privilege</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>At Millfield, a full range of academic and instrumental tuition is offered in a purpose-built Music School … Millfield is fortunate to have the Johnson Hall, our 350-seat Concert Hall with superb acoustics and a stage large enough to host a full orchestra and choir. The Johnson Hall Steinway D Piano was recently described by international artist Pascal Rogé as ‘among the ten best pianos I have ever performed on’. (Extracted from the <a href="https://www.millfieldschool.com/senior-13-16/the-arts/music">Millfield School website</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Music education is culturally and socially enriching for children, and deemed a vital part of a well-rounded education. Millfield, a high-fee private school in south-west England, is a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headmasters%27_and_Headmistresses%27_Conference">Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference</a> (HMC) – a powerful lobby group of private schools. Most HMC schools have similarly abundant music offerings.</p>
<p>These provisions stand in <a href="https://musiceducation.global/growing-divide-music-provision-in-state-and-independent-schools-in-england/">stark contrast</a> to the parlous music offering in state schools. A survey conducted by <a href="https://www.ukmusic.org/policy-campaigns/music-education/">UK Music</a> found that 50% of children at independent schools receive sustained music tuition, while the figure for state schools is 15%. Furthermore, 17% of “music creators” were educated at fee-paying schools, compared with 7% across the population as a whole.</p>
<p>The intellectual, cultural and social advantages accruing to private school students through music education are echoed in all other curriculum fields, from the performing arts to sport to STEM subjects.</p>
<p>UK private schools generally possess lavish facilities and infrastructure. <a href="https://www.brightoncollege.org.uk/news-and-events/articles/new-buildings/">Brighton College</a> commissioned a world-leading architect, <a href="https://www.oma.com/projects/brighton-college">OMA</a> – whose <a href="https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/landmark-oma-projects/">other buildings</a> include the London Design Museum and Moscow’s Museum of Contemporary Art – to design its new £55m Sports and Science Centre. Opened in 2020, it features: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a cinema-style auditorium linked up to science departments across the globe, 18 university-standard laboratories, six breakout spaces for personal research and tutorials, a 25-metre pool, a strength and conditioning suite, a rooftop running track with panoramic views, and a double-height sports hall. (Extracted from the <a href="https://www.brightoncollege.org.uk/news-and-events/articles/sports-and-science-centre/">Brighton College website</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A couple of miles down the road, <a href="https://www.roedean.co.uk/">Roedean School</a> noted of its refurbished boarding facilities in 2015 that “each house is adorned with artwork and a palette of House colours, and complemented with a mix of new and period furniture”. </p>
<p>Roedean has utilised its superlative facilities to create an air of exclusive luxury and privilege. In one annual report, the school quoted high-society magazine <a href="https://www.tatler.com/article/the-swankiest-boarding-house-in-the-world">Tatler’s</a> exclamation that “Roedean now has the swankiest boarding facilities in the country, perhaps in the universe”. Such abundance is a common feature of private schools’ marketing strategies.</p>
<p>The increasing asymmetries between state and private provision in the UK severely skew educational, cultural and <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elitist-Britain-2019.pdf">social outcomes</a>. Such disparities led Finland to outlaw charging for education nearly 50 years ago. In contrast, some UK private schools have used their charitable status and formidable networks to achieve a “virtuous money circle” that is effectively being subsidised by all UK taxpayers, while benefiting a small minority of predominantly wealthy families. And while they offer some fee remissions for those unable to pay their full fees, our research suggests these usually do little to make the schools less exclusive.</p>
<h2>Charitable status, public benefit and tax</h2>
<p>Charities in England must have charitable purposes, and for more than 400 years, English law has recognised education as such a purpose. Charities must also deliver public benefit with their resources – but this term is only loosely defined in law. This effectively permits private schools to allocate most of the benefits of their land, buildings, facilities and scholarships to a small group of significantly better-off families who can afford the school fees.</p>
<p>For a century or more, charities have been exempted from a broad range of taxes – a form of public expenditure known as “tax expenditures”. Rather than collecting taxes and then spending the money on public services, the government simply excuses certain classes of taxpayers (in this case, charitable private schools) from paying tax in the first place.</p>
<p>Such tax expenditures are largely invisible because they are not measured, and no specific budget allocations are made and subjected to parliamentary scrutiny. Private schools are, in practice, subject to little or no accountability with regards to the effectiveness or equity with which they use this cash.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Eton school pupils walking in street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465453/original/file-20220526-18-h2mlv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Students from private schools such as Eton are disproportionately represented at the UK’s top universities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/etonian-schoolboys-english-independent-boarding-school-1174007794">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Charitable resources intended for public benefit and the considerable tax savings enjoyed by many private schools help provide luxurious facilities. In turn, young people from families wealthy enough to pay the high fees generally gain disproportionate access to top universities and <a href="https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elitist-Britain-2019.pdf">subsequent life chances</a>, in part through the “<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/online-old-boy-networks-just-the-job-for-top-private-schools-xw8k5k0j9">old school tie</a>” networks.</p>
<p>Indeed, a representative of the Old Marlburian Association (the alumni association for Marlborough College) told <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/online-old-boy-networks-just-the-job-for-top-private-schools-xw8k5k0j9">The Times in 2019</a> that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Parents now expect that what they pay for is not just five years of teaching but lifetime membership to a special club. It’s the reason people decide to send their kids to public schools and not to the local academy, where they may very well perform better academically.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The fact that privately schooled students are remarkably over-represented at top universities is, in part, because these schools’ essential selection criterion is family income, which usually ensures that students already have considerable <a href="https://www.culturallearningalliance.org.uk/what-is-cultural-capital/">cultural capital</a>. Other selection criteria may include tests and interviews. </p>
<p>The schools’ wealth also gives their students significant advantages in terms of an abundant supply of quality curriculum materials, small class sizes and intensive teaching, plus a potential benefit from the schools’ ability to “<a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/private-schools-gamed-covid-rules-to-give-their-pupils-more-top-a-levels-6z0z6w9r5">game the system</a>”.</p>
<p>The fact that UK higher education is still significantly state-subsidised means, in effect, UK taxpayers continue to fund privately educated students during their university studies. Such students’ disproportionate representation is a serious opportunity-loss for state students, many of whose schools are suffering real financial hardship that negatively impacts their students’ educational and career outcomes.</p>
<h2>Private schools’ sources of income</h2>
<p>Private schools have three primary sources of income. </p>
<p><em>1. Fees</em></p>
<p>Fees charged to families are the major source of private schools’ income. Fees may not seem a legitimate public concern – people can spend their money as they please. But the links between fees and the schools’ charitable obligations need to be unpacked.</p>
<p>Private school fees are high relative to average UK incomes. In 2018, average annual fees in day and boarding schools were nearly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/apr/27/average-private-school-fees-rise-above-17000-a-year-for-first-time">£15,000 and £33,000</a> respectively. In real terms, fees have <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-charts-that-shows-how-private-school-fees-have-exploded-a7023056.html">more than doubled</a> over the last 25 years. These price points <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">serve to exclude</a> lower-income families. The fee increases also match marked rises in the disposable income of wealthier families in the UK, and the increased recruitment of students from wealthy overseas families – in particular from Russia and China.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">research</a> demonstrates, empirically, that many private schools charge much more than is strictly necessary for them to fulfil their charitable purposes of providing education. For example, comparing average day and boarding school fees by region, the differences between day fees in the cheapest and most expensive English regions could not be explained by costs alone. Specifically, while boarding school fee differentials (17%) were roughly equivalent to the difference in associated costs such as staffing, average day fees in the cheapest region were 35-40% lower than those in the most expensive.</p>
<p>Similarly, we found a stronger correlation between local <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/regionalaccounts/grossdisposablehouseholdincome">gross disposable household income</a> and day fees than with boarding fees. This suggests that day schools are particularly responsive to the disposable income levels in their catchment area.</p>
<p>But boarding school fees are also rising rapidly, as was highlighted in a recent <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boarding-school-fees-soar-to-50-000-a-year-jr0qnk5qk#">Sunday Times report</a> which suggested the average annual cost of sending a child to an English boarding school is now “approaching £50,000” due to planned fee increases for the next academic year.</p>
<p>The increasingly upmarket facilities of charitable private schools, such as those described earlier, may, in turn, be used to justify these rising fees. The vast majority of children from families with more modest incomes are excluded by this fee spiral from enjoying such facilities – which should, by law, be available for public benefit.</p>
<p><em>2. Tax reliefs</em></p>
<p>Private schools benefit financially from the tax exemptions that arise because of their charitable status. Their operating surpluses (profits) and capital gains (profits on the sales of investments including shares, land and facilities) are exempt from income tax, capital gains tax or corporation tax.</p>
<p>In England and Wales, private schools also receive an 80% discount on business rates (local taxes). Furthermore, they can claim 25% of all donations received (such as chancellor Rishi Sunak’s donations to his old school, Winchester College, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/05/rishi-sunak-and-wife-donate-over-100000-to-winchester-college">reportedly exceed £100,000</a>) from the tax authorities in <a href="https://www.cafonline.org/my-personal-giving/plan-your-giving/individual-giving-account/how-does-it-work/gift-aid#:%7E:text=Gift%20Aid%20is%20a%20scheme,donation%20from%20your%20own%20funds.">gift aid</a>.</p>
<p>This suite of tax exemptions arose principally from a legal and public <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">campaign</a> conducted by the Headmasters’ Conference in the early 20th century, and have remained largely unquestioned ever since. Charities that provide education are also, under a 1977 EU Directive, exempt from charging VAT, while bequests to schools are exempt from inheritance tax.</p>
<p>The total scale of these tax expenditures is mostly unknown. The <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keir-starmer-labour-private-schools-b1927130.html">Labour Party</a> estimated the annual value of VAT forgone by the state from charitable private schools was £1.6 billion in 2019. In 2021, it estimated the annual value of these schools’ business rates discount and income tax relief to be around <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2021-09-26/tax-private-schools-to-raise-17bn-for-state-education-sir-keir-starmer-says">£100m</a> and £700m respectively. In all, we estimate the total value of private school tax exemptions could be in the region of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2020.1751226?journalCode=rcse20">£3 billion</a> a year.</p>
<p><em>3. Investments and donations</em></p>
<p>Many private schools derive substantial income from invested funds and donations. Some of this income is derived from related charities whose purpose is to fund specific private schools, but which are separate for legal and accounting purposes. Whatever the source, this income is charitable in nature and must legally be used for public benefit.</p>
<p>In some cases, private schools hold significant investment portfolios accumulated over long periods of time. For example, the published financial accounts of Eton College and Winchester College show they have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">total reserves</a> of £323,000 and £526,000 per pupil respectively.</p>
<p>In law, such investments must have a charitable purpose. Yet Eton, despite fees of £42,500 per student, still has to use investment income to help fund its spend on education. In reply to a request for comment on this article, the school confirmed: “The amount Eton spends on education is not met fully by fee income; a significant proportion of that expenditure comes from income from our endowment.” This means the school uses income from charitable assets to subsidise educational provision that it already generously funds through fees.</p>
<p><em>Sources of donations and fees</em></p>
<p>Across the private school sector as a whole, it is worth considering whether the sources of donations and fees are always legitimate, and if the potential exists for <a href="https://qz.com/1392063/money-laundering-in-the-uk-private-schools-in-the-crosshairs/">money laundering</a>. In 2018, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) asserted that money is <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5a2ab2a4-b83b-11e8-b3ef-799c8613f4a1">being filtered through British private schools</a>, and criticised schools for failing to flag suspicious payments to the government. </p>
<p>The recent <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/03/07/britains-private-schools-face-funding-shortfall-sanctions-wealthy/">sanctions</a> placed on Russian citizens following the invasion of Ukraine again put a spotlight on the sources of school fees and donations – there are some 2,300 Russian children currently studying in UK private schools. However, these schools are not legally obliged to report suspected money laundering, and may also have limited capacity to carry out checks.</p>
<h2>How private schools use their income</h2>
<p>UK private schools are, on the whole, replete with financial resources. Because they are charities, they cannot pay out dividends (they have no shareholders) and their freely available (“free”) reserves must, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284727/rs3text.pdf">in law</a>, only be sufficient to enable them to carry out their charitable objectives. </p>
<p>Their remaining “restricted” reserves are funds that are held for charitable purposes – such as saving for a new building or funding bursaries. But charity law and <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284727/rs3text.pdf">accompanying guidance</a> are not prescriptive, and simply require trustees to formulate reserves policies that justify a target level of reserves, and explain how they intend to achieve that target.</p>
<p>The accounting firm <a href="https://www.bdo.co.uk/en-gb/insights/industries/not-for-profit/charity-reserves-review#:%7E:text=On%20average%2C%20charities%20were%20found,the%20sector%20as%20a%20whole.">BDO</a> has suggested that, across all charities, reserves policies are far from satisfactory. In the case of private schools’ accumulated reserves, there appears to be little action (or appetite) from the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/charity-commission">Charity Commission</a> to address this issue. In short, these charitable schools are free to accumulate cash and have significant discretion as to how it is used.</p>
<p>One way to absorb cash that cannot be reasonably kept as free reserves is to incorporate it into more facilities of the type described earlier. Investment in <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/education/increase-in-private-education-fees-is-driving-out-middleclass-families-a3240636.html">luxurious infrastructure projects</a> appeals to the schools’ target markets, potentially enabling them to charge even higher fees.</p>
<p>While a detailed analysis of schools’ expenditure on infrastructure is problematic, due to the unpredictable nature of such expenditure and the difficulty in distinguishing it from normal infrastructure renewal, the rise in private schools’ total <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-charts-that-shows-how-private-school-fees-have-exploded-a7023056.html">annual capital expenditure</a> from £247m in 1997 to £771m in 2013 (the latest reliable figure) supports this analysis.</p>
<h2>What constitutes adequate provision for ‘the poor’?</h2>
<p>English law requires that charities provide benefits to at least a significant section of the public. However, the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/589796/Public_benefit_analysis_of_the_law.pdf">Charity Commission</a> advises that what constitutes “significant” is a matter of judgment.</p>
<p>In a landmark case in 2011, the UK’s Upper Tribunal <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-law-journal/article/public-schools-for-public-benefit/92A67B8BF2A587E8DDBADE8453D2D45F">ruled</a> that the law “requires that those who benefit from the charity’s purpose must be sufficiently numerous to constitute ‘a section of the public’”. While school-age children obviously constitute a significant part of the public, fee levels exclude a very large proportion of them. How, then, are private schools not in breach of their public benefit obligations?</p>
<p>The Upper Tribunal ruled that, in making adequate provision for “the poor”, consideration should be given as to whether the charity in question provides a “luxury” service. Its judgment stated that, while the provision of luxury facilities is no bar to charitable status, there is a greater onus on private schools to demonstrate how they provide a public benefit.</p>
<p>However, Charity Commission advice does not prescribe any limits either to the degree of luxury which may be provided, or the maximum level of charges. And the Upper Tribunal ruled that “the poor” does not just include those who meet official definitions of poverty. Its definition extended to those of “modest means” – defined as those who could not afford the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/589796/Public_benefit_analysis_of_the_law.pdf">school’s full fees</a>. Given the current high levels of school fees, such families may be far from poor by official measures. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-abolishing-private-schools-really-make-a-difference-to-equality-124141">Would abolishing private schools really make a difference to equality?</a>
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<p>Crucially, decisions as to what constitutes adequate provision for “the poor” are at the discretion of individual school trustees. Charitable private schools stay on just the right side of a fuzzy legal line in deciding who benefits from the resources they generate from fees and other income sources, such as tax reliefs and investment income.</p>
<p>But, these schools were given <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-law-journal/article/abs/public-schools-for-public-benefit/92A67B8BF2A587E8DDBADE8453D2D45F">short shrift</a> by the Upper Tribunal in 2011 for arguing that, simply by relieving the state of the cost of educating their students, they were delivering public benefit. And while many private schools allow local communities to use their facilities, such as swimming pools, the Upper Tribunal stressed this does not provide public benefit as it has no direct educational purpose. With its more recent plans to <a href="https://staracademies.org/news-story/star-academies-signs-partnership-agreement-with-eton-college/">sponsor selective academy schools</a>, Eton College might fare better on perceived public benefit provision.</p>
<h2>Who qualifies for private schools’ reduced fees?</h2>
<p>Mostly, charitable private schools seek to demonstrate their public benefit through fee remissions and complete exemptions. These may be means-tested, awarded based on academic, musical or sporting talent, or given as discounts for families with more than one child at the school, or to the children of staff. Again, these decisions are at the trustees’ discretion, within the law.</p>
<p>In 2011, the Upper Tribunal set no minimum level of total fee remissions, stipulating only that it must be more than “merely token”. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">Our analysis</a> reveals that in 2018-19, UK private schools awarded fee remissions totalling just over £1 billion to 176,234 out of their 537,315 students. Analysis of all fee remissions awarded by the 192 HMC schools in 2019 shows a median value of 10.4% of total fees.</p>
<p>Of this £1 billion, some £440m – 44% of the total fee remissions – was means-tested. The proportion of fees discounted on this basis ranged from 1.7% to 15%, with the median at just 5.1% (for the 142 HMC schools where the means-tested split could be identified). In all, our research shows the means-tested £440m was shared between 44,395 students – an average of around £1,000 a head. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="External view of St Paul's School" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465455/original/file-20220526-22-y6jf17.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">St Paul’s School offers fee assistance to families with an annual household income of less than £120,000.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-united-kingdom-on-6th-july-1128947594">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Just 6,118 – 1.1% of all private school students – received a full scholarship, and a further 2.1% received fee remissions in excess of 75% of fees. Of the schools contacted during the writing of this article, <a href="https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/">St Paul’s School</a> highlighted that 80% of its 147 bursaries are for between 75%-100% of the fees, and Eton highlighted that in the 2020-21 academic year, 90 of the 261 boys receiving fee remissions paid no fees at all. According to our research, these are uncharacteristically high percentages compared with the national average.</p>
<p>Importantly, while private schools may be proud of their scholarship provision, most provide no data on the demographic profiles of recipient students, making it impossible to evaluate the extent to which these benefit less well-off families. And given the high levels of fees, most students in receipt of means-tested fee remissions will still require very substantial family contributions.</p>
<p>For instance, St Paul’s offers fee assistance to families with an annual household income of less than £120,000, which can arguably be justified when the definition of “modest means” is being unable to afford fees of around £27,000 a year out of post-tax income.</p>
<p>Charging very high fees and giving fee remissions which mostly benefit those who could be considered to be already wealthy can certainly be justified as lawfully charitable and as delivering public benefit. But this is because of the loose regulatory environment created by charity law and associated accounting rules, and because of a simple lack of public transparency and accountability in the system. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/get-rid-of-private-schools-wed-be-better-tackling-inequalities-between-state-schools-121805">Get rid of private schools? We'd be better tackling inequalities between state schools</a>
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<p>Furthermore, the limited nature of the level and reach of fee remissions may be obscured by their – quite legitimate – treatment in private schools’ financial accounts. For example, if full fees are £15,000 per year and a 50% deduction is awarded, the schools show (either on the face of the Income & Expenditure account or in a note) gross fees of £15,000 and the remission of £7,500 as a deduction from that figure. However, the additional cost to the school of teaching that pupil is likely to be lower than the valuation placed on the fee remission, because schools’ costs are largely fixed or stepped (for example, when an extra teacher is required). But there is, of course, an opportunity cost to the school of replacing a full-fee place with a student paying a reduced fee.</p>
<p>There is a relative dearth of accountability around the finances of charitable private schools, despite the public funding they receive through tax reliefs and their public benefit obligations. The UK government collects no data on the value of tax expenditures received by the schools, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2022.2026211">our analysis</a> of the (limited) scale and distribution of private school scholarships was <a href="https://www.parallelparliament.co.uk/debate/2021-05-26/lords/lords-chamber/dormant-assets-bill-hl">highlighted in the House of Lords</a> in May 2021 as a cause for concern.</p>
<p>Discussing the private school sector, Andrew (Baron) Adonis said in his <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2021-05-26/debates/47D12772-75FC-4FE5-858B-A76E7D829F1C/DormantAssetsBill(HL)">speech</a> that “what starts off as a hugely privileged sector, even in the work that it does that is supposed to be charitable – in relieving fees and giving access to these charitable assets – is not meeting those objectives”.</p>
<h2>So what could be done?</h2>
<p>The financing of the UK’s charitable private schools is a matter of public interest and concern. These schools have public benefit obligations regarding their use of charitable assets, yet some fees indicate that private schools are indulging in market pricing, excluding nearly all but the wealthiest from any charitable benefit. In addition, the schools receive substantial benefits by being exempt from a wide range of taxes.</p>
<p>Given the current state school funding crisis, it can be argued that educational resources are being misapplied as a result of private schools’ charitable status, exacerbating educational inefficiencies and social injustice. For anyone seeking to address these issues, our research leads us to the following conclusions:</p>
<p>(1) The UK government should introduce robust systems of transparency and accountability for charitable private schools, regarding how their charitable assets are used and by whom, and the extent and distribution of the tax reliefs the schools enjoy. For example, private schools could be required to report demographic data on the recipients of their public benefits along with the results of independent stakeholders’ evaluations. Collated nationally, such data would provide an important input into debates on education funding.</p>
<p>(2) The UK government should also consider withdrawing the tax exemptions enjoyed by these schools (Scotland has already withdrawn their business rates discounts). In 2020-21, total spending on state schools in England and Wales was £47.6 billion. If tax exemptions for private schools, were removed, the resulting increased taxes could be redistributed to state schools, increasing their <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics/2020-21">budget</a> by around 6%, thereby making a significant contribution to the government’s levelling up agenda.</p>
<p>(3) The charity status of these private schools should be reviewed. They are, for the most part, elite organisations delivering a paid-for and exclusive product. The extent to which this meets public perceptions of “charity” is questionable. Of course, removal of charitable status would mean making new arrangements for the assets the schools hold, as they could not legally retain control of charitable assets such as investments and buildings. Control of these assets might be transferred to, say, a national education trust for the benefit of all UK school students. In part, this could be achieved by renting back the buildings and facilities to the private schools where they are located, with the rental income raised then being distributed throughout the state school system.</p>
<p>(4) Finally, higher education policies on university access need to specifically address issues associated with the disproportionate representation of private school students. The UK government has, for some time, devoted considerable resources to widening higher education participation, with its main policies encouraging disadvantaged students to gain access and achieve success. Such policies effectively ignore the opportunity costs borne by state educated students because of charitable private schools’ tax exemptions and other benefits.</p>
<p>Any attempts to effect change will, however, inevitably be met with significant pushback. Over at least two centuries, the UK’s private schools have successfully mobilised charity and tax law to their advantage. Yet this exercise of power is effectively invisible to wider public view, due to the complexity of legal linguistics and processes, the pseudo-objectivity of the law, and the failure of parliament to make public expenditure on private education a matter of regular debate and accountability.</p>
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<h2>Responses to this article</h2>
<p>All schools named in this article were offered the opportunity to comment on its key findings. The following schools offered comments, which are summarised here:</p>
<p><strong>Eton College</strong></p>
<p>“The amount Eton spends on education is not met fully by fee income; a significant proportion of that expenditure comes from income from our endowment. In our last financial year to 31 August 2021, Eton spent £7.081m on financial aid. 261 boys at Eton (19%) received fee reductions; 90 of these boys paid no fees at all. This year, that number is 103. </p>
<p>"We work with a number of external partners, including the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Bursary Foundation, to ensure that our bursary programmes reach those who would most benefit. Since we are heavily oversubscribed by parents willing to pay the full fee, these costs are real costs, which we are proud to meet.</p>
<p>"Eton also has a large and expanding partnership programme. We are about to open three new state sixth-form colleges in partnership with Star Academies, which Eton will help to fund in perpetuity. We file detailed annual accounts with the Charity Commission. These are scrutinised by our Audit Committee and by our full governing body, in addition to being externally audited. Our Reserves Policy is set out in our published accounts.”</p>
<p><strong>St Paul’s School</strong></p>
<p>“Our Governors and committees are very engaged on reserve levels, public benefit and accountability – our parents expect it. For the next academic year, we are looking at a fee increase of 3.5%. This increase follows the decision of the governors to increase all staff salaries by 3%, with an additional amount for lower-paid staff members in order to meet cost-of-living increases. The Governors have a stated commitment to try to restrain our fee increases to remain in line with, or below, inflation.</p>
<p>"Fees rebates were provided during the first term of COVID remote learning (summer 2020) and again in the 2021 spring term (which many parents donated back to our bursary appeal). Regarding families with modest incomes being excluded from fee remissions, 80% of our bursaries are for 75-100% bursaries, meaning the majority of the 147 bursaries currently awarded are for those most in need. Fee remissions are shown as a deduction from gross fee income in the notes to the accounts, and then the remissions coming from restricted donations are added back – our understanding is that this is the same for all independent schools.</p>
<p>"In terms of ‘free reserves’ (reserves which are immediately available to spend), the school has none because our unrestricted reserves are tied up in buildings which, as you will understand, are not immediately realisable. As a charitable foundation we are not driven by profit, but equally we are committed to maintaining the resources of the school and the high educational provision which we were founded in 1509 to provide. Our partnership work through the West London Partnership – which we established – is substantial and growing.”</p>
<p><strong>Roedean School</strong></p>
<p>“In terms of our boarding facilities, the houses were in dire need of refurbishment as they had not been refurbished for many years and also required structural work to the building. Any residential accommodation needs to meet the required standards for boarding. We do put pupils’ artwork on the walls and House colours (red, blue, green, yellow) are used in the Houses, along with furniture (new and old). The Houses are the girls’ ‘homes’ and we want all girls to feel at home here. Tatler’s quotation reflects their magazine’s style.”</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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</ul>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malcolm James is affiliated with the Labour Party, but has not done any paid or unpaid work for them in this area. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Kenway receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Boden is a member of the Labour Party. </span></em></p>The tax exemptions enjoyed by the UK’s charitable private schools are estimated to equate to 6% of England’s annual state school budgetMalcolm James, Head of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversityJane Kenway, Emeritus Professor, Monash University. Professorial Fellow, Melbourne University., Monash UniversityRebecca Boden, Chair Professor, New Social Research, Tampere UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817382022-04-21T16:09:11Z2022-04-21T16:09:11ZHow a new GCSE in natural history can help us towards a greener future<p>The UK’s education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has announced the launch of a <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/education/government-new-natural-history-gcse-wildlife-climate-change-1585522">GCSE in natural history</a>, a key part of helping bring back the study of plants and animals into the lives of young people. Long championed by the environmentalist <a href="http://www.curlewmedia.com/">Mary Colwell</a>, this qualification is welcome.</p>
<p>The world is facing both a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis, each resulting from the damaging effects of our species on the natural world. The UK is among the most <a href="https://nbn.org.uk/stateofnature2019/">nature-depleted countries</a> on Earth – even its national parks are <a href="https://www.nationalparksengland.org.uk/home/about-national-parks-england/policy/our-work-pages2/agriculture">mostly farmland</a>. Despite this, a psychological phenomenon known as <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1794">shifting baseline syndrome</a> means that limited personal experience of change, particularly as people grow up, results in a lack of awareness of the sheer volume and diversity of animals and plants that have been lost in recent generations.</p>
<p>Not only that, but around 83% of people in the UK now live in urban areas. Children growing up in towns and cities have less exposure to nature, what is there is less likely to be wild, and they experience fewer opportunities to roam in green space than previous generations. Some argue that this disconnection from nature is associated with a range of <a href="http://richardlouv.com/blog/what-is-nature-deficit-disorder">mental and physical health issues</a>. This means that generations are becoming further <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-the-economics-of-biodiversity-the-dasgupta-review">isolated</a> from nature, just as the world needs people with the ecological literacy to enable them to address the environmental challenges of coming decades.</p>
<h2>Overwhelming support</h2>
<p>The new GCSE in natural history is an opportunity to put this right. The examination board <a href="https://teach.ocr.org.uk/summary-of-findings?hsLang=en-gb">consultation</a> that informed thinking about the qualification showed that an overwhelming proportion (91%) of responders agreed that a GCSE with the purpose of helping pupils gain deeper insights into the flora and fauna of life on Earth, and how this biodiversity affects us and how we affect it. Importantly, 94% of young people surveyed said that they would like to study a qualification like this. </p>
<p>At the same time the consultation pointed to some challenges. These include restrictions on curriculum time and staff, funding, perceptions of value, lack of recognition, and access for those with special needs or who can’t easily access outdoor spaces. To actually deliver this GCSE teachers will need to understand how it links to other subject specialisms where elements may <a href="https://theconversation.com/ever-wondered-what-our-curriculum-teaches-kids-about-climate-change-the-answer-is-not-much-123272#:%7E:text=Explicit%2520links%2520to%2520the%2520topic%2520of%2520climate%2520change,optional%2520depending%2520on%2520the%2520school%2520and%2520year%2520group.">traditionally or not traditionally</a> have been taught, and how it fits into the wider timetable.</p>
<h2>Seeing the connections of nature</h2>
<p>Practical issues aside, engaging young people in their natural environments not only allows them to develop their <a href="https://www.eco-capabilities.co.uk/publications">eco-capabilities</a>, it also influences how they learn. It provides opportunities to connect place and science through problem-based education, encouraging people to think of the natural world as an interconnected system with lots of moving parts. It is only by seeing the connections of nature, how our pulling at threads in the web of life endangers more than individual species, that we can understand the looming threats and ways of avoiding them. As a boundary-crossing subject, natural history can be a test bed for interdisciplinary learning for children, their teachers and leaders.</p>
<p>The UK government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainability-and-climate-change-strategy">Strategy for Sustainability and Climate Change</a> advocates four strategic aims focused first on education itself, and then how education can help deliver our need to meet net zero carbon, to be resilient to climate change and to improve biodiversity and environmental quality. These are linked by the ambitious vision for the “United Kingdom to be the world-leading education sector in sustainability and climate change by 2030”, where education is the starting point for sustained change and adaptation, not only to encourage societal change but also as we build the skills base for a green economy.</p>
<p>This ambition is supported by two key initiatives to drive the strategy forward: the National Education Nature Park and Climate Leaders Award, which have recently put out to <a href="https://bidstats.uk/tenders/2022/W15/772669884">tender</a>. The former aims to greatly increase biodiversity on nursery, school and college grounds, while the latter seeks to recognise and support the tremendous efforts of young people to engage with environmental issues. This government is encouraging other bodies to engage with environmental education. For example, our university is involved in a <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/planet/climate-education/climate-ambassador-scheme">Climate Ambassadors Scheme</a> which connects climate experts with schools, allowing teachers and governors to make specific requests for world-leading researchers and professionals to help and advise them.</p>
<p>It is easy to be pessimistic in the face of daily reports of ecological loss. Some will say this is too little, too late. We say that this is a once in a generation opportunity to change the future for the better. Given the enormous environmental challenges the world faces, there is no alternative to education if we are to navigate our way to becoming a more sustainable and biodiverse country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Fellowes has received funding from NERC and BBSRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jo Anna Reed Johnson 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>Children often aren’t aware of how much has been lost in recent generations.Mark Fellowes, Professor of Ecology, University of ReadingJo Anna Reed Johnson, Lecturer in Science Education, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1694332021-11-02T10:54:34Z2021-11-02T10:54:34ZWould a longer school day help children catch up after the pandemic? Here’s what the evidence says<p>COVID-induced <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-school-closures-whats-the-evidence-154210">school closures</a> in 2020 resulted in the majority of pupils in England – at primary and secondary level – missing around 40 days of school on site. Schools around the globe were similarly affected, though to different extents. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/the-state-of-school-education_201dde84-en">recent figures</a> from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development show, in the first 12 months of the pandemic, 1.5 billion students in 188 countries and economies weren’t able to go to school, for varying lengths of time. Figures from the Netherlands and Ireland are similar to those in England. In Denmark, students missed closer to 20 days, whereas the numbers are much higher in Costa Rica (close to 180 days) and Colombia (around 150 days). </p>
<p>While most English schools during this time provided some form of remote education, these closures nonetheless resulted in <a href="https://covidandsociety.com/https-covidandsociety-com-ippo-rapid-evidence-review-uk-school-closures-children-covid-19-pandemic/">learning losses</a>. As a result, amid the UK government’s plans for <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-school-recovery-is-englands-1-4-billion-catch-up-plan-a-good-idea-162020">post-COVID school recovery</a>, the Department for Education has reportedly discussed <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56311723">extending the school day</a>, by possibly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/01/dfe-considering-return-of-sats-at-14-and-axing-teaching-hours-limits">lifting the existing cap</a> on the number of hours state school teachers can be asked to work. </p>
<p>International evidence seems to suggest that, in some instances, a longer school day may be beneficial. <a href="https://inee.org/resources/catch-programmes-10-principles-helping-learners-catch-and-return-learning">A report</a> by the United Nations-led Accelerated Education Working Group has proposed multiple ways to deal with pandemic-induced learning losses. These range from extending teaching time to implementing formal catch-up programmes with remedial education for struggling pupils. Extending teaching time was proposed as an appropriate strategy when pupils have missed out on up to one year of education.</p>
<p>Moreover, studies such as those conducted in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654310377086?journalCode=rera">the US and Canada</a> and in <a href="https://irle.berkeley.edu/long-term-gains-from-longer-school-days/">Chile</a> support the idea that extending instructional time could help pupils, both in the short and long term. They would benefit both academically (in terms of achieving higher test scores and higher educational attainment) and socio-economically (their future earnings would be higher). </p>
<p>However, a review of studies in Latin America and the Caribbean noted that, despite these benefits, there may be <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22183">more cost-effective ways</a> to attain similar results. An additional and important consideration would be the psychological cost to teachers.</p>
<h2>Overburdened workforce</h2>
<p>Of course, a longer school day means more teaching hours. And that raises the question of whether asking teachers to extend their working day is a reasonable request. </p>
<p>According to government <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1022624/School_teachers__pay_and_conditions_document_2021_and_guidance_on_school_teachers__pay_and_conditions.pdf">guidelines</a>, teachers at state schools in England can be asked to teach up to a maximum of 1,265 hours over 195 days of the year. This number does not include additional hours required for tasks, such as lesson planning, assessing, monitoring, recording, and reporting. </p>
<p>Data from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2020.1736616">four surveys</a> shows that, pre-pandemic, an average full-time teacher in England worked 50 hours a week in term time and around four hours a week during the holidays. There are certainly outliers, including 10% of full-time teachers who reported working at least 30 hours per week over the summer and half-term holidays and 15 hours over the Christmas holidays. The researchers also found that the number of reported working hours had not decreased over 25 years. In fact, teachers in England have been found to work longer hours than <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk//33612/1/TALIS_2018_research.pdf">most other countries</a>, with lower secondary school teachers working around eight hours more per week</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://lisaekim.com/projects">ongoing research</a> into what being a teacher during the pandemic has been like shows teachers feel frustrated. The participants we have interviewed have relayed <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/65k8q/">their distress</a> at how the media and some sections of the public have portrayed their profession as lazy. </p>
<p>And the numbers bear out their frustration at that misguided impression. A survey conducted in June/July 2020 by the UK charity Education Support found that 31% of teachers and 70% of senior school leaders reported working more than 51 hours per week <a href="https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index/">on average</a>. </p>
<p>Since March 2020, many teachers across the globe have had to oscillate between partial school closures, partial reopenings and full reopenings. To adapt, they have had to rapidly learn new skills in order to be able to teach pupils from home. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl wearing turquoise headphones studies online" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428256/original/file-20211025-17-np284d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/428256/original/file-20211025-17-np284d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428256/original/file-20211025-17-np284d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428256/original/file-20211025-17-np284d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428256/original/file-20211025-17-np284d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428256/original/file-20211025-17-np284d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/428256/original/file-20211025-17-np284d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As well as supporting their students’ learning during lockdown, teachers saw to their wellbeing and welfare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/cute-smiling-african-school-kid-girl-1850820085">insta_photos</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They have also done a lot more than just teach. They have regularly called, and in some cases visited, pupils and their families to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12381">assess and meet</a> their academic and welfare needs. Given the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2021.1918014">ongoing uncertainty</a> of the situation, it is not surprising that we found that our teacher participants’ mental health and wellbeing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12450">had declined</a> over the course of the pandemic. </p>
<p>While there may be benefits to pupils in extending the school day, one must be wary of the costs this would incur to teachers’ mental health and wellbeing. Students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101714">would not benefit</a> from being taught by teachers who are stressed and burned out. For any educational recovery plan <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/there-will-be-no-recovery-without-empowered-motivated-and-effective-teachers">to be effective</a>, it is important to consider teachers’ needs and perspectives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169433/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Kim received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for the "Being a teacher in England during the COVID-19" project and "Teachers reflect: What has it been like being a teacher during COVID-19?" project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Asbury received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for the "Being a teacher in England during the COVID-19" project.</span></em></p>More hours of teaching might benefit children’s recovery in the short term but put teachers under dangerous pressure.Lisa E. Kim, Lecturer in Psychology in Education, University of YorkKathryn Asbury, Professor of Psychology in Education, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1669322021-10-14T08:12:37Z2021-10-14T08:12:37ZDisabled children still face exclusion in PE – here’s what needs to change<p>Children between the ages of five and 18 should do a minimum of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/physical-activity-guidelines-uk-chief-medical-officers-report">60 minutes of exercise a day</a> across the week, according to UK government recommendations. And physical education (PE) is, of course, one of the main ways in which both primary and secondary schools meet these guidelines. </p>
<p>As disabled children are more likely to be <a href="https://bmcsportsscimedrehabil.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13102-015-0016-7">sedentary</a>, it’s particularly important that they can take part in school exercise. Surveys <a href="https://www.sportanddev.org/sites/default/files/downloads/efds_active_together_report.pdf">have also shown</a> that most disabled children would like to be able to take part in PE more often. Yet our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2021.1907551">latest research</a>, assisted by recently retired academic and former Paralympic athlete <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/stuart-braye">Dr Stuart Braye</a>, shows that disabled children attending mainstream schools still experience many difficulties in joining in with PE lessons.</p>
<p>At the first world conference on <a href="https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/salamanca-statement-and-framework.pdf">special needs education</a> held in Spain, in 1994, representatives of 92 countries declared that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17408989.2019.1571183">inclusive education was the right</a> of all children. It should be the norm in all schools, they said. </p>
<p>Nearly three decades on, however, <a href="https://www.allfie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/AccessibityPlans-report-EMBARGOED.pdf">personal accounts</a> of <a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-are-failing-pupils-with-special-needs-despite-best-efforts-of-dedicated-staff-123400">social isolation</a> and non-inclusive mainstream education show that school, for many children with disabilities, is anything but inclusive. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Primary school children climb on gymnastics equipment" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426175/original/file-20211013-27-17kerq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426175/original/file-20211013-27-17kerq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426175/original/file-20211013-27-17kerq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426175/original/file-20211013-27-17kerq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426175/original/file-20211013-27-17kerq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426175/original/file-20211013-27-17kerq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426175/original/file-20211013-27-17kerq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ensuring that classes and equipment both are adaptable to varying degrees of physical disability is crucial.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/school-children-climbing-gymnasium-equipment-216579763">Air Images | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Inclusive PE</h2>
<p>This is especially true for PE. In 2015, <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000235409">UNESCO</a> called for all educational establishments to ensure that inclusive, adaptive and safe opportunities to participate in PE be provided for disabled children. Yet despite advances in disability equality legislation both <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/RightsOfDisabledPersons.aspx">on a global level</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance">in the UK</a> specifically, this has long <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1034912X.2018.1435852">not been the case</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1034912X.2018.1435852">Research</a> has consistently shown that disabled children experience a less-than-welcoming attitude in mainstream school PE. They don’t have access to the right equipment, they feel marginalised and excluded by both non-disabled peers and teachers. Crucially, PE teachers are not adequately trained to support their needs.</p>
<h2>Inadequate teacher training</h2>
<p>Studies also show that PE teachers feel <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17408980802400502">under prepared</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1356336X11413183">ill-equipped</a> to include disabled children in PE lessons. In our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2021.1907551">recent study</a>, for which we interviewed families of disabled children, PE teachers and teacher training providers, we found evidence that initial teacher training (ITT) programmes are inadequate. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A paralympic blade runner on an athletics track" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426194/original/file-20211013-21-cbpikk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426194/original/file-20211013-21-cbpikk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426194/original/file-20211013-21-cbpikk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426194/original/file-20211013-21-cbpikk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426194/original/file-20211013-21-cbpikk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426194/original/file-20211013-21-cbpikk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426194/original/file-20211013-21-cbpikk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The growing popularity of paralympic sports has not translated into daily support for children with disabilities to access PE.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/explosive-start-athlete-handicap-stadium-288632147">sportpoint</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the main reasons for this is that the once popular four-year bachelor of education courses have for many been replaced by one-year ITT courses. As a result, the inclusion of disabled children is only covered superficially. </p>
<p>PE teaching professionals also revealed that ITT provision interprets the term “inclusion” in the broadest possible sense. This means that disability becomes one among many equality issues to be covered as part of a full curriculum.</p>
<p>Our respondents said that the opportunity to work with disabled children during training is essential. Doing a placement within a school that caters to disabled pupils, particularly a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-british-government-is-failing-pupils-with-special-needs-heres-how-to-change-that-118143">special-needs school</a>, would give student teachers the chance to build competence and confidence to develop appropriate inclusion strategies. Instead, our respondents said, many ITT work placements do not introduce trainee teachers to disabled children at all.</p>
<p>More input from disabled people into PE teacher training would also be beneficial. None of the participants in our study had ever heard of a disabled PE teacher. Indeed, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/09687599.2020.1867074">research shows</a> only 0.5% of the teaching workforce reports having disabilities. </p>
<p>Yet none of our study participants could think of any reason why a disabled person could not complete a PE teacher training qualification and practice as a PE teacher. Perhaps this is what it would take to ensure inclusive education, and inclusive PE, becomes a reality for all children with disabilities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Inclusive education has been promoted since the 1970s. But research shows children with disabilities are still excluded from school activities and sports in particularTom Gibbons, Senior Lecturer in Sport & Exercise, Teesside UniversityKevin Dixon, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1694402021-10-07T15:29:57Z2021-10-07T15:29:57ZBoris Johnson wants to pay Stem teachers a £3,000 premium – research shows incentives don’t work<p>The only policy announcement Boris Johnson made in his Conservative <a href="https://theconversation.com/boris-johnson-fails-the-showman-to-statesman-test-in-party-conference-speech-169150">party conference speech</a>, as many have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/06/sole-new-policy-in-boris-johnsons-speech-is-recycled-from-2019">pointed out</a>, was a £3,000 “levelling-up premium” for teachers. The idea, to entice maths, physics, chemistry and computing teachers to take jobs in schools serving disadvantaged areas, sounds plausible. And being taught by specialist teachers could encourage young people to enter relevant careers. But will it work? </p>
<p>These new incentives are not intended to attract more people into teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects - merely to move existing specialist teachers to new areas. So the first issue to consider is whether there are enough teachers in these Stem <a href="https://theconversation.com/stem-efforts-to-inspire-more-children-could-be-entrenching-educational-inequalities-119948">subjects</a>.</p>
<p>If there is no overall surplus nationally, then enticing teachers to some areas might leave other areas understaffed. That could result in a fairer distribution of teaching resource, but it would be an equality of insufficiency. </p>
<h2>Staff shortages</h2>
<p>It is hard to say how many teachers is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02671522.2019.1568535">enough</a>. But <a href="https://researchfeatures.com/rethinking-complex-determinants-teacher-shortages/">our research</a> shows that salary increases (within the usual ranges), bonuses and cash incentives do not attract people to teaching - however popular they might be for those <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03055698.2021.1915751">already intending</a> to become teachers. </p>
<p>The Department for Education’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/teachers-analysis-compendium-4">own analysis</a> indicates that those <a href="https://theconversation.com/major-teaching-reform-in-england-will-erode-the-intellectual-basis-of-the-profession-165102">training</a> to teach Stem subjects are less likely to enter teaching after they qualify than newly qualified teachers in other subjects. Also, those who did were less likely to stay. Bursaries do not, generally, attract shortage-subject teachers to state-funded schools.</p>
<p>Offers of monetary inducements to get existing teachers to move to hard-to-staff areas are not new. They have been tried before. In fact, this premium Johnson announced in his speech is very similar to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/early-career-payments-guidance-for-teachers-and-schools">previous</a> schemes. As recently as May 2019, the UK government announced that early career maths and physics teachers in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber would receive a £2,000 incentive to <a href="https://www.eteach.com/blog/2k-retention-sum-for-maths-and-physics-teachers">encourage them</a> to stay in the area. </p>
<p>Announcements like this one are a quick fix. They suggest that a government is doing something. The major problem, though, is that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2020.1775566">it is not clear</a> whether they work. </p>
<h2>Bad precedent</h2>
<p>Our robust reviews of the international evidence suggest that financial incentives are effective only when there is <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/10/10/262/pdf">a tie-in involved</a>. In Norway, for example, teachers working in high-vacancy schools receive a wage premium while there, but they lose this once they move to a low-vacancy school. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1091142106291662">Several</a> studies <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED283862.pdf">in the US</a> have shown that teachers might be convinced to stay in a challenging school or area, or continue to teach a shortage subject, for a specified period. But any effect disappears as soon as the incentive is removed. This suggests that a one-off payment of £3,000 may not be enough to persuade many teachers from one region of England to uproot, perhaps with their families, and move permanently to another region.</p>
<p>Newly qualified teachers often do not want to teach in the most challenging schools. Ideally, they want to be in a more supportive environment in the early stages of their career where they can develop their skills and confidence. </p>
<p>Monetary inducements cannot compensate for poor working conditions, or for issues with school leadership and school climate. The <a href="https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=18073">evidence</a> is that financial incentives to move to a poorer area are more successful in attracting teachers to high-performing schools, and less successful for schools with a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils.</p>
<p>That the government should be paying attention to teaching and addressing the shortage of specialist teachers in some areas, such as the north-east of England, is of course welcome. However, what is proposed is unlikely to work. And going by precedent, it will no doubt be forgotten. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-dfe-abandons-national-teaching-service">National Teaching Service</a> planned to recruit 1,500 teachers to under-staffed schools, and placed only 24 before being abandoned. The <a href="https://schoolsweek.co.uk/rebooted-troops-to-teachers-fails-to-take-off/">Troops to Teachers Scheme</a>, similarly, offered £40,000 bursaries (and has been taken up by only 22 ex-service personnel). And the <a href="https://schoolsweek.co.uk/return-to-teaching-pilot-was-a-flop-new-data-reveals/">Return to Teaching Scheme</a>, which saw £600,000 spent on a planned 3,000 returning teachers (offering premiums of £1,500), but recruited only 63 people, of whom only 27 apparently ended up teaching national curriculum subjects in state schools. Unlike the scheme’s announcement, it was cancelled with no fanfare.</p>
<p>Clearly, something more radical is needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169440/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Beng Huat See receives funding from the Economic Social and Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gorard receives funding from The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).</span></em></p>A one-off premium for moving to a challenging school, or another part of the country, is a lacklustre response to a big shortage. It’s also been tried before.Beng Huat See, Professor of Education Research, School of Education, Durham UniversityStephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1651022021-08-17T17:53:10Z2021-08-17T17:53:10ZMajor teaching reform in England will erode the intellectual basis of the profession<p>The quality of any education system is highly dependent on the quality of its teachers. Research has shown how vital universities are in equipping teachers with the theory and the principles <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1359866X.2019.1575946?casa_token=iAAQmdWw7zAAAAAA%3AcWouuViopObfJVZ7tdETP-4UmPsrKuUFAkbQVf2e8oKbrU7gE5HMfFX8cwxFMWNv1feHp7xvBcI">they need</a> to do their jobs well. </p>
<p>In England, universities are currently responsible for 100% of initial teacher education (ITE) at undergraduate level and around 70% of postgraduate courses. And evidence from the <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-census/2020-21#releaseHeadlines-summary">Department for Education</a> itself indicates that this approach works. Between <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/859422/Annual_Report_of_Her_Majesty_s_Chief_Inspector_of_Education__Children_s_Services_and_Skills_201819.pdf">2018</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ofsted-annual-report-201920">2020</a>, all the institutions that offer ITE were rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, the UK government’s quality assurance agency. </p>
<p>Despite this impressive record, a major review of ITE - or as the government prefers to call it, ITT (initial teacher training) - is underway. In July 2021, the department for education published <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999621/ITT_market_review_report.pdf">the ITT market review report</a>. The public consultation on its recommendations <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review">has been notably short</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999621/ITT_market_review_report.pdf">This review</a> continues a decade-long trend, shifting the responsibility for ITE away from universities and towards schools. Specialists have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2020.1748722">highlighted</a> how selectively research has been used to justify this approach. The difference in nomenclature between the university label (ITE) and the government label (ITT) for how teachers are taught is not just semantic. It highlights a fundamental conflict of approach: should teachers be educated or trained? </p>
<h2>Significant upheaval</h2>
<p>Since Michael Gove was <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/175429/CM-7980.pdf">education secretary</a>, the UK government has increasingly pushed for teacher training to happen in schools. The <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/999621/ITT_market_review_report.pdf">ITT market review</a> is the latest in a <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508447/Educational_Excellence_Everywhere.pdf">series of attempts</a> by the Department for Education to limit the role of universities. </p>
<p>This latest review makes several recommendations that are not based on national or international evidence. <a href="https://www.ucet.ac.uk/downloads/13250%2DUCET%2DMarket%2DReview%2DResponse%2D%28July%2D2021%29.pdf">Teacher education specialists</a> say they risk destabilising the sector and diluting the intellectual standing of the profession. For instance, if these reforms go through, they could potentially drive out <a href="https://russellgroup.ac.uk/news/russell-group-response-to-the-itt-market-review/">prestigious universities</a>, including the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/notices/news/statement-on-the-uk-government-initial-teacher-training-itt-market-review-report">University of Cambridge</a> and the <a href="http://www.education.ox.ac.uk/government-review-threatens-to-undermine-teacher-education/">University of Oxford</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/manchester-institute-of-education-statement-on-the-initial-teacher-training-market-review-report/">Others</a> cite serious concerns around university independence.
The government wants any institution that trains teachers to go through an accreditation process for quality control - even those universities that have been doing it for years. Conversely, it would open up teacher training to <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936251/Multi_academy_trusts_benefits_challenges_and_functions.pdf">multi-academy trusts</a> and other groups of schools which have relatively little experience of training teachers, as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429331695">training programmes</a>, which <a href="http://scde.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/TeachFirstReviewParkerGalepaper.pdf">have been criticised</a> for framing teaching as a career stepping stone - and not a destination.</p>
<p>The changes the review suggests also risk placing more demands - and greater costs - on schools. Teaching staff who mentor student teachers on placement, for example, will see their workload doubled. </p>
<p>This review also recommends creating an ITE curriculum that all teacher-training institutions would have to follow. This threatens individual universities’ ability to respond to local needs. Currently, they can devise bespoke teacher education programmes which can make a difference in rural areas, coastal regions and areas of deprivation, where recruiting teachers is often challenging, though <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2020.1775566">more research</a> is required on this.</p>
<p>The Department for Education has, itself, <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/dfe-itt-shake-moving-quickly-maintain-momentum">admitted</a> that it is moving quickly. This has also raised concerns. The review was concluded in six months, without any meaningful consultation with either universities or schools. It was published just as the summer term ended. And the public consultation was scheduled to last only seven weeks. The government’s <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/100807/file47158.pdf">own code of practice </a> requires 12. </p>
<p>By undermining university involvement in ITE, the reforms will erode the <a href="https://www.ucet.ac.uk/11675/intellectual-base-of-teacher-education-report-updated-february-2020">intellectual basis</a> of the profession - the very feature of <a href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=2006&author=L.+Darling-Hammond&title=Powerful+teacher+education">high-performing education systems</a> across the world. What then is this dispute between policymakers and education specialists based on? </p>
<h2>Unrealistic expectations</h2>
<p>Recent educational policy in England, much like in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2021.1887359">the US</a>, has focused on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2018.1544665">universal educational excellence</a>. It <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Spirit_Level/jfJMajQulfQC?hl=en&gbpv=0">avoids</a> acknowledging the impact systemic social injustice and structural inequality have on how well children do at school. Instead, it focuses on notions of “what works” and “best practice” in relation to teacher education. </p>
<p>The government’s approach draws a unidirectional line of influence from schools to society. It assumes that the former can compensate for any shortcomings in the latter, fostering <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02680930903428622">undue and unrealistic</a> expectations that schools and teachers are able to fix society.</p>
<p>The government prioritises what specialists call an “evidence-based”, “what works” approach to teaching teachers. This means that teachers are encouraged to make decisions about their pupils’ learning based on what has worked for others, but not necessarily on what the children in front of them actually need. They are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2006.00241.x">discouraged</a> from using their judgement. This focuses on what is taught in the classroom and how comes at the expense of critical considerations around <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-010-9191-x">why</a> it is taught in the first place. As teacher education specialist <a href="https://theconversation.com/expert-panel-what-makes-a-good-teacher-25696">John Loughran</a> has noted, that “why” is what <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2019.1575946">enhances</a> pupils’ learning. And in its one-size-fits-all approach, the government fails to recognise the distinctive contributions that <a href="http://ref.scielo.org/6gmsbf">pupils bring</a> to their own learning. </p>
<p>Several <a href="https://www.ucet.ac.uk/13249/ucet-market-review-response-july-2022">key</a> organisations <a href="https://www.nasbtt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/NASBTTs-Response-to-the-Initial-Teacher-Training-ITT-Market-Review-Consultation-July-2021.pdf">involved</a> in <a href="https://chartered.college/2021/07/15/itt-market-review-chartered-college-position-paper/">ITE</a> have issued statements challenging this review. They insist that the problems that the government has identified in the way teachers are taught could be resolved in collaboration with universities - not by excluding them. </p>
<p>Universities are well placed to make changes to the programmes they offer via existing internal (university programme review and validation) and external (Ofsted) quality-assurance processes. And they would do so in compliance with existing or amended <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-criteria/initial-teacher-training-itt-criteria-and-supporting-advice">government ITT criteria</a>. </p>
<p>Crucially, universities have the established infrastructure, the extensive resources and the research expertise, that student teachers need. They encourage students to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1757743815607025">systematically interrogate</a> research, policy and practice, including their underlying assumptions and assertions. </p>
<p>It is this perspective on education – informed by critical, historical and sociological expertise – that will best equip future teachers to adapt to changes throughout their careers. Universities have a proven record of working effectively in partnership with schools, too. They know how to enable student teachers to integrate the theory they learn in lectures with the practical experience they gain in the classroom to meet the needs of a diverse population. This needs to be built on, not dismantled.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165102/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities are responsible for the majority of teacher training and eduation in England. The government is set on shifting the focus to schoolsMatthew Clarke, Professor of Education, York St John UniversityKeither Parker, Associate Head of School: Education, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1659162021-08-10T19:38:37Z2021-08-10T19:38:37ZGCSE and A-level results have seen record grade inflation – here’s why that doesn’t matter<p>Exam results are upon us. After <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/education-51980831">the 2020 debacle</a> which saw exams cancelled due to COVID and the first set of algorithm-generated results <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/17/21372045/uk-a-level-results-algorithm-biased-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-university-applications">quickly overturned</a> following complaints of unfairness, what teachers and young people really needed in 2021 was confidence in the grading system. </p>
<p>The process for awarding marks was duly announced in March. And this time, as Education Secretary Gavin Williamson <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/live/2021/aug/10/a-level-results-day-2021-live-hundreds-of-thousands-await-teacher-assessed-grades">has reiterated</a>, for one year only there would be no algorithm. Instead students would receive marks based on teacher estimates.</p>
<p>Now, results day just wouldn’t be the same without the perennial discussion of <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/grade-inflation-a-level-results-2021-what-meaning-grades-explained-1143916">grade inflation</a>, with <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/education/a-level-results-day-2021-grade-inflation-uk-record-a-grades-1143816">commentators</a> comparing the proportion of top grades being awarded. In pre-COVID times, this is seen to undermine the value of the qualifications in the long term. In 2021, though, concerns about grade inflation are misplaced, for three reasons.</p>
<p>The method by which grades have been determined this year differs fundamentally from previous years. Further, as we attempt to make an economic and societal recovery from the pandemic, seeing more young people get the grades they need to get into universities and colleges is to be celebrated, as the guarantee of a well-qualified future workforce. </p>
<p>Finally, and most importantly, given the stress and disruption young people have experienced since COVID hit our shores in March 2020, their achievements should be celebrated, not questioned. </p>
<h2>Talk of grade inflation inaccurate and unhelpful</h2>
<p>In December 2020 Williamson <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/dec/03/gavin-williamson-vows-a-levels-and-gcses-will-not-be-cancelled-in-england-covid">confirmed</a> that, contrary to the first year of the pandemic, exams in England would not be cancelled in 2021. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/awarding-qualifications-in-summer-2021">Guidance subsequently issued</a> by the government’s office of qualifications and examinations regulation (Ofqual) and the department for education detailed the range of evidence from students that would be used to determine their grades. This included school-based exams, coursework and portfolios. </p>
<p>The guidance specified that this range of work was to be marked against criteria provided by exam boards, and that the marking would then checked by the school, with exam boards carrying out quality-assurance checks on that marking. This is the system schools have followed.</p>
<p>Students have been awarded the grade their work deserves and teacher judgements have been checked for quality. This is called criterion-based assessment because the assessment is based on work meeting criteria. </p>
<p>By contrast, GCSEs and A-levels in previous years, including the first round of results <a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/education/a-level-results-2020-grades-lower-ofqual-algorithm-579209">that were retracted</a> in 2020, were norm-referenced: the results were compared to other students. In this system, students’ result depends on their ranking within the cohort, rather than their ability to meet the assessment criteria. This aligns this year’s A-levels with BTecs, which have always been <a href="https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/949201/assessment-in-action-a-study-of-lecturers-and-students-constructions-of-btec-national-assessment-practice-in-a-college-engineering-programme-area">criterion-referenced</a>.</p>
<p>Each system, of course, has advantages and disadvantages but the outcomes should not be compared. Student marks this year have been awarded under an approach that is different but no less robust. </p>
<p>There is therefore no reason to suggest that they are less valid than in previous years or that there is a long-term problem with grade inflation. As with so many aspects of life during the pandemic, things are just different this year. </p>
<h2>Student success is good for everyone</h2>
<p>Record levels of success <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/levels-2021-results-glance">have been reported</a>, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/live/2021/aug/10/a-level-results-day-2021-live-hundreds-of-thousands-await-teacher-assessed-grades">as many as 45%</a> more students getting top A* grades at A-level according to some reports, and a smaller rise in the number of students achieving A*-C grades too. </p>
<p>Given these results, it seems likely many students will be able to take their places at universities and colleges. This is a good thing for the economy, especially when youth unemployment is at such <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05871/">worryingly high levels</a>. </p>
<p>Places on medicine courses have been <a href="https://www.themedicportal.com/blog/record-number-of-medicine-applicants-for-2021-entry/">in particular demand</a> and the government has already had to offer <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/extra-places-on-medical-and-dentistry-courses-for-2021">9,000 extra places</a> for the coming year. Given the pressure our health service is currently under, it is hard to view more medical students as a problem. </p>
<p>Teacher training has also seen strong growth in numbers. It is inspiring that so many young people are choosing to train for careers in public service. In this way, universities and colleges will play a vital role in pandemic recovery by ensuring young people can be successful. This, surely, is a win-win situation?</p>
<h2>Young people deserve praise for their achievements</h2>
<p>Despite the best efforts of teachers, schools and support groups, there have been many barriers to success for the class of 2021. Pupils studying for their BTecs and A-levels this year have been uniquely disadvantaged. They have done at least seven of the 20 months of their two-year courses online during lockdown.</p>
<p>Often in their bedrooms and at kitchen tables, away from their usual support network, many found this strange and isolating during what is a crucial period in their education. </p>
<p>Students from disadvantaged backgrounds have been particularly badly affected by this. Some have struggled with <a href="https://www.theaccessproject.org.uk/blog/posts/helping-chriso-stay-connected-during-the-lockdowns">poor access</a> to technology and spaces to learn. </p>
<p>Student mental health has been badly affected by the increased isolation, <a href="https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/blogs/weathering-the-storm-the-pandemics-impact-on-young-peoples-wellbeing">enduring uncertainty</a> and severely restricted access to help <a href="https://www.youngminds.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/press-releases/urgent-action-needed-to-tackle-long-term-mental-health-impact-of-the-pandemic/">during lockdown</a>. We can only hope that this this set of circumstances will never be repeated. </p>
<p>It is even more important to celebrate the achievements of young people this week. We need to congratulate them and support them on their way, as the future healthcare workers, teachers and business leaders we will all be depending on for years to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165916/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Helena Gillespie has received funding from HEFCE, Advance HE, Wellcome and the European Union. She is also a school governor.</span></em></p>The way students have been marked has changed, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve their grades.Helena Gillespie, Professor of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education and Academic Director of Inclusive Education, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1626832021-08-10T10:02:23Z2021-08-10T10:02:23ZHow academy school groups defied their business-focused reputation to help students in lockdown<p>When <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/coronavirus-school-colleges-nurseries-england-close-uk-friday">Boris Johnson announced</a> on March 18 2020 that pupils were to stay home until further notice, schools scrambled to adapt at speed. COVID presented a major disruption to pupils’ education and welfare. </p>
<p>National wellbeing surveys have since shown the impact this disruption continues to have on teachers and school leaders, as well as on the academic progress and wellbeing of <a href="https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-student-equity-and-inclusion-supporting-vulnerable-students-during-school-closures-and-school-re-openings-d593b5c8/">the pupils</a> themselves. <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/Covid-19_Resources/Impact_of_school_closures_KS1_interim_findings_paper_-_Jan_2021.pdf">A study</a> looking at the impact on attainment in the first two school years in England found that year 2 pupils have lost about two months’ worth of learning, for instance. For the disadvantaged pupils among them, that figure rises to five to seven months. </p>
<p>As part of an ongoing research project into education leadership in disruptive times, I led <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">a recent study</a> by the University of Nottingham into how one type of school in particular - those in <a href="https://theconversation.com/forcing-all-schools-to-turn-into-academies-is-not-educations-biggest-problem-58462">multi-academy trusts</a> – has responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic. </p>
<p>More than 50% of pupils in the English state-education system are now educated in <a href="https://theconversation.com/forcing-all-schools-to-turn-into-academies-is-not-educations-biggest-problem-58462">academies</a>, which are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/10161371">state-funded schools</a> that operate outside of local authority control (as opposed to community schools, which are still controlled by local authorities). Many academies are now <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2021.1872525">organised into groups</a> of schools overseen by one trust, which is governed by a board of trustees and led by a CEO and a team of senior personnel. </p>
<p>Multi-academy trusts have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/apr/28/accidental-activists-essex-parents-fight-academy-trusts-takeover-of-school">been painted</a> by critics as <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/576240/Multi-academy_trusts_good_practice_guidance_and_expectations_for_growth.pdf">predators</a> that seek to expand by taking over community schools and are merely concerned with financial dividends. <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">Our findings</a>, however, show that schools that are grouped together in this way have great pastoral potential and a leadership structure that can benefit both staff and students. </p>
<h2>Pandemic performance</h2>
<p>Trusts organise the academies in their ranks into a <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/195313191.pdf">corporate structure</a>, which allows individual schools to draw upon a greater number of resources than if they were standalone. <a href="https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/author/daniel-muijs">According to</a> schools inspector Ofsted, leaders of such schools have reported receiving invaluable support from their trust during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Relatively little <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/195313191.pdf">systematic research</a> has been conducted into multi-academy trusts. This was why myself and colleagues at the University of Nottingham undertook a small-scale research project, which has since been published as a <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">policy paper</a>, to examine how robustly those across the East and West Midlands responded to the challenges of the pandemic. </p>
<p>A range of data was collected and analysed from CEOs and headteachers from 15 trusts of different sizes. These included both primary and secondary academies, catering to students across the socio-economic spectrum. As far as we know, this is the first independent study of its kind in England.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">We found</a> that when COVID hit, CEOs and their teams introduced trust-wide policies to govern school life. These included health and safety, provision of PPE equipment, risk management and remote-learning platforms, staff welfare and wellbeing, and communication strategies.</p>
<p><a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7066/2/download%3Fid=17101&filename=a-life-in-the-day-of-a-headteacher.pdf">Much has</a> been <a href="https://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/91049/91049.pdf">written</a> in <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/6576/1/headteachers.pdf">recent years</a> about the administrative, financial and bureaucratic duties that come with school headships. Our findings show that the structure of these trusts effectively reduced the burden of responsibility and sheer volume of work that otherwise would likely have fallen on individual headteachers. </p>
<p>From the outset of the pandemic, heads were instead able to focus on making sure their staff could keep teaching and their pupils could keep learning, which is arguably their <a href="https://www.ascl.org.uk/News/Blog/November-2020/The-Headteachers%E2%80%99-Standards-2020-%C2%A0-Rooted-in-what">core purpose</a>. </p>
<h2>Support for pupils and teachers</h2>
<p>Providing pastoral care for pupils as they worked at home during lockdown was <a href="https://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/lessons-learned-providing-pastoral-care-during-a-pandemic-covid-19-wellbeing-mental-health-attendance/">a challenge</a> for schools across the board. <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">Our findings</a> show that being part of a trust made this task easier for staff.</p>
<p>One of the trusts <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">we surveyed</a> partnered with Microsoft to devise an inclusive home-learning strategy and make laptops freely available for every pupil. Another did whatever they could to help families in rural areas to get better broadband. Monitoring systems were established to ensure students were engaging in home learning. And staff conducted home visits to ensure parents were on board too. Any students who did not show up for online classes were contacted immediately. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, teachers and school-based support workers regularly made home visits to pupils and their parents where possible (or weekly calls when not). They delivered everything from trust-subsidised IT devices to food parcels.</p>
<p>The CEOs and headteachers <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">we surveyed</a> all spoke to the importance of sustaining teachers’ morale and wellbeing. Some put helplines in place and gave their staff access to one-to-one counselling. Others provided online continuing professional development for their teachers, as well as creating mental health champions in their schools. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/education/documents/research/school-trusts.pdf">Our respondents</a> also emphasised how they had resisted the temptation to narrow the taught curriculum in response to the crisis. They supported their schools in continuing to operate full timetables. </p>
<p>In one instance, this included providing weekly science sessions, modern foreign languages, art, music and drama classes. Another academy created a choral performance of an original composition entitled Hope, which was performed for the whole school. In one large, geographically diverse trust of over 20 academies, many of which served highly disadvantaged communities, a trust-wide policy for outdoor education was developed and implemented.</p>
<p>During this crisis, the trust model served its schools and their communities well. It reduced uncertainties for pupils, parents and staff. It ensured that clear communication channels were quickly established. And it allowed for staff and pupils’ welfare and wellbeing to be comprehensively supported. Crucially, it allowed teaching staff to focus on ensuring the continuation of quality educational opportunities for all students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Day receives funding from the University of Nottingham </span></em></p>The pandemic completely disrupted normal school life. Being part of a multi-academies enabled schools to support their pupils, their staff and their communities.Christopher Day, Professor of Education, University of Nottingham, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1642662021-08-04T10:07:02Z2021-08-04T10:07:02ZHow to make teaching more women-friendly, post-COVID<p>For women, teaching is often seen as a welcoming profession. The greater flexibility and work-life balance that the job is thought to offer is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-teachers-mostly-female-because-men-get-better-pay-in-other-professions-109569">big incentive</a>. </p>
<p>That said, approximately <a href="https://policyexchange.org.uk/press-release/new-research-working-women-are-quitting-teaching-for-good/">6,000 female teachers a year</a> quit their jobs between the ages of 30 and 39, which is when the majority of women in the UK <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/birthcharacteristicsinenglandandwales/2019">have children</a>. Each year, around one in nine female primary teachers <a href="https://www.nfer.ac.uk/teacher-autonomy-how-does-it-relate-to-job-satisfaction-and-retention">leave the profession</a>. So something does not add up.</p>
<p>Women <a href="http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00256">we have interviewed</a> speak of quitting their teaching jobs due to the stress and guilt they experience when juggling different demands for their time. They also highlight a lack of understanding from their employers. In particular, requests from teachers to work in a more flexible way (organising their time differently, or working in part from home) are more likely <a href="https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/uploads/assets/uploaded/6fd07ce3-6400-4cb2-a8a87b736dc95b3b.pdfhttps://www.gov.uk/part-time-worker-rights">to be rejected</a> than in the wider workforce.</p>
<p><a href="https://womened.org/blog/can-covid-19-break-the-rigid-opposition-to-teachers-working-flexibly">We have found</a> that teachers in the UK greatly appreciated the less rigid approach ushered in by lockdown, with its more flexible working hours and home-working. They are loath for things to go back to the way they were before. </p>
<p>If schools do not take this into account, they risk being left behind by other workplaces. Here are some ways in which teaching could be made more women-friendly, post-COVID:</p>
<h2>Understanding women’s needs</h2>
<p>Like much of the workforce, COVID has meant teachers having to adapt <a href="https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/covid-19_and_the_classroom.pdf">in various ways</a>. They have <a href="https://edtechnology.co.uk/features/pandemic-teaching-one-year-on-has-the-sector-changed-for-good/">adopted new technologies</a> to deliver lessons and assess their pupils’ progress. Many have juggled caring responsibilities alongside their teaching duties. </p>
<p>Women are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/mar/15/older-female-workers-twice-as-likely-to-be-informal-carers-ons-report">more likely</a> than men to be carers, and this can mean they have different working requirements. One teacher <a href="https://womened.org/blog/can-covid-19-break-the-rigid-opposition-to-teachers-working-flexibly">we interviewed</a> moved out of her family home to care for her parents during the first lockdown in England in 2020. She did not see her husband and four-year-old child for six weeks. </p>
<p>Upon returning to face-to-face teaching, she requested a more flexible working pattern but was told that this was “highly problematic” by her manager. She was made to feel she was “a difficult woman” for asking. As a result, she is now seeking an alternative career.</p>
<p><a href="https://womened.org/blog/can-covid-19-break-the-rigid-opposition-to-teachers-working-flexibly">Our research</a> shows that women are highly committed to both caring and professional roles, even when this is not recognised by their employers. The women <a href="http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00256">we interviewed</a> worked to very high standards in both domains, often at a cost to their own wellbeing. This professionalism and commitment should reassure managers wary of sanctioning their requests for more flexible working. </p>
<p>Women’s needs change over time in response to developments in their professional and family lives. Wanting to go part-time often coincides with life events, including pregnancy, motherhood and illness. This highlights the need for regular reviews of working arrangements. It also underlines how requests for flexible working can be cries for help, which should be considered carefully.</p>
<h2>Reassessing workloads</h2>
<p>Just before the pandemic hit, employees in the UK worked an average of <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/280763/average-working-hours-uk/">36.9 hours per week</a>. In May 2021, that number was down to 35 hours per week. By contrast, full-time teachers have been found to regularly work around <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/talis/">50 hours per week</a>. </p>
<p>Those <a href="http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00256">we spoke to</a> reported that even when they have reduced their paid working hours, their paid workload was still too heavy alongside their caring responsibilities. Schools must, as the government is encouraging, explore <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/reducing-school-workload">ways of reducing</a> that workload, from more efficient use of technology to greater support for trainee teachers early on in their careers.</p>
<p>Women who teach part-time <a href="http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00256">are also sometimes</a> deterred from seeking promotion because of the perception that you have to be full-time to be in a senior role. There is a <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/talis/">notable lack</a> of senior leaders in part-time roles. Schools need to promote the idea that working flexible hours, or part-time, does not impede a teacher’s ability to take on leadership responsibilities or be otherwise promoted. </p>
<p>Everyone – regardless of the number of hours they work – should be celebrated for their positive contribution to school life. COVID saw teachers going to the greatest lengths to ensure our children were not only taught and assessed but also, in some cases, <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/child-poverty-teachers-feed-and-clothe-pupils-hit-covid-pandemi">fed and clothed</a>: during lockdown teachers were looking out for their most disadvantaged pupils, doing grocery shops and delivering necessities to families in need. </p>
<p>Finding ways to empower the women among the teaching ranks to both do their jobs and care for their families, not to mention their own wellbeing, is crucial. The government’s new scheme in England, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/flexible-working-ambassador-schools">Flexible Working Ambassador Schools</a>, is a step in the right direction, with eight schools chosen to become role models in flexible working and show other schools how to take a similar approach. </p>
<p>Funded until December 2022, this scheme will hopefully contribute towards a change of culture and encourage senior leaders to rethink their approach to flexible working. This is vital to retain the talent that women in the teaching ranks represent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Women are often drawn to teaching because of the supposed life-work balance. Extreme workloads and inflexible school structures means too many quit early.Katy Marsh-Davies, Senior Lecturer, Sheffield Hallam UniversitySuzanne Brown, Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education, Sheffield Hallam UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1633422021-07-02T17:03:58Z2021-07-02T17:03:58ZWhy early-years education must be prioritised in pandemic recovery plans<p>Nursery workers, childminders and nannies have been working hard throughout the pandemic. This work is, in part, what has allowed key workers to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-52514919">keep working</a>. This has been crucial not only for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/24/when-our-nursery-reopened-after-covid-19-only-7-kids-came-back-parents-are-terrified">parents</a> and their employers, but also for the children themselves, especially those who are <a href="https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/chldrn/">vulnerable</a> or <a href="https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/education-in-england-annual-report-2020/">disadvantaged</a> and those with <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-support-children-with-special-educational-needs-as-they-return-to-school-139422">special educational needs</a>.</p>
<p>The government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/huge-expansion-of-tutoring-in-next-step-of-education-recovery">COVID recovery plan</a> for <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-school-recovery-is-englands-1-4-billion-catch-up-plan-a-good-idea-162020">schools in England</a> includes £153 million for professional development for early-years practitioners. This is good news for a workforce that is chronically <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0950017009337057">underpaid and undervalued</a>. But the question is, will it be enough? </p>
<p>These early-years professionals have been forced to respond rapidly to uncertainty and change, which has only been exacerbated by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/18/risky-vague-inconsistent-nursery-teachers-in-england-lament-covid-strategy">ambiguous and inadequate</a> official guidelines. The government was <a href="https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/coronavirus-dismay-as-early-years-staff-told-they-won-t-be-sent-testing-kits">slower</a>, for example, to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing to people working in private nurseries than in other parts of the education sector. </p>
<p>When schools closed to all but keyworkers’ children and vulnerable pupils, nursery workers <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-55545277">continued to work</a>. And they were <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-55546359">not prioritised</a> for the vaccine despite their daily risk of exposure to the virus. </p>
<p>COVID-related disruption and nursery closures affected the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/18/fewer-uk-children-school-ready-after-covid-nursery-closures">development</a> and behaviour of young children. And research shows that quality education and care is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S027277570900106X">central</a> to addressing this.</p>
<h2>Recovery plan</h2>
<p>Observers fear the £153 million lump sum is only a fraction of what is needed to enable staff to address the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/oct/27/covid-toddlers-from-uks-poorest-families-hit-hardest-by-lockdown">widening</a> attainment gap for the most disadvantaged children. They also question whether it will ensure a healthy recovery for the early-years sector more broadly. </p>
<p>Professional development alone is not enough. Nursery workers are often paid little more than the minimum wage. Without improved salaries, this recovery package will only reinforce their perception that their skills and knowledge are <a href="https://cericleeds.wordpress.com/2021/01/26/invisible-keyworkers-why-responding-to-the-crisis-in-early-years-education-and-care-during-the-pandemic-must-address-working-conditions-for-early-years-workers/">not valued</a>. </p>
<p>Studies suggests that early-years education is “foundational” – an essential structure that underpins the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0958928716685689">economy</a> and <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-073018-022401">society</a>. <a href="https://childcare-during-covid.org/">Our ongoing research</a> into the impact of COVID on the sector lends weight to studies which indicate that the past year has placed <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/publications/14990">significant financial strain</a> on providers. </p>
<p>Meanwhile <a href="https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/news/2020/05/quarter-childcare-providers-fear-closure-within-year">a survey</a> conducted by the Early Years Alliance in May 2020, also found that one in four nurseries feared they would not reopen. While our research doesn’t indicate closures on this scale have or are taking place right now, the changes providers are making to adapt are likely to place greater strains on the workforce and threaten to undermine the quality of the education and care they provide. </p>
<p>Revenues plummeted when fewer children <a href="https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/the-covid-19-pandemic-and-the-early-years-december-2020/">attended nursery</a> due to the pandemic. The department of education’s subsequent decision to continue to provide funding at pre-pandemic levels did prevent many from falling into deficit. However, this measure was reversed in January 2021 and funding was altered to reflect actual attendance. </p>
<p>This is likely to have <a href="https://www.ceeda.co.uk/news/2019/early-years-sector-faces-a-quarter-of-a-billion-funding-cut-in-spring-term/">affected</a> those nurseries where attendance was lowest, which, our research suggests, will be those in areas of greatest deprivation. This will exacerbate the negative impact of the pandemic on the poorest families. </p>
<h2>Childcare crisis</h2>
<p>These pandemic-related losses have compounded <a href="https://theconversation.com/underpaid-and-undervalued-the-reality-of-childcare-work-in-the-uk-87413">long-standing</a> <a href="https://www.ceeda.co.uk/news/2019/time-for-a-sector-led-manifesto-for-early-years/">funding shortfalls</a> in early-years education. <a href="https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/news/2021/06/new-data-shows-ministers-knew-early-years-was-underfunded">New data</a> obtained by the Early Years Alliance through a freedom of information request shows that there is a shortfall of £2.60 per child for every hour that is funded through the government’s 30-hour so-called “<a href="https://theconversation.com/focusing-free-childcare-on-working-parents-is-short-sighted-44623">free</a>” childcare offer. </p>
<p>In response, nurseries and childminders are taking measures to compensate for their financial losses. Many are using their savings and taking on debt. More worryingly, others have also cut staffing hours. They are reducing hours, raising fees and increasing the child-to-staff ratios, which, research suggests, will <a href="https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/4642/1/RR320.pdf">lower the quality</a> of education and care. </p>
<p>The combination of these changes is likely to affect the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/853358/CEYSP_2019_Report.pdf">affordability</a> of childcare. Importantly, it’s also likely to undermine the quality of the education and care the children receive. </p>
<p>For parents, accessible and affordable childcare is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0958928718808421">essential</a> to both remaining in work and returning to work. We conducted a <a href="https://childcare-during-covid.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/LSSI_DWP_Impact-of-Covid-on-childcare_finalv2.pdf">survey</a> of 1,020 parents in England and Wales between January and February 2021. Of our respondents, 40% (344 parents) said that their ability to work was affected by childcare. Of these, one in ten had difficulty finding or securing a job because of problems accessing childcare during 2020. And almost one in five parents of the 344 said that a lack of childcare had an impact on their career progression.</p>
<p>Most parents who decided not to return to work after maternity or shared parental leave during the pandemic cited childcare and some, specifically the cost of childcare, as a significant factor. Research has shown that when childcare becomes more inaccessible and unaffordable, it is women who <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/business/documents/research/carrying-the-work-burden-of-covid-19/working-class-women-and-covid-final-report.pdf">disproportionately</a> pay the price in terms of their work and career progression. If this happens as a result of COVID, it will roll back decades of <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203978269/women-european-employment-colette-fagan-damian-grimshaw-jill-rubery-mark-smith">progress</a>. </p>
<p>The All Parties Parliamentary Group for Childcare and Early Education has <a href="https://connectpa.co.uk/early-years-catch-up-premium-needed/">called on</a> the chancellor Rishi Sunak and education secretary Gavin Williamson to fund a premium for the early-years of up to £3,000 per child. This echoes <a href="https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/4827/call-for-extra-funding-for-early-years-care">the call</a> made by specialists at the University of Leeds, the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University for early-years provision to be more thoroughly included in COVID recovery plans. Responding to these urgent calls must be a government priority.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163342/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Hardy receives funding from UKRI/ESRC. The Childcare during Covid research project is funded by the UKRI/ESRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Tomlinson and Xanthe Whittaker do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From nursery closures to families self-isolating, COVID has disrupted children’s access to pre-school care. This impacts their development, and their parents’ ability to workXanthe Whittaker, Research Fellow in Human Resource Management, University of LeedsJennifer Tomlinson, Professor of Gender and Employment Relations, University of LeedsKate Hardy, Associate Professor in Work and Employment Relations, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1620202021-06-02T17:32:41Z2021-06-02T17:32:41ZCOVID school recovery: is England’s £1.4 billion catch-up plan a good idea?<p>The UK government has published <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/02/pupils-to-be-offered-100m-hours-of-tuition-in-covid-catch-up-plan">its COVID recovery plan</a> for schools in England. This follows <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/school-day-to-be-extended-under-15bn-covid-rescue-plan-to-help-children-catch-up-bnsb5d6ll">a report</a> earlier this week that it was mulling a longer school day to compensate for COVID-related <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-school-closures-whats-the-evidence-154210">school closures</a>. However, research suggests the proposed measures may have mixed success and more targeted help might be more useful.</p>
<p>Since March 2020, children and young people in England <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-there-is-an-urgent-need-to-re-open-schools-this-is-how-to-make-it-happen-137818">have missed</a> well over 20 weeks of normal schooling due to the pandemic. Many pupils will have missed a lot more than that, for a variety of reasons. This includes families or classes having to self-isolate, as well as confusion about the rules of attendance, and parents being protective. On the other hand, many children of key workers and those considered vulnerable may have attended school throughout the last 15 months. </p>
<p>The academic consequences of these school closures will vary from pupil to pupil. Some will have emerged from lockdown relatively unscathed. Some may have even <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-closures-had-positive-effects-on-some-teenagers-mental-health-our-new-research-suggests-144884">flourished</a> within the somewhat less formal and more flexible structure of online learning. Others, meanwhile, will have made less progress than they would have under normal circumstances. A few may have got out of the habit of going to school altogether, and feel disinclined to go back.</p>
<p>Which is to say, there is no single, universal remedy. It is essential that the government’s plans be tailored to individuals’ post-lockdown circumstances. </p>
<p>In February, the government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-education-recovery-package-for-children-and-young-people">announced funds</a> for summer schools. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jun/02/pupils-to-be-offered-100m-hours-of-tuition-in-covid-catch-up-plan">It has now said</a> that the next stage will include a review of time spent in school and college, meaning that the school day or week might be increased. </p>
<p>They have also <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/huge-expansion-of-tutoring-in-next-step-of-education-recovery">promised £1 billion</a> for a large number of 15-hour individual or small-group tutoring sessions. </p>
<p>The problem is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883035515301932">there is no evidence</a> that summer schools are a particularly effective way to improve the attainment of pupils falling behind, especially in maths. This is at least partly because such pupils may be the least likely to turn up in the summer holidays. </p>
<p>In fact, there is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/may/28/longer-school-hours-plug-covid-learning-gaps-cambridge-academic">not much point</a> in increasing time at school in itself, whether by lengthening the day or reducing the holidays. Progress made by pupils is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191491X20301875?dgcid=rss_sd_all">more due to growing up</a>, and less attributable to schooling, than educators may fondly imagine. And absence from school is <a href="https://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2016.00959.x">not as damaging</a> (for all pupils) as <a href="https://fullfact.org/education/mixed-evidence-link-between-term-time-holidays-and-attainment/">official accounts suggest</a>.</p>
<p>The plan for additional tutoring is that most of the funds will be allocated to disadvantaged pupils. Schools already receive what is described as additional funding (<a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/about/campaigns/bright-futures/bright-futures-childrens-services/bright-futures-send-funding">SEND</a> and <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium">Pupil Premium</a>) to assist disadvantaged pupils, and the evidence suggests it was working. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2021.1907775">Our research has shown</a> that poorer pupils were becoming less clustered in the more disadvantaged schools, and their attainment was rising even faster than that of their richer peers. This was before lockdown. It is hoped that this will be found to continue, once the pandemic is fully over.</p>
<p>So, given that some disadvantaged pupils do really well at school and some do not, perhaps the focus of the government’s plan should be tweaked. The limited new funds for tutoring could be better used for those pupils identified by their schools as having been hardest hit by lockdown, such as for the lowest attainers, whether they are disadvantaged or not. </p>
<p>However, the evidence for tutoring itself <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/one-to-one-tuition/">is not as robust</a> as has sometimes been portrayed. Instead, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Trials-of-Evidence-based-Education-The-Promises-Opportunities-and/Gorard-See-Siddiqui/p/book/9781138209664">the evidence suggests</a> that almost any small group or individual work with struggling pupils can be effective, using a wide variety of catch-up interventions. The precise method used appears to be less important than the extra attention the child receives. </p>
<p>It is therefore good that (very limited) funding has also been promised for training and development to help teachers and early-years practitioners. Here the priority ought be training in how best to <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rev3.3200">use research evidence</a>. With limited funding to address what could be a massive challenge, schools and teachers will need to use that funding for maximum impact. And that means only using robustly evidence-led interventions.</p>
<h2>Wider impoverishment</h2>
<p>Another issue is that the government seems to be overly focused on academic progress. However, lockdown will have led to some impoverishment of the experience of just about every pupil, socially and in terms of wider outcomes at school. Those who continued to attend school will have done so without their full cohort of peers, and in often bewildering and rather isolated circumstances. </p>
<p>Some of those who were at home may have spent part of lockdown in their garden, reading and playing with siblings. Others could have been stuck inside with only their parents.</p>
<p>All of these pupils would benefit from a school curriculum that involved enriching activities and communal endeavours, that encouraged them to make friends and try new things. The plans announced by the government do not cover such things, and the £1.4 billion would not nearly finance it anyway. The sum is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57091191">a mere fraction</a> of what observers say is needed to properly address the problem facing pupils. This discrepancy appears to lie behind <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sir-kevan-collins-resigns-schools-b1858441.html">the reported resignation of Kevan Collins</a>, the official appointed by the government to deal with the catch-up.</p>
<p>For many children, as for many adults, these past 15 months have been a lonely and frightening time. Some will have fallen ill themselves. Some will have lost friends and close relatives. Not attending school as usual may have worsened this situation, as it will for adults unable to attend their workplace or other haunts. </p>
<p>It would be good to see the government produce a plan <a href="https://theconversation.com/englands-education-recovery-plan-should-focus-on-wellbeing-not-on-catching-up-155263">to help on this level</a>. Mental health was partly addressed by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/huge-expansion-of-tutoring-in-next-step-of-education-recovery">the government’s earlier commitment</a> of £1.7 billion. But such problems are not largely educational in nature, and so do not form a natural part of any school recovery or catch-up plan.</p>
<p>More than anything, many pupils, their families, teachers and schools probably just want things to settle down. They want rules about attendance to stabilise and clarity about upcoming <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-57246697">public exams and assessments</a>. Perhaps getting this right should be the government’s immediate priority.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Gorard 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>Academic progress seems to be the government’s primary concern. But school pupils have experienced lockdown learning – and losses – in a myriad waysStephen Gorard, Professor of Education and Public Policy, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1598262021-05-10T09:24:58Z2021-05-10T09:24:58ZSmartphones are powerful personal pocket computers – should schools ban them?<p>When the UK took its first steps out of national lockdown in April and schools reopened, education secretary Gavin Williamson <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2021/04/06/nothing-dickensian-classroom-well-ordered-disciplined-environment/">announced</a> the implementation of the behaviour hubs programme. And as part of this push to develop a school culture “where good behaviour is the norm”, he pushed for banning smartphones in schools. </p>
<p>Williamson claims that phones distract from healthy exercise and, as he put it, good old-fashioned play. And he says they act as a breeding ground for cyberbullying. Getting rid of them will, to his mind, create calm and orderly environments that facilitate learning. “While it is for every school to make its own policy,” he wrote, “I firmly believe that mobile phones should not be used or seen during the school day, and will be backing headteachers who implement such policies.” </p>
<p>The difficulty that teachers face is that there are often conflicting assessments of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-smart-is-it-to-allow-students-to-use-mobile-phones-at-school-40621">risks</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-mobile-phones-should-not-be-banned-in-uk-schools-98717">benefits</a> of the constant <a href="https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2019/12/17/21055617/five-years-later-nyc-schools-still-struggle-with-de-blasio-s-cell-phone-policy">influx</a> of new devices in schools. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X21000640">As we found in our recent study</a>, guidance for educators on how to navigate all this is limited. And there is no robust evaluation of the effect of school policies that restrict school-time smartphone use and there is limited evidence on how these policies are implemented in schools. So how can teachers approach this controversial subject?</p>
<p>We believe the best way to start is to reframe the smartphone itself. Rather than just a phone, it is more accurately described as a powerful pocket computer. It contains, among other things, <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-mobile-phones-should-not-be-banned-in-uk-schools-98717">a writing tool, a calculator and a huge encyclopaedia</a>. </p>
<p>Suggesting that children use smartphones in ways that help them learn, therefore, seems hardly radical. The perennial debate about banning phones needs to shift to thinking about how best to help schools better design school phone policies and practices that can enrich their pupils’ learning, health and wellbeing. And for that, we can start by looking at the evidence on phone use by young people.</p>
<p>We know that <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/190616/children-media-use-attitudes-2019-report.pdf">most adolescents</a> own a smartphone. When used appropriately and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797616678438">in moderation</a>, they can provide multiple benefits in terms of <a href="https://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=23039">learning</a>, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137573681">behaviour and connection with peers</a>. There is also <a href="https://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=23303">evidence</a> that technology use in classrooms can support learning and attainment. </p>
<p>The operative word here, though, is “moderation”. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(19)30186-5/fulltext">Excessive use</a> of smartphones (and other digital devices) can lead to heightened anxiety and depression, <a href="http://hbscengland.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/HBSC-England-National-Report-2020.pdf">neglecting other activities</a>, conflict with peers, <a href="https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/docs/default-source/improving-care/better-mh-policy/college-reports/college-report-cr225.pdf">poor sleep habits</a> and an increased exposure to <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642(19)30186-5/fulltext">cyberbullying</a>. </p>
<p>Then there’s everything we don’t yet fully understand about the impact – good or bad – that smartphone use may have on children. No one does. This has been reflected in recent <a href="https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0635/">research briefings</a> and <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmsctech/822/822.pdf">reports</a> published by the UK government: they recognise the risks and benefits of phone use, and report that it is essential that schools are better supported to make decisions about their use in school with evidence-based guidance. </p>
<h2>Playing catch-up</h2>
<p>To investigate existing school positions on phone and media use, we interviewed and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X21000640">did workshops with</a> more than 100 teenagers across years nine to 13, along with teachers, community workers and international specialists in school policies and health interventions.</p>
<p>We found that teachers tend to be scared of phones. Most of them said this was because they didn’t know how pupils are using their phones during school hours. Amid pressures regarding assessment, safeguarding and attendance, phones are simply not a priority. Issuing a blanket ban is often just the easiest option.</p>
<p>Teachers too recognise the benefits, as well as the risks, of smartphone use. But, crucially, they don’t have the necessary guidance, skills and tools to parse seemingly contradictory information. As one teacher put it: “Do we allow it, do we embrace it, do we engage students with it, or do we completely ignore it?” </p>
<h2>Different approaches</h2>
<p>This is, of course, a worldwide challenge. Looking at how different institutions in different cultural settings are tackling it is instructive. Often, similar motivations give rise to very different approaches. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/netherlands-school-that-has-no-classes-or-curriculum-119050801149_1.html#:%7E:text=This%20school%20also%20allows%20ubiquitous,your%20phone%20in%20certain%20moments.">mould-breaking Agora school</a> in Roermond, in the Netherlands, for example, allows ubiquitous phone use. Their position is that teenagers won’t learn how to use their phones in a beneficial way if they have to leave them in their lockers. </p>
<p>By contrast, governments in <a href="https://theconversation.com/banning-mobile-phones-in-schools-can-improve-students-academic-performance-this-is-how-we-know-153792">Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/france-mobile-phone-ban-school-french-government-students-a8521961.html">France</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47547135">Canada</a> are urging schools to restrict phone use during the day in a bid to improve academic outcomes and decrease bullying. </p>
<p>Teachers need a new type of training that helps them to critically evaluate – with confidence - both academic evidence and breaking news. Working with their students in deciding how and when phones can be used could prove fruitful too. </p>
<h2>Accessing information</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Pedagogical-Cases-in-Physical-Education-and-Youth-Sport/Armour/p/book/9780415702454">Academic research</a> takes time to publish, data is often incomprehensible to non-experts and papers reporting on findings are often subject to expensive journal subscription prices. Professional development providers, trusts and organisations therefore must do more to make it easier for teachers to access the information they need to make decisions.</p>
<p>New data alone, though, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0013189X17746402">isn’t enough</a>. Researchers need be prepared to translate their evidence in ways that educators can actually use to design better school policies and practices.</p>
<p>The children’s author and former children’s laureate Michael Rosen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/apr/24/dear-gavin-williamson-teenagers-use-mobile-phones-get-with-the-times">recently made the point</a> that “we are living in an incredible time: whole libraries, vast banks of knowledge and multimedia resources are available to us via an object that fits in our pockets”. </p>
<p>That doesn’t sound like something educators should ignore. Findings from our study add to the current debate by suggesting that new evidence and new types of teacher training are urgently needed to help schools make informed decisions about phone use in schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159826/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Goodyear receives funding from Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen Armour receives funding from Wellcome Trust</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Miranda Pallan receives funding from the UK National Institute for Health Research and is a member of the Labour Party.</span></em></p>Phones have the potential to help children learn, but UK teachers need evidence-based guidance on phone use in schoolsVictoria Goodyear, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy in Sport, Physical Activity and Health, University of BirminghamKathleen Armour, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education), University of BirminghamMiranda Pallan, Reader in Public Health & Epidemiology, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1594942021-04-26T11:01:12Z2021-04-26T11:01:12ZWhat the government’s report on race gets wrong about the education system<p>The UK government’s recent report on race, drawn up by <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974507/20210331_-_CRED_Report_-_FINAL_-_Web_Accessible.pdf">the Commission on Ethnic and Racial Disparities</a>, has been roundly criticised for its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/16/government-race-report-evidence">findings</a>. Its primary <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56585538">claim</a>, as chair Tony Sewell writes in the foreword, that the British system is no longer “deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities” has drawn particular ire.</p>
<p>With regards to education, specifically, the report argues that “if there is racial bias within schools or the teaching profession, it has limited effect”. Sewell’s credentials as an education consultant appear to give special credence to that position. The problem is that it flies in the face of four decades’ worth of research.</p>
<p>As a former science teacher, a university professor and UNESCO Chair in inclusive education – with expertise at <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/education/documents/research-briefings/research-briefing-01.pdf">local authority</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680930500108619">national</a>, <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.es/sites/default/files/british-council-guidelines-for-inclusion-and-diversity-in-schools.pdf">European</a> and <a href="https://unesco.org.uk/chairs/chair-in-inclusive-and-quality-education-for-all-at-the-university-of-bristol/">global</a> levels – I am well placed to unpick quite how flawed Sewell’s statement is. </p>
<h2>What the report says</h2>
<p>The report focuses primarily on what’s called the attainment gap. Some minority groups (including students of Indian, Chinese and African heritage) outperform their white peers in examinations and in accessing higher education. The authors highlight this as evidence of the absence of institutional racism. </p>
<p>They ascribe the continued underachievement of other groups (including learners of Black Caribbean, dual white/Black Caribbean and Pakistani heritage) to several socio-economic factors: living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods; coming from broken homes; having lower aspirations; and, in the case of Pakistani pupils, a parental failure to properly assimilate into British culture. </p>
<p>The remedy, the authors say, is to do away with unhelpful, catch-all terms such as BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic). As opposed to racism, they would have schools focus on getting all students from poorer backgrounds to achieve better results. </p>
<p>They identify several ways of doing so. Improved behavioural and disciplinary policies. An ambitious curriculum with great teaching. Encouraging early reading at primary school level. They also suggest lengthening the school day, improving career guidance and encouraging aspirational thinking in pupils, mainly through enriching the curriculum with more Black, Asian and minority ethnic contributions to contemporary British society. </p>
<p>These are of course laudable suggestions. Social <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/WhoCaresAboutTheWhiteWorkingClass-2009.pdf">class</a> certainly does affect the majority of both white and Black learners in terms of outcome and opportunity – an issue that needs to be addressed. But by focusing on socio-economic disparity alone, the report side-steps how central an issue racism is.</p>
<h2>The report’s omissions</h2>
<p>The report claims to be data driven. However it only draws on research that fits the central narrative, while ignoring data that confirms <a href="http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/3389/1/CRREBirmevidencetoCRED2020.pdf">how institutional racism underpins racial disparities</a>. </p>
<p>The report relies heavily on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities-supporting-research/ethnic-socio-economic-and-sex-inequalities-in-educational-achievement-at-age-16-by-professor-steve-strand">statistical analysis</a> that controls for socio-economic status so as to demonstrate that said status is more important than racism in explaining racial disparities. However, this type of analysis can be misleading and needs to be treated with caution. <a href="https://bylinetimes.com/2021/04/09/race-report-sewell-commission-couldnt-find-something-it-wasnt-looking-for/">Correlation is not the same as causation.</a> And understanding the underlying causes for racial disparities requires looking behind the numbers to find out what is actually going on in schools. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/Runnymede%20Secondary%20Schools%20report%20FINAL.pdf">Research</a> has consistently shown how stereotypes and low expectations on the part of teachers routinely see <a href="https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/128456398/RR801.pdf">Black Caribbean</a> and <a href="https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/projects/understanding-the-educational-needs-of-mixed-race-pupils-at-risk-">dual white/ Black Caribbean</a> pupils entered into lower ability sets and exam tiers. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131911.2019.1590316?src=recsys">Black Caribbean pupils</a> are twice as likely than all their peers, to be temporarily excluded, and four times more likely to be permanently excluded, from school. </p>
<p>Further, all learners of colour are <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-must-aim-higher-on-ethnic-equality-and-diversity-37073">less likely</a> to go to high-status universities. They have poorer university experiences and outcomes. They also <a href="https://www.employment-studies.co.uk/news/racial-inequality-labour-market-has-persisted-decades-%E2%80%93-we-all-have-play-part-addressing-it">face discrimination in the labour market</a>.</p>
<p>The report correctly rejects the reductive effect of the term BAME, but does not extend this insight to recognise how <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/racism-united-kingdom-schools-black-children-inequality/">anti-Black</a> and <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/blog/islamophobia-20-years-on-still-a-challenge-for-us-all">anti-Islamic racism</a> specifically affect Black and Muslim learners. </p>
<p>It correctly identifies the <a href="https://www.teachfirst.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-09/Missing%20Pages%20Report.pdf">absence of the contributions of people of colour</a> in the making of modern Britain. But it fails to recognise how those accounts of modern Britain whitewash <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-curriculum-continues-to-whitewash-britains-imperial-past-53577">British colonial history</a>. Neither does it address how the self-identity and aspirations of Black and minority ethnic learners can be affected by <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/aisha_thomas_why_representation_really_matters">not seeing themselves represented</a> among the teachers at school. </p>
<p>These acts of bias, absences and omissions are all examples of <a href="https://theconversation.com/extent-of-institutional-racism-in-british-universities-revealed-through-hidden-stories-118097">institutional racism</a>. They follow the definition widely accepted since <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/277111/4262.pdf">the 1999 inquiry</a> into the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. That is: “The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin”. </p>
<h2>Ideological bias</h2>
<p>In questioning the significance of institutional racism, the report puts the onus for underachievement largely on Black Caribbean and Pakistani communities and families. In doing so, it lets school leaders and politicians off the hook. </p>
<p>While schools cannot possibly put right all of the social inequalities that disproportionately affect these communities, they can do something to specifically address racism in their own policies and practices. When they do, it <a href="https://neu.org.uk/media/11236/view">makes a difference</a>.</p>
<p>School leadership has to be prepared to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-racism-faced-by-teenagers-in-the-uk-new-research-142596">acknowledge racism</a> and commit to race equality. Heads and teachers must make good use of data relating to attainment and exclusions in order to identify both those groups at risk and also those practices that have been successful in helping students and challenging stereotypes. </p>
<p>If <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/sep/22/one-third-of-children-in-uk-have-heard-racist-comments-at-school">a third of under-13s</a> (and more than half of 13-year-olds) have witnessed – or been subjected to – racist comments and bullying at school, schools have to create a safe and inclusive environment where all students are valued and where abuse is dealt with. </p>
<p>They need to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2016/dec/12/how-schools-are-helping">provide appropriate support</a> for refugee learners. They need to develop <a href="https://theconversation.com/decolonising-the-curriculum-the-only-way-through-the-process-is-together-69995">a culturally inclusive curriculum</a> that encourages a balanced appraisal of Britain’s colonial past. They need to actively engage with parents who may themselves lack information about or have have had a negative experience of, the English education system. And they need to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-challenge-racism-in-british-schools-78153">equip their staff</a> to understand racism and know how to deal with it.</p>
<p>Students of colour who do succeed do so <em>despite</em> it and not because the system has suddenly become fairer, as this report tries to argue. The real struggle for anti-racism in education continues apace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159494/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leon Tikly receives funding from Department for Education, Bristol Local Authority and the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>In focusing on the socio-economic roots of underachievement, the UK government is side-stepping how institutional racism impacts on learning. Schools have a vital role to play in undoing thisLeon Tikly, Professor in Education, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1592902021-04-20T15:10:36Z2021-04-20T15:10:36ZAfro hair: How pupils are tackling discriminatory uniform policies<p>There has been much <a href="https://irr.org.uk/article/irr-responds-to-commission-race-ethnic-disparities-report/">criticism</a> of the report recently published by the UK government’s Commission on Ethnic and Racial Disparities, chaired by Tony Sewell. Pundits have deplored its denial of institutional racism in Britain. A recent act of student resistance highlights how flawed the report is, and how racism affects schooling. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/31/pimlico-academy-pupils-stage-protest-over-discriminatory-policies">In March</a>, hundreds of pupils at the Pimlico Academy, a secondary school in west London, demonstrated against changes to the curriculum, the flying of the union jack outside the school and, crucially, discriminatory uniform policies. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/25/not-seeing-ourselves-represented-union-jack-row-at-london-school-shows-divides">The protests began</a> months earlier, in September 2020, when the school introduced new rules, banning colourful hijabs and hairstyles that “block the view of others”. </p>
<p>By not mentioning race, these regulations attempt to hide behind a thin veneer of neutrality. As the students have made clear, however, this does little to obscure how these uniform rules discriminate against Muslim students and Black students.</p>
<h2>Recent cases</h2>
<p>Discrimination against afro-textured hair is not limited to Pimlico Academy. Several high-profile cases in recent years have made the issue increasingly difficult to ignore. </p>
<p>In 2017, after starting at secondary school, <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2017/09/14/mother-of-boy-ordered-to-cut-dreadlocks-accuses-school-of-racial-discrimination-6927022/">Chikayzea Flanders</a> was placed in isolation because his dreadlocks - symbolic of his Rastafarian culture and religion - were deemed to be in breach of the school’s uniform policy. He was threatened with exclusion unless he cut his hair. Around that same time, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-45521094">Ruby Williams</a> was repeatedly being sent home because her afro hair too was deemed unacceptable. </p>
<p>These are just the cases that make the headlines. But, as the 2019 <a href="https://www.worldafroday.com/hair-equality-report">Hair Equality Report</a> suggests, many more cases simply do not. This study, done in response to the UK government’s education inspection framework, saw the World Afro Day collective along with researchers from De Montfort University conduct a survey of 1,000 respondents. They found that one in four adults had had a “bad or very bad experience at school with their Afro-textured hair and identity”. One in six adults reported having had a bad or very bad experience. And of these children with bad experiences, 46% faced school policies penalising afro hair.</p>
<h2>Symbolic meaning</h2>
<p>To understand the racial significance of these school uniform policies, it is necessary to recognise the symbolic nature of hair. Hair is not neutral. It is saturated with racial and cultural meaning. Which is to say <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Hair_Matters.html?id=YH0EntlW0RcC&redir_esc=y">hair is both a means through which culture is expressed and understood, and a way in which people are racialised</a>. As the British art historian Kobena Mercer puts it in <a href="http://banmarchive.org.uk/collections/newformations/03_33.pdf">Black hair/style politics</a>, hair is “the most visible stigma of blackness, second only to skin”.</p>
<p>In a context where explicit racial discrimination is illegal, as well as a transgression of our so-called post-racial sensibilities, school uniform policies are usually presented as race-neutral. They’re not about race or ethnicity, we’re told, but about appearing “smart”, “professional”, “disciplined” and “presentable”. </p>
<p>British criminologist <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/7/11/219">Laura Connelly and I have argued</a>, however, that, as with beauty standards (as shown by <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Black-Beauty-Aesthetics-Stylization-Politics/Tate/p/book/9781138266193">the work of the sociologist Shirley Anne Tate</a>), these assumptions are underpinned by white supremacist logic that pathologises Black aesthetics. That is, by perceptions that hairstyles typically worn by Black people are not smart but unruly. </p>
<p>Such policies give rise to anti-black forms of social control – through discipline, including isolation and exclusion - that further entrench white supremacy. <a href="https://soc-for-ed-studies.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/GillbornD-et-al_Race-Racism-and-Education.pdf">Black students are already subject</a> to racially disproportionate disciplinary procedures in schools. This is most obvious in the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/school-racism-black-students-exclusions-hair-kiss-teeth-a9280296.html">disparities</a> in school exclusions, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/exclusion-rates-black-caribbean-pupils-england">recent evidence</a> finding that Black Caribbean students are excluded from schools at up to six times the rate of their white peers in some local authorities.</p>
<h2>Youth-led resistance</h2>
<p>Buoyed by last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, and having succeeded in forcing their school to amend its uniform policy, the Pimlico student protesters are part of a growing tide of youth-led anti-racist resistance. </p>
<p>In the Chikayzea Flanders case mentioned earlier, legal action initiated by his mother, and backed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), eventually led the school to accept that its “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/sep/12/london-school-that-told-boy-to-cut-off-dreadlocks-backs-down">ban on dreadlocks resulted in indirect discrimination</a>”. And although the board did not accept liability, Ruby Williams <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/afro-hair-discrimation-student-legal-action-payout-ruby-williams-urswick-school-a9323466.html">received a settlement</a> after an EHRC-backed race discrimination case was raised by the family. </p>
<p>More widely, Emma Dabiri, author of <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/305/305706/don-t-touch-my-hair/9780141986289.html">Don’t Touch My Hair</a>, <a href="https://www.dazeddigital.com/beauty/head/article/48107/1/emma-dabiri-fighting-afro-hair-protected-by-the-law-equality-act-ruby-williams">has been campaigning</a> for afro hair to be explicitly protected under the Equality Act. <a href="https://halocollective.co.uk/">The Halo Collective</a> meanwhile, founded by young Black organisers, has developed <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/55249674">a charter for schools</a> as a tool to end race-based hair discrimination. </p>
<p>The onus for resisting discriminatory school uniform policies has, to date, often been placed on students and their families, often only with localised implications. However, this recent campaigning sets its sights on embedding change across the education system – and beyond. This could and should come from an explicit national policy against hair-based discrimination in schools and workplaces. Instead of that, however, it is coming from students demanding a culture shift and making it untenable for schools to retain discriminatory policies. </p>
<p>The Sewell report may feel like a blow to those of us committed to anti-racism. Young protesters, however, remind us that our hopes lie not in the Conservative government, but in such grassroots organising. </p>
<p>While the Pimlico situation remains unresolved, with protesters summoned to disciplinary meetings and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/apr/16/children-who-organised-pimlico-academy-protest-could-be-expelled">threatened with exclusions</a>, it shows that it is schools, not young people, that must change.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159290/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Remi Joseph-Salisbury 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>In the absence of explicit national legislation against hair-based discrimination, young people are demanding fairer rules - and a culture shift.Remi Joseph-Salisbury, Presidential Fellow in Ethnicity and Inequalities, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1451342020-08-27T16:09:45Z2020-08-27T16:09:45ZPupils in England and Wales head back to school: how teachers feel about the return<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355080/original/file-20200827-20-15dybjb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C273%2C4326%2C2894&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/primary-school-kids-wearing-uniforms-backpacks-1280272750">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>School closures across the world as a result of the coronavirus pandemic have caused significant disruption to the education system at all levels, affecting children, parents and school staff. </p>
<p>Now, the closures across the UK are ending. Children went back to schools <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-53722299">in Scotland</a> from August 11 and in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-53847500">Northern Ireland</a> from August 24, and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/school-open-primary-secondary-when-return-date-september-a9508036.html">England</a> and <a href="https://gov.wales/back-school-plans-september-coronavirus#section-46448">Wales</a> are set to follow in the first week of September.</p>
<p>As part of our primary school <a href="https://happen-wales.co.uk/">research network</a>, we spoke to <a href="https://happen-wales.co.uk/school-staff-return-to-school-survey/">211 primary school staff</a> – including headteachers, teachers, teaching assistants and support staff – across Wales to find out their views on the return to school.</p>
<h2>A necessary return</h2>
<p>Many of those who took part in the survey felt that children need to return to school. Some children returned to school for a brief period in July, and teachers felt that the time away in the spring and summer had resulted in a decline in their ability to learn and their social skills. A teacher discussing pupils who had returned in July after school closures said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They have come back to school tired. They have found it difficult to concentrate. Some are not used to following rules at home and so following instructions and rules in school will be difficult and therefore disruptive behaviour will follow.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Concerns over pupils’ health and wellbeing were discussed primarily in relation to the indirect effects of the virus. Teachers commented on how the experiences of children during lockdown would have varied widely. They spoke of the challenges of supporting them both emotionally and with their education when they return, especially those disengaged from learning:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel we may be picking up the pieces in terms of the pupils who have not been engaging and have not returned for pre-summer check-ins.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Our survey showed that teachers were worried that some children would have engaged in home schooling and some not. This would lead to a widening of the ability gap between children in the same class, making whole-class teaching very hard. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Teacher helping child with work" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355081/original/file-20200827-24-cgwfl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355081/original/file-20200827-24-cgwfl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355081/original/file-20200827-24-cgwfl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355081/original/file-20200827-24-cgwfl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355081/original/file-20200827-24-cgwfl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355081/original/file-20200827-24-cgwfl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355081/original/file-20200827-24-cgwfl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Teachers were concerned that some pupils would have fallen behind others during the school closures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-helping-male-pupil-practising-writing-284502116">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>A teaching assistant told us that a particular challenge would be ensuring that enough staff were on hand to help the children who had fallen behind in learning and social skills. </p>
<p>The school staff noted, however, that there would have been positive aspects of lockdown for some children, including more time with family and the development of life skills such as cooking and learning to ride a bike. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-closures-had-positive-effects-on-some-teenagers-mental-health-our-new-research-suggests-144884">School closures had positive effects on some teenagers' mental health, our new research suggests</a>
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<p>The school staff we spoke to were also worried about staff health and wellbeing, especially about the risk of children passing coronavirus to adults. This was raised by school staff who had been shielding or were living or interacting with those who were shielding. </p>
<p>Staff were also worried about looking after their own children, with limited breakfast or after-school clubs available. Headteachers specifically raised concerns over potential staff shortages because of staff sickness and those needing to self isolate due to symptoms, and the implications this would have on school budgets. </p>
<p>Challenges to the management of the school day were raised, as new practices like extra cleaning and handwashing would need to be added in. Staff raised concerns about how this would lead to reductions in valuable teaching time.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Maintaining good hand hygiene with a full class of 30 will be very difficult to monitor and very time consuming.</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Child washing hands under a tap" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355086/original/file-20200827-18-2rlaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355086/original/file-20200827-18-2rlaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355086/original/file-20200827-18-2rlaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355086/original/file-20200827-18-2rlaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355086/original/file-20200827-18-2rlaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355086/original/file-20200827-18-2rlaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355086/original/file-20200827-18-2rlaml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Teachers were concerned about the difficulty of monitoring pupils’ hand hygeine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-hands-children-pupils-preschool-washing-1385039834">JOKE_PHATRAPONG/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Another challenge relayed was the ability to teach and collaborate with others at a social distance, particularly for those teaching younger pupils. School staff were also concerned about the lack of social interaction between staff as a result of social distancing.</p>
<h2>Benefits and changes</h2>
<p>Staff commented on the benefits of smaller class sizes for pupils. It was noted that some children “thrived” in smaller groups when they briefly returned in July. </p>
<p>Staff felt that smaller class sizes could not only reduce the risk of infection but also greatly improve the ability to support individual children and improve wellbeing for staff. A headteacher suggested that these experiences could drive a long-term change in education.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Due to budget constraints we have had large classes to keep jobs – now is the time to invest in learning – class sizes no greater than 20. This will have a massive impact on pupil learning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Also, staff proposed there should be more support for wellbeing and the arts and less pressure on assessment, with one teacher suggesting that there should be designated staff in each school to help with wellbeing. The need for a greater focus on the wellbeing needs of pupils has been highlighted <a href="https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-015-1091-2">in our previous research</a>, and will be ever more critical in the current situation. </p>
<p>Many staff commented on the need for guidance and communication at all levels. This includes building rapport and ongoing communication with parents, clear communications between government, local authorities and schools and, importantly, the need for better communication on scientific evidence and regular virus testing to guide the return to school. </p>
<p>It is clear that investing in both pupil and staff wellbeing will be essential for a successful return.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlotte Todd receives funding from the National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research (NCPHWR). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Marchant receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michaela James receives funding from the National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research (NCPHWR). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sinead Brophy receives funding from Health Care Research Wales, ESRC and HDRUK. This work was funded by Welsh Assembly government and the NIHR. </span></em></p>We heard the views of 211 primary school staff in Wales on the return to school.Charlotte Todd, Research Assistant in Child Health and Well-being, Swansea UniversityEmily Marchant, PhD Researcher in Medical Studies, Swansea UniversityMichaela James, Research Assistant in Childhood Physical Activity, Swansea UniversitySinead Brophy, Professor in Public Health Data Science, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1387502020-06-08T14:52:52Z2020-06-08T14:52:52ZComing of age in 2020 – the summer without exams or school proms<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340054/original/file-20200605-176575-1secgrd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/prom-night-celebrating-baloons-happy-proud-494229832">Shutterstock/Katja El Sol Cemazar</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The transition from childhood to adulthood is marked by humans in a wide <a href="https://www.elle.com/culture/travel-food/news/g27293/coming-of-age-ceremonies-around-the-world/">variety of ways</a> across the world. Many of these “coming of age” celebrations are held at puberty. For instance, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuqo_MQX2_M">filing of front teeth</a> in Bali is said to ease the “sad ripu” or six evils of lust, greed, wrath, pride, jealousy and intoxication. In contrast, the <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/bar-and-bat-mitzvah-101/">Jewish bar mitzvah</a> marks the point at which children are deemed to be responsible for their own actions. </p>
<p>Demonstrations of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrjCLvSQ_cw">physical prowess</a> are often tied to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/01/how-rites-of-passage-shape-masculinity-gender/">male ceremonies</a>. The <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/susiearmitage/21-first-period-traditions-from-around-the-world">start of periods</a> may play the same role for girls, with rituals such as the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B3Abpv0ysM">Apache sunrise ceremony</a> marking the passage into womanhood. </p>
<p>Despite the differences in the style of all these events, they often have three elements in common: they are public, and involve special clothes and particular foods. This places these rituals squarely into the cultural realm, which may explain the wide variation. Culture is especially variable, as it is <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10539-012-9347-x">passed on socially</a> and often serves to mark inclusion into a particular group. </p>
<p>Some of our close relatives also have culture. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/21415">Chimpanzee groups</a>, for instance, have specific grooming postures, make different signals to one another, and use tools in specific ways. Yet they do not have clear rites of passage. These seem to be a particularly human phenomenon. They serve to strengthen bonds between society members, and create cohesion in the broader social group.</p>
<p>In the multicultural society of England and Wales, one significant rite of passage familiar to almost all of us is the nationwide ritual of the summer exam. For year 11 and year 13 pupils in particular, the completion of GCSEs and A Levels marks a point of shared experience, effort and decision making. </p>
<p>For many years now, this momentous achievement has been widely celebrated with a <a href="https://www.borngifted.co.uk/shop/resource/School-Prom-UK">school prom</a>. This American import frequently demands the formation of the <a href="https://co-ordination.net/top-tips-for-planning-a-successful-school-prom/">prom committee</a>, and an almost military level of planning. The venue, theme, entertainment and decoration are all organised and debated to the finest detail. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-british-teenagers-are-making-american-high-school-proms-their-own-61527">How British teenagers are making American high-school proms their own</a>
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<p>There is also often significant financial and emotional investment ahead of an event at which social competition is intense, and full of almost <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48599381">ritualistic preparation</a> (hair, make-up, maybe a spray tan). </p>
<h2>Class of 2020</h2>
<p>For the “class of 2020”, these important landmarks of exams and proms have been lost to coronavirus. Instead, <a href="https://www.whatuni.com/advice/coronavirus-covid-19-updates/university-applications-2020-covid19-changes-to-uni-entry/87248/">results will be estimated</a>, and social gathering will be extremely limited.</p>
<p>Young people also face unprecedented uncertainty about what happens next. Should they stick to their original plans, or put them <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-universities-to-lose-out-as-students-plan-to-defer-k0lp0qhcc">on hold</a>? </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340058/original/file-20200605-176542-1km4u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340058/original/file-20200605-176542-1km4u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340058/original/file-20200605-176542-1km4u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340058/original/file-20200605-176542-1km4u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340058/original/file-20200605-176542-1km4u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340058/original/file-20200605-176542-1km4u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340058/original/file-20200605-176542-1km4u1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Exam halls on hold.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/exam-tables-chairs-set-uk-school-1419154364">Shutterstock/Joe Kirby Photography</a></span>
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<p>Whatever they decide, it is important to remember that one of the main functions of these kinds of rituals is to welcome the child into the adult world. They allow them for the first time to engage not just with their peers, but also with adults as equals.</p>
<p>So while it might seem depressing that exams and proms have been cancelled this year, recognising these celebrations as specifically cultural and symbolic can help. By encouraging young people to think about how they might like to mark their graduation, we can make a good start. </p>
<p>If they can’t do it by moving to a new city to start university, is there some other way to mark it? One suggestion could be a significant personal challenge such as a <a href="https://www.transpenninetrail.org.uk/">long hike</a> or cycle ride. In the absence of a prom, is there a different kind of celebration – perhaps a Zoom party – that could be held and shared through <a href="https://mashable.com/article/zoom-party/?europe=true">social media</a>? </p>
<p>Different friendship groups have their own ways of interacting, and may thrive on creating something innovative and new for themselves. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obta5WPfse4">Parents can help </a> by recognising the significance of this life stage. </p>
<p>In a sense, the class of 2020 have a unique opportunity to take a truly independent approach to marking this transition, and deciding on its level of importance. Everything is open for discussion and there is much less pressure to do things as they have always been done. </p>
<p>The situation allows them to reinvent “coming of age” in a way that is personally meaningful. Young people can take control over their own transition and decide how, in the post-coronavirus years, they take their lives forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138750/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Exam revision and parties are a traditional part of growing up.Isabelle Catherine Winder, Lecturer in Zoology, Bangor UniversityGwyndaf Roberts, Lecturer in Cell Biology, Bangor UniversityVivien Shaw, Lecturer in Anatomy, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1236182019-10-21T09:48:30Z2019-10-21T09:48:30ZSchool funding: promised increases are actually real-term cuts – and poorer schools are hit hardest<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297852/original/file-20191021-56220-mvlprp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5078%2C3382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School funding doesn't add up. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-primary-school-pupils-their-desks-432876733?src=6H6LL4YKkZA5tMKE2tWFeQ-1-68">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent changes to school funding in England mean that, although there may seem to be more money for education, in general schools will be worse off in 2021 than they have been over the last few years. In the second half of 2019, the government announced <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-to-learn-funding-allocations-following-14-billion-pledge">a £14 billion increase</a> in funding for schools in England. This is over three years: £2.6 billion in 2020-21, increasing to £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23. </p>
<p>The National Education Union (NEU) <a href="https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/school-cuts-updated-funding-figures">analysed the figures</a>, and despite the cash injection, found “a strong link between deprivation and the scale of government cuts to school funding”. The NEU suggests that, when inflation is taken into account, over 16,000 schools will have less income in April 2020, compared to 2015. </p>
<p>Over the past decade, school spending per pupil in the UK has fallen by about 8% in real terms. According to the <a href="https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/R162-Annual-report-on-education-spending-in-england-schools.pdf">Institute for Fiscal Studies</a>, this is the largest decline since at least the 1970s. For historical reasons to do with how funding used to be calculated, these cuts will hit schools in the most disadvantaged areas hard. </p>
<h2>Feeling the effects</h2>
<p>Children in classrooms – particularly in disadvantaged areas – are already feeling the very real effects of funding cuts. Staff are being made redundant, schools have fewer resources, and some schools are even <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-48770759">considering closing</a> for half a day per week to save money. Recent apparent funding increases are in fact real-term cuts – and teachers and parents are rightly concerned. </p>
<p>In April, <a href="https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/state-education-child-poverty">a survey</a> of 8,600 teachers and other school staff conducted by the National Education Union found that 91% of teachers felt that poverty was a factor in limiting children’s capacity to learn. Three-quarters of those surveyed blamed poverty for children falling asleep during lessons, being unable to concentrate and behaving badly. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297853/original/file-20191021-56198-1rs4bf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Tough on teachers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-high-school-tutor-standing-by-1195671607?src=6H6LL4YKkZA5tMKE2tWFeQ-1-43">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>Many teachers in schools face these problems every day, while also having to handle issues that arise as a result of austerity and cutbacks to other services, such as health and social care. As a result, <a href="https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/article-listing/teachers-paying-to-provide-basics-for-pupils.html">nearly half</a> (45%) of teachers surveyed said that they have spent their own money buying basic necessities for pupils in the last year. </p>
<p>Yet current government policy does nothing to level the playing field in terms of structural inequalities: in fact, it reinforces them. </p>
<h2>A complex system</h2>
<p>School funding in England is complicated, partly because there are so many kinds of schools – between 70 and 90, on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2015.1121141">one estimate</a> – and partly because the mechanisms change quite often. It’s also complex because there are so many rules, depending on whether pupils are certain ages, or have special educational needs. </p>
<p>In general, however, people tend to have two key concerns: how much money is going into schools from the government, and whether this money is being distributed fairly. All children in England between the ages of five and 16 are entitled to a free place at a state school. </p>
<p>There were nearly <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/812539/Schools_Pupils_and_their_Characteristics_2019_Main_Text.pdf">9m children in English schools</a> in January 2019: <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmpubacc/1597/1597.pdf">about half</a> of the pupils in state-funded schools in England are in maintained schools, and about half in academies and free schools. </p>
<p>Maintained schools are so called because they are funded and controlled by the local authority. Maintained schools must follow the national curriculum and other rules, for example about teachers’ pay and conditions. </p>
<p>Academies and free schools are state-funded, non-fee-paying schools, which are are independent of local authorities and operate outside of their control. These schools are run by trusts or sponsors such as parents’ groups or businesses. They still get funding from the government, but they can decide how to spend their budget themselves, and they can set their own entrance criteria. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/reports/unleashing-greatness.pdf">2013 report</a> by the Academies Commission stated that it received evidence of some popular schools, including academies, attempting to select and exclude certain pupils; there tends to be a decrease in the proportion of disadvantaged pupils enrolling in academies, and a resultant increase in intakes in maintained schools. </p>
<p>The fact that academies set their own admissions policies “attracted controversy and fuelled concerns that the growth of academies may entrench rather than mitigate social inequalities”, according to the report.</p>
<h2>Fair funding?</h2>
<p>The National Funding Formula (NFF) is the formula that is used to allocate school funding. This is a basic per-pupil funding allocation, and then there are adjustments for things like additional needs. The NFF is used to calculate funding for individual schools, and then the total for an area is calculated and the amount passed on to the local authority.</p>
<p>Councils then set their own formula, in agreement with school forums made up of head teachers, to distribute the cash. The formula must include both a basic local funding unit for each pupil attending the school, and a measure of deprivation. It can also take into consideration some other elements, such as the number of pupils with English as an additional language. </p>
<p>Academy funding comes directly from the Department for Education (DfE); local authorities instruct the DfE how much to pay each academy in their area. This is all quite likely to change, though – and then it is possible that NFF funding will be paid directly to all mainstream schools. </p>
<p>Another important source of funding for schools is the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and-alternative-provision-settings">pupil premium</a>, which was introduced by the government in 2011. The amount is allocated based on the number of pupils who are or have been eligible for free school meals, and also those who have parents in the armed forces, and intended to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. </p>
<p>Schools are accountable for how they spend the pupil premium, but they don’t have to spend it just on eligible pupils. So the question remains: why are measures such as pupil premium and the national funding formula failing to level the playing field?</p>
<h2>Rising costs</h2>
<p>In July 2019, the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmeduc/969/969.pdf">Education Select Committee</a> reported that it was clear that pupil premium was not always directed at disadvantaged children – rather, it is often used to make up shortfalls in school budgets. As the select committee noted, schools should not have to choose between running their core operations and supporting disadvantaged pupils. The fact that this is happening shows that there is simply not enough money in the school funding system. </p>
<p>School costs have increased across a range of areas, including annual pay award and salary raises, inflation, pensions and special educational needs provision. School funding has not kept pace. Jon Andrews, director for school system and performance at the Education Policy Institute think-tank, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c0530b6e-ee9d-11e9-ad1e-4367d8281195">said that</a> the government’s policies on education funding “target money towards schools with less challenging intakes and lower levels of disadvantage – at a time when progress in closing the gap between disadvantage pupils and their peers has stalled”. </p>
<p>Promised increases to funding are likely to be real-term cuts. Schools and children are suffering because of inequitable policies – and this will have far-reaching consequences for the economy and wider society, long into the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123618/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janet Lord is affiliated with the Labour party.</span></em></p>Children in classrooms – particularly in disadvantaged areas – are already feeling the very real effects of funding cuts.Janet Lord, Faculty Head of Education, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234002019-09-12T10:01:22Z2019-09-12T10:01:22ZSchools are failing pupils with special needs, despite best efforts of dedicated staff<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292164/original/file-20190912-190031-vvew28.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=166%2C308%2C5384%2C3392&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/downsyndrome-school-boy-group-children-corridor-1488262742?src=eW6wbqSs44muy5nu9waEaA-1-11">Shutterstock.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="https://www.nao.org.uk/report/support-for-pupils-with-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities/">new report</a> by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that local authorities are struggling to deliver proper support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. The report finds that the current system – introduced in 2014 – is not financially sustainable.</p>
<p>The system was designed to enable education, health and social services to work together for the benefit of the child, and give families and young people with special needs a greater voice in their education. But in practice, this simply isn’t happening, as funding has not increased in line with demand. </p>
<p>According to the NAO report, the number of pupils with the highest level of need (those who qualify for an education, health and care (EHC) plan) has risen by almost 20% since the changes came into force – but funding has not kept pace. </p>
<p>The report states that since 2014, £349m in extra funding has been given to support this group of students. But because the number of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities grew, the funding per pupil fell by 3% (it was an average of £19,600, and is now £19,100). </p>
<p>This means that – despite the dedicated hard work of staff at local schools – many are struggling to provide the support that they want to give, and that parents expect.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292156/original/file-20190912-190007-1uk22ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292156/original/file-20190912-190007-1uk22ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292156/original/file-20190912-190007-1uk22ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292156/original/file-20190912-190007-1uk22ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292156/original/file-20190912-190007-1uk22ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292156/original/file-20190912-190007-1uk22ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292156/original/file-20190912-190007-1uk22ae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Resources aren’t always available.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cute-hispanic-language-therapist-working-kid-681369220?src=T3PsOMB977JxefUkbxrL-Q-1-9">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>The NAO’s findings reflect the day-to-day experiences we hear from the field, as academics in education. Reports of overworked and under-resourced staff <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8578.12014">are common</a>. </p>
<p>Our Special Educational Needs Coordinator students (SENCOs) are responsible for supporting pupils with special needs in schools around the country. They are telling us that they lack access to local authority experts, such as educational psychologists or behaviour specialists. </p>
<p>And instead of having financial support to use the resources they think will best help individual pupils, they are limited to what has been used in the past, or is available freely. </p>
<h2>Funding shortfall</h2>
<p>To try and find the funding to support students, the report states that local authorities are drawing on their dedicated schools grant reserves – money which is ring-fenced to be used for education, from the block grant from previous years. But these resources are being outstripped by the growing numbers of pupils with special needs. </p>
<p>Local authorities are left with no option but to use the current general school budget (called “school block funding”) to support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, which means less money to spend on the rest of the student body. </p>
<p>The report questions whether schools will no longer want to have students with special needs, if it means that they will have less money for their mainstream pupils. Indeed, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/807862/Timpson_review.pdf">a recent report</a> on exclusions found an increase in <a href="https://educationinspection.blog.gov.uk/2019/05/10/what-is-off-rolling-and-how-does-ofsted-look-at-it-on-inspection/">“off rolling”</a> – an informal agreement whereby parents concede to remove children with special needs from the school roll, when it’s in the best interests of the school and not the pupil. </p>
<h2>Not learning, not happy</h2>
<p>The lack of support available is affecting which schools pupils with special educational needs and disabilities attend. Ofsted rates local authority special schools quite highly (92% rated “good” or “outstanding” overall). This compares to 85% of mainstream schools and only 78% of independent special schools. Yet the number of pupils with special needs going to independent special schools is increasing – likely due to the lack of effective support and provision in mainstream schools. </p>
<p>Stark figures on school exclusion also indicate that pupils’ needs are not being met, which is preventing them from engaging with the education provided. Although pupils with special educational needs and disabilities make up only 15% of a school, they make up almost half of all exclusions: 45% of permanent exclusions and 43% of exclusions over a fixed period. Clearly, these pupils aren’t learning and aren’t happy in school. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292160/original/file-20190912-190007-1sou4hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292160/original/file-20190912-190007-1sou4hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292160/original/file-20190912-190007-1sou4hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292160/original/file-20190912-190007-1sou4hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292160/original/file-20190912-190007-1sou4hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292160/original/file-20190912-190007-1sou4hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292160/original/file-20190912-190007-1sou4hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Excluded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boy-schoolbag-waiting-parent-while-raining-477361750?src=RJ2e4N5cc8GOPLtD1Ec9Kw-1-0">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>The 2014 changes to the government’s guidance on how schools, health and social services support students with special needs advocated for more mainstream provision, and the right of the family to choose a school for their child with special needs. These children can have quite extensive disabilities, and five to ten years ago many families would not have even considered mainstream education as an option. </p>
<p>We firmly believe all children have a right to be educated with their peers – but schools must have the right support and funding to do this. Parents quite rightfully advocate for their own children. If schools are given adequate funding, they will not be put in the unenviable position of having to choose between supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, or spending on resources for the rest of the school. </p>
<p>The NAO report reflects the hard reality for children with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools, which are themselves confronted every day with difficult choices about how to allocate limited resources. Clearly, the aspirations of the 2014 reforms have not been realised. Now, the government’s guidance needs to be better aligned with teaching and support practices that have been shown to work. Otherwise, schools will continue to fail this vulnerable group of pupils – despite their best efforts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Tsakalaki receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cathy Tissot 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>A new report has found funding shortfalls are forcing schools to make difficult decisions about which pupils get support.Cathy Tissot, Professor of Education, University of ReadingAnna Tsakalaki, Lecturer in Education, University of ReadingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.