LESSONS FROM THE FRONT 2009A Policy First Publication

TEACH FIRST MISSION

To address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields.

A TeAch FirsT AmbAssAdor publicATion

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CONTENT

Section 5: Responses from the Government and Major National Opposing Political Parties5.1: response from the Government

Vernon Coaker MP (Minister of State for Schools and Learners)

5.2: response from the conservative party Michael Gove MP (Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families)

5.3: response from the liberal democrat party David Laws MP (Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families)

Afterword Julie Mercer (Partner, Deloitte)

Glossary of terms

List of Contributors

Appendices1.1.1: The Teach First Ambassador community

1.2.1: The policy First process: where our ideas for Lessons from the Front 2009 came from

1.2.2: The policy First survey: quantitative results

2.2.1: The main barriers to the use of problem-based learning, as suggested by Teach First teachers during focus groups

2.2.2: EvidenceofthebenefitsofteacherinternshipsbasedonquestionnairesonLondonTeachFirstSummerprojects 2008

2.3.1: evidence from personal stories that the Flexible Teacher role would work

3.1.1: Teach First teachers on the problems with the current system of measuring school performance

3.2.1: A comparison of two different options for universal advice

3.3.1: interview questions on the peer effect on classroom and school levels

3.3.2: excerpt from interview transcript: one head of Year on how ‘success breeds success’

Reference

Foreword David Cruickshank (Chairman of Deloitte and a Trustee of the Education and Employers Taskforce)

Section 1: What are we doing here?1.1: introduction

Brett Wigdortz (CEO and Founder, Teach First)

1.2: executive summary Editor: Elizabeth Thonemann (’04)*

Section 2: How do we develop teachers and teaching?2.1: We should ensure that personalised and differentiated cpd happens.

Chapter writers: Stephen Douglas (’06) and Alistair Wood (’06) Chapter researcher: Matthew Hood (’07)

2.2: We should nurture teachers’ inquisitiveness Chapter writers: Katherine Richardson (’04) and Jay Allnutt (‘06) Chapter researcher: Hannah Mathews (’04)

2.3: We should develop collaboration between teachers, schools and sectors. Chapter writers: Alex Kelly (‘05) and Jen Hall (‘03) Chapter researchers: Lydia Menzies (’03), Lubna Altajir (’05), Stephen Douglas (’06) and Alistair Wood (’06).

Section 3: How do we make sure that schools can put pupils first?3.1: We should measure schools’ performance differently

Chapter writers and researchers: Sequoia Taylor (‘06) and Monica McAteer (‘06)

3.2:Weshouldimproveguidanceonvocationalqualificationsandcareers Chapter writer: David Boardman (’03) Chapter researchers: Michael Gun-Why (‘06), Hannah Cheetham (‘07) and Peter Kemp (’05)

3.3: We should investigate how schools can maximise the potential of the peer effect Chapter writers: Jonathan Goldstein (’06) and Jamie Audsley (’07) Chapter researchers: Anna Moverley (‘04) and Alex Shapland-Howes (‘07)

Section 4: Conclusion Elizabeth Thonemann (’04)

* refers to the year an Ambassador (alumnus of the programme) began the Teach First programme.

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FOREwORd

deloitte has been working with Teach First since may 2005. deloitte’s platinum sponsorship is a pivotalstrandinthefirm’scommunityinvestment programme and this initiative, policy First, is providing our partners and staff with significantopportunitiestomakearealdifference to educational outcomes in england.

Across its business deloitte now employs 20 Teach First ambassadors (alumni of the Teach First programme) who continue to play a role in

removing educational disadvantage in the schools they trained in and through the projects they now undertake. This summer 22 Teach First interns accepted placements with deloitte to gain new experiences on projects across thefirm.Asabusinessweunderstandtheimportanceofopportunity for all and we are impressed by the impact Teach First has sustained in the schools they support.

When looking at how deloitte could build on the work it does with Teach First, a collaboration on the Lessons from the Front 2009 publication was an obvious next step. i am therefore thrilled to be working with Teach First to enable Teach First teachers to bring their own experiences from the front line, test their hypotheses through structured researchandtoanalyseandcomparetheirfindingswithacademic research from others. i have been struck by their relentless focus on improving the experience of school for teachers, parents and most importantly young people, and their dedication to the Teach First mission.

Throughout the development of this publication, from initial ideas through to publication, deloitte has supported Teach First in bringing together ambassadors and participants to produce what we believe to be informative, insightful and thought provoking solutions to the day to day challenges that schools face. it will bring to light new avenues for debate for both policy makers and teachers. in reading through these chapters, i hope you too feel inspired.

David Cruickshank Chairman of Deloitte and a Trustee of the Education and Employers Taskforce

SECTION 1: wHAT ARE wE dOINg HERE?

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i am proud to introduce our second policy First publication: Lessons from the Front 2009.

in england today, the most statisticallysignificantindicatorofachild’s educational success is the wealth of their parents. in fact, the linkages between parental wealth

and pupil success are greater than in almost any other wealthy country in the world. in essence, this means that vast swathes of children are not given the educational opportunities they deserve because of the lottery of birth. At Teach First, we are united by our belief that this is a national tragedy of wasted opportunities. it is unfair and untenable, but crucially, it is changeable.

Teach First is an independent, non-political charity that came into existence seven years ago with the belief that additional excellent teaching and leadership in challenging schools is the key to changing this situation. having grown into one of the largest and most prestigious graduate recruiters in the country, we have seen that high-achieving british graduates want to be part of the solution to this problem. our goal is to give them the support, tools and opportunities to do just that. Through their two years as full-time teachers in challenging urban schools, they are supported to collaborate with their colleagues and lead their pupils to very high levels of achievement, access to opportunities and aspirations.

however, we understand that, as important as this is to the pupils involved, this is not enough to help create the systemic change necessary to achieve our mission of fully addressing educational disadvantage. This task is a focus of our ambassadors - the alumni of Teach First - who are becoming a powerful movement of leaders working both inside and outside education and collaborating with other teachers, educationalists, business leaders, policy makers and entrepreneurs to make this change happen (see appendix 1.1.1 for detail on the ambassador community).

one of the ways we believe they can move the ball forward is by sharing their views on what would make challenging urban schools more successful,

creating a political context for their practitioner’s voice. This has led to the development of policy First, an initiative that Teach First has created to ensure their views are heard. Lessons from the Front is a bi-annual report produced by ambassadors engaged in policy First (see appendix 1.2.1 for more on the policy First process).

This is our ambassadors’ second publication and one that we hope provides additional perspectives and ideas for those who share our mission. our goal is that this publication serves as a thoughtful contribution from new teachers in urban challenging schools, enabling policy makers and school leaders to hear their thoughts on how we can work together to lead pupils everywhere to achieve at the highest possible level.

We are pleased with the response received so far and both encouraged by, and appreciative of, the level of serious consideration and thought that the government and opposition spokespersons have given to the views of our teachers.

some of these views might seem controversial – i for instance worry that the recommendations in section 2 might, if implemented in aggregate, result in teachers spending too little time with the pupils that need them the most. however, overall i believe they tell a clear and powerful story – that the Teach First community wants teachers to be treated as professionals, with excellent professional development and lifelong learning opportunities, but also clear accountability for the children under their care. similarly, the recommendations in section 3 put Teach First teachers clearly on record in their belief that every pupil in their care can succeed and that schools should be set up with this goal in mind. This is a powerful statement of intent that we are pleased has the backing of all three major national political parties.

We hope that Lessons from the Front 2009 sparks debate by adding an additional view into the mix. This is a new kind of education policy publication, which aims to combine practitioner views, educational research and political responses, with a primary focus on addressing educational disadvantage.

Chapter 1.1Introduction

Brett Wigdortz CEO and Founder, Teach First

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

MARgARET MEAd

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Chapter 1.2Executive Summary

SeCtiON 1What are we doing here?

problem-based learning, which are not always utilisedconfidentlybyteachers.

in chapter 2.3 Kelly and hall consider innovative ways that teachers and other professionals could work together, both in continuing professional development and career pathways. They suggest that these could include collaboration within schools through ‘white space’ time; and between individual schools and other organisations (either other schools or organisations) through ‘teacher-swaps’ between schools and through the creation of a Flexible Teachers scheme - which would facilitate teachers to work part time in a range of schools or in school and another sector.

section 3 draws classroom-based inspiration from teachers’ concern to ensure pupils have a fair chance of succeeding. The writers of the three chapters in this section ask: what about schools? They explore some wider issues which impact on educational disadvantage, and which Teach First teachers believe should be considered further and addressed.

in chapter 3.1 Taylor and mcAteer argue that we need schools’ achievement to be measured in a waythatallowsthemtoputpupilsfirstandwhich removes the perverse incentives of the current Gcse A*-c rankings. criticisms are advanced of the current system of league tables. These are used to suggest that report cards can help, that the aim is sound, and the idea of a ‘direction of travel’ arrow is supported. however severalproposalsformodificationsaremade.The case for removing any overall grade is madefirmly,asistheneedforbothqualitativeand quantitative data: a school synopsis, pupil progress using contextual value-added scores (cVA), attainment for different groups of pupils withandwithoutvocationalqualifications,wider

outcomes and pupil and parent views based on satisfaction surveys.

in chapter 3.2 boardman states why and how the guidance on careers, but in particular on vocational aspirations, needs to improve. solutions suggested are: training for teachers on this topic so that external advisors can focus on more unusual aspirations, building parental knowledge, use of alumni, and greater coordination powers for local authorities to maximiseefficiency.

in chapter 3.3 Goldstein and Audsley suggest that if research on the peer effect is accepted, it may be time to experiment further with banding, and incentivise the acceptance by schools of a range of pupils. These ideas are taken back to the classroom with an exploration of the peer effect at the classroom level, where our teachers’ views suggested that a comprehensive mix, althoughdifficulttomanage,waspreferabletosetting or streaming.

The chapters are followed by section 4 which attempts to draw together the major themes and implications of the publication.

section 5 contains responses to our ideas from each of the major political parties. The afterword by deloitte offers insight from business into the educational landscape of today. The appendices to the publication include evidence for the work in each chapter.

We hope that this publication constitutes a contribution to current policy debates on education, and that the ideas and recommendations will be considered creatively, seriously and critically.

What is this publication about? it is based on the views of Teach First teachers, meaning it is based on the views of those who are currently on the Teach First programme and those who are alumni of the programme. it is informed by educational literature, and its aim is to

present recommendations for the improvement of urban challenging schools in england. The views of around 500 Teach First teachers were researched through a series of discussions, focus groups and a survey (see appendix 1.2.1 for details of the process and appendix 1.2.2 for a summary of quantitative results).

The idea that runs through the publication is this:

We recommend that the principles great teachers use in their classrooms should be applied at every level of the education system.

We believe that teachers and schools would benefitfromexperiencingthesameelements,which make up great teaching and learning for pupils: personalised, explorative and collaborative learning in an environment where all can succeed. Applying these principles to the development of teachers and schools would in turn serve our pupils better. each chapter is based on experience at the classroom level, but which we believe has implications beyond that level. Where did this approach come from? We are not educational researchers, although we have included some literature in our thinking. We are all educators with frontline experience and strong academic backgrounds. it should be noted that the survey and focus group results are only a

reflectionofaparticularsubsetofschools–challenging english schools in which Teach First teachers have taught, mainly in london but also in Teach First’s other regions: the north West, east and West midlands and Yorkshire. These schools are often serving communities with complex social, academic and aspiration needs.

sections 2 and 3 contain the chapters written by Teach First ambassadors, using the results of the policy First survey and the available educational literature. each one starts with a brief overview of our recommendations, and contains three chapters which explore the issues in more detail.

section 2 draws its inspiration from the broad acceptance of the need for personalised, self-directed, explorative and collaborative learning for pupils. The writers of the three chapters in this section ask: what about teachers? They explore the development of teachers and teaching as a career path.

in chapter 2.1, douglas and Wood state and address the need to change continuing professional development (cpd). They advocate personalised cpd and input into professional development, in line with the emphasis on differentiated teaching practices which are already accepted for pupils. They also advocate the use of human resource (hr) professionals in schools.

in chapter 2.2 richardson and Allnutt advocate the nurturing of inquisitiveness among staff through an ‘annual enquiry entitlement’. They recognise that there are many resources and policies which already aim to encourage that quality among students, for example through

editor Elizabeth Thonemann (’04)

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SECTION 2: HOw dO wE dEvELOp TEACHERS ANd TEACHINg?

SeCtiON 2 How do we develop teachers and teaching?

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> schools are people - centred institutions and cannot thrive unless their staff also thrive. excellent teachers have a massive impact on student attainment. A mcKinsey report found that ‘even taking deprivation levels into account, ‘excellent’ teachers can increase the percentage of pupils who gain 5+ A*-c Gcses by 40% over what would normally be expected’ (2001). however, although personalised, explorative and collaborative learning opportunities for pupils are widely accepted as elements of outstanding pedagogy, teacher development and teaching careers in general, tend to provide few such opportunities. We believe this is directly linked to teacher retention, and retention in challenging schoolsinparticular,asalthoughfiguresonretention are normally not broken down by subject or type of school, although turnover is known to be more of an issue in challenging urban schools.

The Teach First teachers represented in the focus groups and survey, felt strongly that a radical change in the way that teachers, schools and government approach continuing professional development (cpd) and teaching careers, is needed in order to empower teachers to deliver education excellence and to help them want to remain in teaching.

so while we applaud the intentions behind the idea of making teaching a masters-level profession, and while we agree that ‘the quality of a school system cannot exceed the quality of its workforce’ (dcsF 2009), we are concerned that there has not yet been any explicit commitment to the transformation of cpd or the development of new ways to be a teacher, in recent white papers. The white paper (dcsF 2009) contained guarantees for pupils and parents on minimum support and provision, but gave no equivalent guarantee for teachers.

We recommend a teachers’ Guarantee, which stipulates that teachers should be given the time to take advantage of personalised, explorative and collaborative opportunities.

The three chapters that follow this short overview, give their recommendations on the nature of the personalised, explorative and collaborative opportunities which should be guaranteed. however, it should be noted that we are not suggesting more cpd time for all teachers, or more time out of the classroom. We do not suggest expanding teachers’ entitlement to cpd, but we do suggest that

the time we have could be used more creatively and more productively. Where our ideas would take additional time, they are either voluntary or flexible,soteachersandschoolswouldbeableto negotiate arrangements depending on the circumstances of the school.

Chapter 2.1 suggests ways that CPD time could be protected and made more differentiated, while also being better planned. it recommends:

that a minimum of 30 hours should be •allocated solely for the professional development of teachers;

that teachers have more say in how their •cpd time is used, with approximately a third of cpd time spent on ‘personal continuing professional development’ (pcpd);

more differentiated cpd initiatives, based •on an investigation into demand, and administered at an appropriate level;

that hr (human resource) managers be •introduced to schools, to help staff meet their professional goals.

Chapter 2.2 explains the need for inquisitiveness in both pupils and teachers, and so recommends:

that all teachers be given an ‘annual •enquiry entitlement’;

an online portal and talent pool for •organisations and teachers looking for mutual projects, and for teachers to network within and outside the profession.

Chapter 2.3 considers a range of ways that collaboration could be used, for CPD, career development and consequently for the retention of teachers in challenging schools. it recommends:

protected ‘white space’ time for collaboration, • to be integrated into teachers’ timetables, either within or outside lesson-time;

‘teacher-swaps’, where teachers from •different schools swap jobs eg. for two weeks or for a day per week for a half-term period;

the development of a Flexible Teacher •role, which would enable teachers to teach part-time in a challenging school, and work part-time elsewhere.

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circumstances of individual teachers. We agree with Whelan, that much cpd ‘is characterised by the very approaches – lecture-style teaching, a lack of opportunities for trainees to immediately apply what they are learning, and poor matching of training and the needs of the trained – which it seeks to eliminate in those being trained’ (2009 p.151). Therefore although our recommendation for pcpd would go some way towards addressing this issue, we are also advocating more differentiated cpd opportunities, building on the successes of current targeted programmes.

The traditional sight of members of a school’s senior management team (smT) delivering cpd to an entire teaching staff is one that is still widespread, according to our policy First survey, but also one which most of our teachers considered to be ineffective, or only effective for limited purposes. over 80% of respondents had received cpd delivered in school by smT members yet less than half rated the method as effective. Feedback from Teach First teachers made it clear that although some aspects of cpd may be suitably delivered in this way, when for example changes to whole school systems take place or in order to broaden teachers’ knowledge of vocational routes for learners, it must be recognised that all teachers require a personalised development pathway based on their own experience and needs.

Tailoredprovisionforstaffinspecificpositionsisalready emerging. Teaching leaders for example, in partnership with Teach First and a number of other educational groups, targets teachers taking on middle leadership positions in complex urban schools. it draws upon the similar challenges that its participants face but recognises how these differ from other members of staff at different levels and other schools in contrasting situations. The growth of such schemes shows that there is a real demand from teachers to develop and improve but in doing sotheywantittobetargetedtotheirspecificsituations and needs. however, these examples of tailoredprovisionmainlyexistforthoseinspecificleadership roles. All teachers should have access to quality personalised development opportunities, whether they are experienced teachers looking to update their knowledge of developments in their subjectintheacademicfieldorrejuvenatetheirpedagogy, pastoral leaders with the aim of developing new behaviour systems, ‘satisfactory’ teachers who want to become ‘good’ within a year, or headteachers who wish to modify their management style. For example, for mathematics teachers without degrees in that subject, one of the most effective things they could do might be to take

a higher mathematics course. some initiatives might be at the school level, but it seems to us likely that many more would be more sensibly administered at the local authority level.

We recommend more differentiated CPD initiatives, based on an investigation into demand, and administered at an appropriate level.

Finally, on the third point, we believe that in order to provide teachers with joined-up opportunities, HRmanagersshouldbeemployedwiththespecificpurpose of looking after the development needs of staff. currently this role is usually taken up by a member of the smT alongside other responsibilities. Across the private sector companies employing a similar number of staff to schools will routinely use human resources departments to develop their staff, seeing it as a long term investment. schools should be no different.Schoolsemployrole-specificexpertsinotherareassuchasfinanceandwebelievethathuman resource management should be another area where this happens. it might be that this could happen for each individual school, or for clusters of schools or at the local authority level, but it would be important for the hr manager to be personally acquainted with the staff at the schools for which he or she had responsibility.

We recommend that HR managers be introduced to schools, to help staff meet their professional goals.

by having a dedicated member of staff who is anexpertinthisfieldandskilledatcoachingindividuals towards identifying their goals, schools will be able to strategically plan and deliver personalised and tailored cpd to all members of staff, thereby ensuring enhanced wellbeing and in all likelihood, improved retention rates among teaching staff.

A mcKinsey study noted that ‘The available evidence suggests that the main driver of variation in student learning at school is the quality of the teachers’ (2007). The message is clear. The level of achievement seen in our classrooms is determined by the quality of the teachers within them. if we raise the quality of our teachers, then we raise the achievement of our pupils. This direct link needs to be recognised by elevating the importance of teachers’ development. This can be done by giving teachers ownership of how their time is spent, by developing differentiated programmes at the borough level and by employing experts to support teachers along their tailored development pathway. The effects of these developments would be incalculable.

CHApTER 2.1We should ensure that personalised and differentiated CPD happens

only 60% of Teach First teachers when surveyed, felt they had a recognised input into the content of their own cpd, and less than half said they had any control over the

structure of it. This chapter aims to demonstrate the ways in which cpd needs to become more personal, and ways that we can make this a reality. We believe that teachers need to have personal ownership of their cpd, so that they are personally invested in it. We believe that cpd needs to be more differentiated, or personalised. currently, the methods used in cpd ignore the basic principles that teachers use every day to help pupils remain engaged and challenged. Finally, we believe that the actualisation of these principles will entail a complication of cpd, which should be entrusted to a professional hr manager.

however, before we look at these three measures which will make cpd more personal, let us look at how it currently happens. The current system in england provides for six days, approximately 36 hours, of the school year to be set aside for non-teaching activities, including cpd. While in comparison with many other european countries (eAceA 2008) this initially sounds generous, not only is this much less than some of our other public sector colleagues (for example, members of the civil service Fast stream are guaranteed a minimum of 15 days training annually), but more importantly there is no current guarantee on how much of that 36 hours must be spent on development activities. The feedback from policy First focus groups indicates that the majority of this time is actually used for school-wide administrative tasks such as moderating coursework or decorating departments. in reality the amount of dedicated cpd time differs between schools.

We recommend that a minimum of 30 hours should be allocated solely for the professional development of teachers.

With that said, let us turn back to the three measures we propose to make cpd more personal.Onthefirstpoint,teachersalreadyhavethe resources and knowledge they need to use ownership of cpd effectively. The movement

towardsreflectivepracticeintheprofessionhasledto teachers and line managers (via performance management), becoming more aware than ever of individual strengths and weaknesses, but it seems that this awareness is not utilised to its full potential in the cpd which teachers experience, so we suggestthattimebeallocatedflexiblyto‘personalcpd’ (pcpd), which teachers could elect to use in ways which relate directly to that teacher’s needs, rather than whole-school priorities. We believe that teachers will rise to the challenge, and suggest inventive uses of the time which is given to them. however we also believe that inclusion of an element of ownership into the Teachers’ Guarantee is needed, to develop teachers’ own sense of entitlement to this sort of cpd.

Gray (2005) and nias (1981) suggested that teachers are sometimes reluctant to engage in personalised cpd because they perceive that face-to-face contact time with children is the mark of good teaching as opposed to spending time focusing on one’s own development which might beconsideredasselfish.Ifthisisthecase,thenteachers need to be given the green light to focus on their own development, indeed educationalists such as blandford (2001) have argued for space for teachers to develop and nurture their own love of learning.

in singapore, 30% of cpd time for teachers is reserved for any topic of interest (ng, 2007). many of our surveyed Teach First teachers agreed with this principle, and felt that some time should be allocated to personal cpd (pcpd) which might focus on the development of a particular pedagogical skill, of a research project or of relevant subject knowledge over a period of time.

We recommend that teachers have more say in how their CPD time is used, with approximately a third of CPD time spent on personal continuing professional development.

This would mean approximately two of the six days currently set aside for cpd, or about 12 hours.

on the second point, we need recognition of the similarities and differences of skills and

Chapter writers: Stephen Douglas (’06) Alistair Wood (’06

Chapter researcher: Matthew Hood (’07)

SeCtiON 2How do we develop teachers and teaching?

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however, the link between teacher attitude and student inquisitiveness was shown by deci et al. They found that students who are intrinsically motivated perform better at school, that teachers can enable intrinsic motivation in the classroom by supporting student autonomy, but that teachers who themselves are pressured or controlled will be more likely to be controlling with their students and therefore inhibit intrinsic motivation and performance (1991). That is why we say that teachers are the key to developing inquisitive learning in classrooms. This key requires three elements: developing teachers’ own beliefs in the importance of inquisitiveness (clarke and hollingsworth 2002), allowing teachers to experience inquisitive learning (duckworth 2006) and developing their ability to identify and overcome perceived barriers to inquisitiveness (solomon 1999). All three elements can be developed by enabling teachers to pursue their own inquisitive learning, through an ‘annual enquiry entitlement’: limited funded opportunity for all teachers to undertake inquisitive learning. The learning could take place in school hours, in which case the funding would pay for cover, or outside school time, in which case the funding might pay for learning such as a masters module.

We recommend that all teachers be given an ‘Annual enquiry entitlement’.

Thisfitswitheducationalandcorporatepolicy.Giving teachers an entitlement to inquisitive learning is in line with current educational policy, which recognises the immense power of inquiry at all other levels of education, This ranges from the Ks3 entitlement to a personal ‘extended enquiry’ (QcA 2007) and Ks5 extended projects (QcA 2008) through to research allowances in higher education which explicitly acknowledge thebenefitofinquirytoteaching(Elton2001).Furthermore, this entitlement mirrors what is already provided by, for example, Google, Amazon and 3m, who allocate around 20% of time for staff to develop their own interests (Frauenheim 2006). We need an equivalent entitlement for teachers to undertake inquisitive learning, to inspire them as enquirers and leaders of enquiry and ultimately to make them better teachers.

crucially, we see this ‘annual enquiry entitlement’ as separate from both cpd and the pcpd recommended in the previous chapter, although it could happen in tandem with those recommendations, and as a voluntary scheme,

to ensure that the entitlement could be entirely self-directed and used without prescription of what could be studied, and without direct links to performance management. We think this level of freedom is necessary, as our inspiration came from the Teach First summer projects scheme, which is voluntary, transformative and highly successful (see appendix 2.2.2). however it should be noted that there are differences from that scheme, as it occurs only during the summer holiday, whereas the entitlement might be used either within or outside school hours. We believe that the effectiveness of the entitlement could only be measured in terms of a combination of pupil and colleague views of levels of enthusiasm, personal satisfaction and professional performance. We strongly believe that it would be shown to be effective, as knowledge, skills, inspiration and inquisitiveness would be transferred to pupils in the short term and longer term, as more teachers would stay in the profession.

We think it is very important that this be offered toallteachers(orperhapsinthefirstinstance all teachers in challenging schools) on a regular basis. in contrast to the ‘annual enquiry entitlement’, past schemes for teachers to pursue inquisitive learning have used a sabbatical model (dfes 2004). This model restricts participation to a small number of experienced teachers who are funded for ‘one-off’ periods to pursue their own projects. similarly, the Advanced skills Teacher programme funds only a small minority of teachers to address educational issues beyond their own classroom. These schemes have positive impacts, but cost much more than our suggestionandrestrictthebenefitsofwidereducational involvement and enquiry to a small number of teachers. The goal of providing all young people with the best possible education demands that we harness the energies and skills of all teachers, which is why our ‘annual enquiry entitlement’ would be offered to all teachers.

but what is this ‘annual enquiry entitlement’ exactly? in a nutshell, it is funds to do something of interest. What might teachers do with an entitlement? naturally it is hard to say, as we believe that teachers, once given this opportunity, will use the freedom given to develop in wonderful ways. They might develop pedagogical skills, such as storytelling, or subject knowledge throughascientificapprenticeship,writing course or masters module. They might develop resources for the classroom, for example using museum collections or designing electronic

CHApTER 2.2We should nurture teachers’ inquisitiveness

inquisitiveness is one of the greatest human instincts there is. it is the hunger that allows us to fuel ourselves with knowledge, understanding,

insightandconfidence.Tolackinquisitivenesswould be like lacking hunger - you’d starve. unfortunately too many children do starve because their inquisitiveness is somehow snuffed out - often by peer pressure … or even by teaching that’s too much on a track. inquisitive students ask questions after all and that can be distracting. The key is discovering how to encourage, feed and maintain children’s inquisitiveness …

Stephen Fry

stephen Fry is the british actor, writer, comedian, author,televisionpresenterandfilmdirectorwhowas voted ‘most intelligent man on television’ by radio Times readers in 2006. The above is what he said when we asked him to tell us about inquisitiveness. respondents to the policy First survey also agreed that it was vitally important for students to develop inquisitiveness and for teachers to support inquisitiveness, both for developing the skills students will need for the future and to raise attainment in school. We believe that ‘the key’ stephen Fry mentions, might be encouraging and investing in teacher inquisitiveness, to make teachers more able to use the excellent resources and national strategies which already exist for encouraging inquisitiveness among students, and inspire them to take their students on the journey of inquisitiveness with them. This makes sense in terms of classroom practice: teachers are taught to ‘model’ tasks and attitudes for their students, but are in general not expected or helped to be inquisitive, and we think this constitutes a barrier to teachers being able to nurture pupil inquisitiveness, and the reason why inquisitiveness gets ‘snuffed out’. This chapter will give evidence for the importance of inquisitiveness among pupils and teachers, and then explain the measures we believe should be taken to encourage teacher inquisitiveness.

inquisitiveness, by which we mean a self-motivateddispositiontoinvestigateandfind out, is broadly accepted to be natural, and fundamental to our capacity to learn. This is supported by research on motivation (perkins 1992), on enjoyment (bassett 2009) and on the ‘creative curriculum’ at primary level (haydon 2008, Wilson 2007). its importance is also highlighted by the framework for personal, learning and thinking skills (QcA 2009), as well as by the policy First survey, which found that Teach First teachers felt that inquisitiveness in students was a key factor in learning, and enjoying learning, as it underpins other key attributes for learning such as ‘imagination’ and ‘perseverance’.

The policy First survey suggested that our teachers felt that ‘problem-based learning’ is the most effective method in allowing students to be inquisitive within a classroom environment. however, we are not going to advocate more strategies to promote problem-based learning. There are already a large number of strategies which promote problem-based learning and which many of our teachers reported as already being successful. These include but are not limited to the new Key stage 3 national curriculum, philosophy4children and extended projects at A-level. instead, we took problem-based learning as a case study in our policy First focus groups tofindoutwhatthebarriersaretonurturinginquisitiveness in the classroom (see appendix 2.2.1). it seemed to us that many of the barriers were either perceived rather than evidence-based ones, or controllable by schools. For example, one stated barrier was the national curriculum, although ofsted has recently criticised schools for not taking advantage of the freedom that the new national curriculum offers classroom teachers (ofsted 2009 p.4). A cultural shift in classrooms may be needed to make inquisitiveness strategies effective (claxton 2006), and we believe that nurturing teacher inquisitiveness would provide that cultural shift. The concept is probably too amorphous to test. however, we believe there will be positive externalities if we put our ideas into practice: increased teacher inquisitiveness in action will generate student inquisitiveness, satisfaction and performance.

Chapter writers: Katherine Richardson (’04) Jay Allnutt (‘06)

Chapter researcher: Hannah Mathews (’04)

SeCtiON 2How do we develop teachers and teaching?

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games. They might do active research into an aspect of student learning or any other academic field;orworkinawidereducationalorganisation,such as educational policy, or consultancy. however, we do believe that any of these opportunities will make teachers more inspired, more inquisitive, and more passionate, and therefore help their pupils to enjoy and achieve, as we want them to.

how could the opportunities be arranged? organisations who are able to offer programmes, projects and courses which teachers might be interested in should be able to target teachers directly. The projects could then be applied for directly by teachers.

We recommend an online portal and talent pool for organisations and teachers looking for mutual projects, and for teachers to network within and outside the profession.

how could all this be cost-effective? The entitlement could be funded by a range of means. These are only suggestions: it could be funded by ring-fencing part of each participating teachers’ pay for personal learning, or by reducing centralised innovation budgets to give to individual schools or school networks. conversely, organisations might pay for short-term placements of teachers on projects of mutual interest, which could match the cost of cover, and some educational research funding could be ear-marked to go directly to schools. The educational research-based projects would ultimately reduce government costs in educational research and development, which often require labour-intensive recruitment of schools.

some may argue that this is simply time away from the classroom when teachers should be teaching, and that it would disrupt student learning. We do recognise that aspects of the way that cover is currently seen and arranged would need to be addressed, so that learning could always take place in cover lessons, but we lack the oversight to make recommendations on this. however, the ‘annual enquiry entitlement’ is not necessarily for lesson-time; and in any case webelievethatthebenefitswhichwouldemanatein terms of teacher satisfaction, expertise and retention,wouldultimatelybenefitallstudents.

children are naturally inquisitive, yet current educational practice does not sustain this inquisitiveness and may even smother it. problem-based learning approaches offer a way to reignite inquisitiveness, yet the wide availability of resources for this is not matched by classroom use. Teachers report many barriers to implementing more inquisitive approaches, yet many of these barriers can be addressed by the teachers themselves. however, they need support in becoming inspired through experiences of inquisitiveness, in gaining knowledge about alternatives to their own practiceandconfidencetoadvocateachange in classroom culture. self-directed inquiry projects would be in all teachers’ own interests, andtothebenefitoftheirpupils,whilerequiringminimal extra resources.

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would provide a way for schools to meet their new responsibility for all local students (dcsF 2009).Itcouldevenleadtoflexiblerecruitmentand job-shares, and contribute to teacher retention.Itwouldalsobebeneficialforpupils, as it would bring them new experiences and teaching styles. naturally it would require management, which could be provided by the hr managers suggested in an earlier chapter. it would also need the development of teacher networks to facilitate appropriate swaps and prior planning of lesson sequences, which could be provided by the online portal and talent pool recommended in the previous chapter. other than that, this valuable initiative would be free if the swap was a direct one, although some initial team teaching and formative peer-to-peer observation (and therefore perhaps a day of cover per swapping teacher in total) would probably be advisable. We believe that the benefitsofthisideaareundeniable,andthecosts are minimal.

however we would like to take this idea of collaboration further, so we also want to help teachers to want to remain in teaching, by developing cross-sectoral career opportunities. We found that 79% of the Teach First teachers who were surveyed, are interested in combining teaching with another career, and the majority wereparticularlyinterestedinthenot-for-profit or professional service sectors. This statistic is particularly powerful given that in general approximately 50% of Teach First teachers stay inteachingaftertwoyears(basedonfiguresfromthe 2003-2006 cohorts). research from the us found that a typical member of ‘Generation Y’, current young professionals, will have 10 jobs by the age of 38 (Guardian 2008). We believe that it is possible to combine teaching with another career simultaneously, either temporarily or permanently, and that this will enable the best teachers who would otherwise leave teaching, to remain in schools, while also developing the skills and knowledge-base of professionals.

Thebenefitsofcombiningexperiencesofworkingin different sectors are already well recognised by corporations, as shown for example by the deloitte civil service international secondment programme, which was designed to grow leadership capacity in both organisations, and the Territorial Teachers programme for Teach Firstambassadors.Theneedformoreflexibleteaching arrangements is also recognised by influentialfiguresineducationsuchasChristineblower, General secretary of the national union

of Teachers who told us that, ‘The nuT is an enthusiasticsupporterofflexibleworkingforteachers ... the nuT sees no reason why teachers shouldn’t be able to teach 2 or 3 days a week and spend the remaining working days employed or self employed in an area of work in which the skills necessary for teaching can be deployed to good effect’. similarly, dr martin stephen, high master of st paul’s school, told us that, ‘There is a huge natural resource in people who have much to teach but who, for a variety of reasons, cannot teach full time. We need to redefine‘parttime’inanagewhennopersoncanbe guaranteed one job for life.’

We recommend the development of a Flexible teacher role, which would enable teachers to teach part-time in a challenging school, and work part-time elsewhere.

how would this work? each Flexible Teacher would have the parameters of their role individually negotiated to suit the needs of the school, pupils and the teacher. They would have applied successfully for a Flexible Teacher role at a challenging school, with a clear vision of what they would achieve through navigating the role, and negotiated part-time work in their dual profession, with the help of an online portal. potentially, initial contact may have been made through previous recommendations such as ‘teacher-swaps’ or the ‘annual enquiry entitlement’ advocated in the previous chapter. They could work from one day a week to four days a week in school, with the remaining time spent in the teacher’s dual profession. That dual profession could range from consulting, the third sector, government, research, or a role at another education establishment (e.g. a work based learning provider, offender institution, college, university or another type of school). it could operate through the individual having two part-timejobs,orthroughaconfigurationofjob-shares,whichmighthavetheaddedbenefitofhelpingindividualstocircumventthedifficultypart-time teachers have in being considered (or rather in not being considered) for promotion, while also reducing the risks for pupils associated with complex staff timetabling and enabling personal collaboration between the job-sharers.

Thiswouldbebeneficialtotheindividual,school,dual employer and pupils: the Flexible Teacher would develop new skills in a different environment and enjoy a more varied career; schools would be able to retain more excellent teachers,andbenefitfromtheskillsand

CHApTER 2.3We should develop collaboration between teachers, schools and sectors.

We know how much pupils enjoy working together. We know that ‘two heads are better than one’ and that ‘no man is an island’. We know that teacher collaboration in urban schools breaks the isolation of the

classroom, leads to increased feelings of effectiveness and satisfaction, and to ‘a more … exciting notion of ... teaching’ (popkewitz and myrdal 1991, p.35). martin and Williams (2003) have more recently said that schools should provide time and opportunities for collaboration. Yet collaboration between teachers and between educational organisations is both rare and piecemeal. This chapter aims to show that collaboration could take a number of forms, and we are going to advocate more collaboration within schools, between schools, and between schools and other organisations, both in cpd and in developing cross-sectoral career opportunities. We believe this to be a crucial element for the improvement of teacher retention.

our advocacy for more collaboration within and between schools in the development of cpd, is based on the views expressed in the policy First survey and focus groups. cpd delivered in school by peers was the most effective form experienced by Teach First teachers with over 80% of those surveyed rating it as effective. At the focus groups, working with colleagues was identifiedasoneofthemostusefulformsofCPD.one of the most valuable forms of development that Teach First teachers cited in the policy First focus groups was that of the second-school experience(aspartoftheirtraininginthefirstyear, all participants spend at least one week in another school). it is clear from these results that teachers value a range of forms of collaboration, so we suggest two different ways for schools to facilitate collaboration in cpd, although naturally our ideas are a far from exhaustive list of the possibilities.

Firstly, in implementing the Workforce Agreement concerning cover (WAmG 2009) schools have given teachers a number of new protected time

slots. We should take advantage of this opportunity. ring fencing one of these slots a week for collaboration across departments and key stages could allow teachers the space to develop together, sharing best practice and encouraging their growth as a community of learners. The 2009 Teach First summer institute featured a cross-curricular day, in which teacher trainees from different subjects worked together to plan cross-curricular learning. it was widely enjoyed and considered highly useful by both staff and trainees. in singapore teachers participate in what is known as ‘white space’ time each week. This is where a small group of teachers meet during the school day and discuss a problem each of them is facing and then work collaboratively to solve it.

We recommend protected ‘white space’ time for collaboration, to be integrated into teachers’ timetables, either within or outside lesson-time.

secondly, we were struck by the strength of opinion about the value of the second-school experience, the time when Teach First participants work in another school during theirfirstyearofTeachFirst.Thevalueofexperiencing a range of schools for beginner teachers is well-known. but we now believe that the idea of experiencing other schools should be developed and replicated as appropriate for teachers at all levels. schools in similar circumstances or schools from the private and public sectors or schools operating at the primary and secondary levels could participate, depending on what the teachers were aiming to achieve.

We recommend ‘teacher-swaps’, where teachers from different schools swap jobs eg. for two weeks or for a day per week for a half-term period.

The initiative would be exciting, challenging and thought-provoking for teachers. it would have immediatebenefitssuchasthesharingofexpertise and resources in addition to exposing teachers to different learning environments and helping them to create professional networks. it

Chapter writers: Alex Kelly (‘05) Jen Hall (‘03)

Chapter researcher: Lydia Menzies (’03) Lubna Altajir (’05) Stephen Douglas (’06) Alistair Wood (’06).

SeCtiON 2How do we develop teachers and teaching?

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knowledge transfer that the Flexible Teacher would facilitate; the dual profession employer would access the leadership and soft skills of a Flexible Teacher (see appendix 2.3 for case studieswhichshowsomeofthesebenefits)andpupilswouldbenefitfromcontinuedcontactwithexperienced, passionate and multi-skilled teachers, with current experience in workplaces in which pupils might be interested. The scheme could even be used to facilitate work experience placements for pupils.

What is needed for all this to happen? much is already in place, as part-time teaching is already possible, but currently not enough schools use this opportunity to its full advantage. central government should play its part in facilitating flexibleteachingbyissuingguidancetoschoolsand employers, on the options and support available, and on logistics such as timetabling. it should also ensure the development of a website, potentially the same online portal and talent pool as was recommended in the previous chapter, where schools and other educational organisations could gain information on the Flexible Teacher role and post part-time job opportunities, or full-time job opportunities they thinkcouldbefilledbyajob-share;whereteachers could seek like-minded individuals with whom they could job-share; and where corporations could advertise vacancies for Flexible Teachers. An advertising budget would also need to be sourced. This effort will be worthwhile:theFlexibleTeacherrolewillbenefitschools, pupils, teachers and employers, and like Teach First, will be a beacon for collaboration between schools and across sectors.

All of our recommendations will help teachers to want to remain in teaching, through the power of collaboration, between teachers and across sectors. They are examples of how we can think outside the box on working together for the benefitofpupils,teachers,schoolsandsociety.

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SECTION 3: HOw dO wE MAkE SuRE THAT SCHOOLS CAN puT pupILS FIRST?

page 31SeCtiON 3How do we make sure that schools can put pupils first?

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> Teachers are concerned to give pupils a fair chance of succeeding. We ensure they have the tools they need to succeed, and then assess them formatively. We want all our pupils to do as well as they can, at whatever task they are set, or set for themselves, and then we want them to be recognised for their achievements.

it seems to us possible, and necessary, to aggregate this view of what we want for pupils, up to the level of schools. We think the system should give schools a fair chance of succeeding, and recognise them for their full range of achievements. At the moment this is not the case, and this limits our ability as teachers to give pupils a fair chance of succeeding. Teach First teachers had particularly strong views on these more structural issues: it was widely felt that the current narrow measures of school performance mean thatschoolscannotputpupilsfirstduetodisproportionate pressure to achieve c-grades; that the current tools we have to advise pupils on vocationalqualificationsareinadequate;andthatthe current system of school admissions needs to be reconsidered in the light of evidence concerning the peer effect. This focus naturally does not mean that we deny the impact of excellent teaching, but we do think that its impact would be maximised through the structural changes we propose.

The three chapters in this section argue that the idea of giving pupils a fair chance of succeeding, needs to be applied throughout the education system: to methods of measuring school performance,tovocationalqualificationsandadvice, to school setting and streaming policies and to admissions systems. however, it should be noted that these recommendations are calls for debate and reconsideration, on issues we realise are very complex, but ones which we believe need to be revisited with an open mind.

Chapter 3.1 tackles the issue of measuring school performance and recommends:

that school report cards should contain no •overall grade;

the following categories for report cards: a school •synopsis; pupil progress using cVA; attainment patterns (for different groups of pupils with and withoutvocationalqualifications);wideroutcomesand views of parents and pupils.

Chapter 3.2 considers the current issues with vocational qualifications and careers advice, and recommends:

the development of local plans for parent/carer, •community and alumni engagement with discussions concerning vocational (as well as academic) aspirations and how to achieve them;

that careers advice be provided by a local-•authority-managed blend of teachers and other school staff for majority needs, (but cpd will be needed to address the gaps in our knowledge) and external specialists for minority needs.

Chapter 3.3 advocates rigorous and local discussions on the positive benefits of the comprehensivisation of classrooms and schools, and recommends:

anopendebateonthebenefitsanddrawbacks •of setting and streaming versus mixed ability classes from the perspectives of all stakeholders;

locally-agree• d admissions policies to help all schools achieve a balanced intake.

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CHApTER 3.1We should measure schools’ performance differently

Teach First teachers who came to the policy First focus groups expressed clear awareness of the problems inherent in the current

system of measuring performance. As one participant said: ‘it seems that no matter what we do, we can never ‘win’. it’s dispiriting to see ourselves lying low on the tables and know that we’re there despite massive effort by everyone in the school, every day, of every week, of every month, of every year. i had a kid who got two ds in her science – for her that was an unbelievable achievement, but as far as the league tables are concerned, she just didn’t count’. This chapter will explain in more detail the problems we see with the current system of measuring school performance,andthensuggesthowamodifiedform of report cards might be a solution, and ensure that all schools are able to succeed and be recognised for their successes (see maden 2001 p.34).

Wefeelthatthecurrentsystemisnotfitformeasuring accountability or for informing parental choice, and is detrimental to teaching and learning. The system focuses schools on getting the school results, rather than on helping individual pupils to achieve their potential.

in terms of accountability, it measures a small layer of a larger output – the number of A*-c Gcse results – ignoring ‘soft skills’ that are increasingly important (leitch 2006) and those pupils who either achieve below or above a grade c, or have skills in other areas.

As a ‘signpost’ for parents we feel that it is equally poor. The performance of many schools changes rapidly (Goldstein and leckie 2009 p.2). Whereas inthefinancialworld,investmentcompanieshaveto warn that ‘past performance is no guide to future results’, no such caveats are provided with league tables, despite the fact that they refer to the performance of a cohort who began secondaryschoolingfiveyearsearlier.

Furthermore, teaching and learning suffers as league tables force resources to be unfairly distributed to a minority group that have the best

chance of impacting on the school’s position (Gillborn and Youdell 2000, mansell 2007). repeatedly, Teach First teachers drew attention to the negative impact this has on the top level of pupils as well as those for whom a d or e grade is an achievement (see Appendix 3.1.1). Worryingly 70% of survey respondents felt that their school’s leadership encouraged pupils to choose courses thatwouldbenefittheschool’sleaguetableresults rather than meeting each pupil’s long term needs (in particular, the equating of a single GnVQ pass to 4 Gcse c grades was highlighted in focus groups as causing problems), and 49% of respondents believed there were teachers at their schools that encouraged pupils to choose coursesbasedonbenefittotheirdepartmentrather than to the pupil. The academic literature has also shown that schools use short-term tactical measures to be seen as succeeding (macbeath et al 2007 p.9; maden 2001 p.30), in the process creating ‘expendable’ students including the ones ‘most at risk of the sort of embedded failure we want to reduce’ (brighouse 2009 p.1). The sutton Trust noted recently that ‘highly able pupils attending the most deprived schools were ten times more likely to take an intermediate GnVQ than high ability pupils in the most advantaged schools’ (2009 p.5).

We are not arguing against accountability for schools: they must be accountable. We are not arguing against the idea of school report cards per se: we think that report cards represent an opportunity to change the system of measuring school performance for the better, and we agree that a ‘direction of travel’ arrow is a sound idea to indicate whether and how the school is changing. The question is: what measures should a report card include? We believe that report cards should encourage a system where every child matters, where schools are incentivised to provide for the ‘whole child’ and ‘achievement means much more than examination results’ (Wrigley 1997). Furthermore, the measurement of a school’s performance should not allow a ‘cruising school’ (stoll and Fink, 1998 p. 193) with an advantaged intake to be seen as more successful than a school with a challenging cohort, based on high Gcse scores. Therefore, we believe that a new

Chapter writers and researchers: Sequoia Taylor (‘06) Monica McAteer (‘06)

SeCtiON 3How do we make sure that schools can put pupils first?

system needs to remove the possibility of short-cuts to apparent success, and that means using a blend of quantitative and qualitative data, and removing the idea of a single hierarchy.

We recommend that School Report Cards should contain no overall grade.

The government’s research on the matter (see dcsF 2009a p. 6) showed that a majority of respondents were against the inclusion of an overall grade. however, they have decided that ‘inclusion of an overall score would provide a clear indication to stakeholders of the overall outcomes achieved by the school’ (p.8). Whilst we understand the attraction of simplicity an overall grade represents, we believe it would negate the report card format. simply put, an overall grade on the report card would see schools go from being judged by a number to a letter. This seems to us to represent a waste of the strengths of the proposed report card system, retaining as it does the worst aspect of the current system of accountability.

We recommend the following categories for report cards: a school synopsis; pupil progress using CVA; attainment patterns (for different groups of pupils with and without vocational qualifications); wider outcomes and views of parents and pupils.

The remainder of this chapter will explain what we mean by these categories, and explain some of our thinking.

The school synopsis would be a brief contextual statement, including information about, for example: building facilities (e.g. sports hall, drama studio, all-weather pitch, icT suites), learning facilities (e.g. special educational needs and english as an additional language provision), age-range, number on roll and type of school. There should be no judgements in this section.

The pupil progress category would use the school’s contextual value added (cVA) score. We believe this is the best existing indicator of pupil progress, as it does aim to take various factors into account. We know it is not perfect: there are issues of variability and lack of a direct measure of social class (Fitzgibbon 1997; ray 2006); discussions continue on whether it should be calculated year-on-year (dcsF 2009a p.29); and there are ideas on how to use other information (ray 2006 p.21; Goldstein and sammons 1997; sutton Trust 2009 p.4), but we recognise that we arenotqualifiedtoproposemodificationstothe

nature of the cVA measure. in any case, it is already computed annually so could easily be recorded on the report card. however, there are at least two caveats to usage of cVA. Firstly, it should not be used to order schools in a simple hierarchy (Jesson 2007 p.23), as each result is subjecttoa‘confidenceinterval’-arangeofpossible values for the school’s cVA. Therefore we suggest that each school’s cVA score should be translated and presented as showing only that most pupils achieve ‘much lower than expected’, ‘lower than expected’, ‘as well as expected’, ‘better than expected’ or ‘much better than expected’. secondly, cVA is not commonly understood outside the education world, so we propose to include an explanation of what cVA means (and does not mean) with the report card.

The attainment patterns category would not be one simple number, because measures of attainment should enable parents to make reasoned choices as to which school is the best for their child and also incentivise schools to provide for all learners. in particular, Teach First participants in focus groups raised the issue of schools directing pupils to vocational qualificationsbasedontheimpacttheycanhaveon school results: an A* in a full Gcse is worth 58 points, but a distinction in the ocr national level 2 in icT can be worth up to 220 points (de Waal 2008 p.6; Wilson et al, 2004 p.12 and the chapteronvocationalqualificationswhichfollowsthis one). schools are therefore tempted to ignore thesuitabilityofvocationalqualificationsforthepupil (mansell 2007; sutton Trust 2009). Any measure of academic attainment needs to remove this temptation. Therefore we want attainment patterns to show the average point score at Gcse of pupils of differing abilities, including english and mathematics, and both with andwithoutvocationalqualifications.Obviously,point scores represent a change from the 5 A*-c measures that various stakeholders are used to, andwhattheyrepresentwillneedtobebrieflyexplained. The point of explicitly including pupils of differing abilities has the advantage of ensuring all pupils are included in the data set, and therefore incentivises schools to distribute resources along the ability spectrum.

These two complex categories of pupil progress and attainment patterns could be represented visually in the form of triangles on a graph (see diagram on the next page). cVA goes up the y axis, and the average point score along the x axis. The triangles represent the achievement of pupils of different abilities with and without

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vocationalqualifications,thusmakingitextremelyclear where there are large differences between pupils’ scores with and without vocational qualifications,andthereforewherethosequalificationsmaybeusedto‘bumpup’overallscores. in the example opposite, school X’s results are shown alongside the national averages. in this invented example, pupils achieve very well compared with the national average, and make excellent progress. most pupils in school X take at least one vocational qualification,andthisimprovestheresultsespecially of the high ability pupils.

An easily-accessible interrogative website should be developed to provide further information broken down by subject.

The wider outcomes category measure aims to take into account the provision a school makes to develop pupils’ outcomes outside of pure academic credentialing. This is not only crucial for giving young people ‘employability skills’ (dcsF 2009b p.6) and enhanced social capital (macbeath et al 2007 p.43) to address the ‘soft skills’ shortage (leitch 2006 p.41), but also represents an opportunity for all schools to show their strengths, since it provides an opportunity for schools to celebrate their enrichment activities for pupils beyond statutory requirements. This measure should take into account: community links and relationships; extra-curricular provisions; employment and education prospects (where do students go after their school career?); and non-classroom based educational and learning provision. it could be presented as a summary of evidence in those four areas, along with an ‘example week’ of the activities provided by the school. As maden (2001 p.325) commented: ‘independent schools … have always stressed the ‘added value’ of opportunities and experiences beyond the formal curriculum. The further acquisition of skills and knowledge is even more important for students in schools facing complex and sometimes deep-seated odds’. Teach First teachers expressed frustration that the current system skews the provision of extra-curricular and non-classroom based educational and learning activities. As one participant said: ‘intervention opportunities outside the classroom are often exciting and engaging but these will only be open to those students who are ‘Target c’ in english and maths’. This is why all the changes we are recommending in this chapter need to occur simultaneously.

Thefinalcategory,thatofparents’andpupils’views, should be taken from satisfaction surveys. it represents a formalisation and extension of the ‘grapevine’ that parents already use as a method of selection (dcsF 2009c p.2). This is where we would include information about pupil behaviour, support for students with special educational needs and communication effectiveness. We also think that collecting pupils’ views could be used to address the current imbalance in the way the ‘enjoy and achieve’ strand of the every child matters targets (dfes 2004) are judged, with the focus almost totally on achievement rather than enjoyment. both are important, and reinforce each other.

Weknowthatourideasconstituteasignificantdeparture both from the current system and from the current proposed school report cards. We also know that our proposals for transparency would entail a change in the information that Academies need to provide. We know that collecting and presenting all this data annually would be time-consuming, especially as aiming for annual collection militates against inclusion of data from ofsted. We know that parents would need support to understand what it all means and that the media will need persuading that publication of the current form of league tables actually is a disservice to parents. however, we do believe that our suggestions for a ‘widescreen vision’ of schools, would help them to be able to putpupilsfirst,withoutfearofrepercussionsinthe league tables. An advertising campaign will probably be needed to express why the 5 A*-c measure is inadequate, what cVA and average Gcse point scores mean, how all the information on the report card can be used, and to explain what it means and doesn’t mean. ultimately all this effort will be worth it because of the quality of the accountability system which would be produced. it would empower schools to put pupils first,throughasystemofmeasuringperformancewhich enables all schools, and therefore all pupils, to succeed.

A sen/lower Ability pupil

B Average pupil

C high Ability pupil

200 300 400 500

Average Capped Point Score including english and Maths

much better than expected

better than expected

As well as expected

lower than expected

much lower than expected

A

A

B

C

A

B

A

B

C

B C

Boldred=withoutvocationalqualifications(SchoolX)

Boldblue=withoutvocationalqualifications(national)

Dottedred=includingvocationalqualifications(SchoolX)

Dottedblue=includingvocationalqualifications(national)

Key

School X CvA and Attainment patternFigures for illustrative purposes only

C

According to CVA score, most pupils achieve…

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CHApTER 3.2We should improve guidance on vocational qualifications and careers

This chapter will argue that course and careers guidance, especially on vocational qualifications,isaneglectedarea, due to a combination of issues with the coverage of

connexions and generalised lack of experience and knowledge of vocational routes among teachers and parents. The policy First survey highlighted that focus on the c/d borderline leads toinappropriatestudyofvocationalqualifications,as suggested in the previous chapter, and thus leads to the neglect of the longer term needs of pupils, but we do not believe that the changes to the measurement of school performance that havealreadybeenadvocated,wouldbesufficientto solve the issue. We will discuss what can be done to ensure that all young people have access to high quality impartial advice on what learning and careers pathways are available to them.

so, why is vocational advice a neglected area? Firstly it is neglected due to the targeted rather than universal coverage of connexions, the national careers service: in england, only 40% of young people get an interview with a connexions personal Advisor (Watts 2008). This lack of universality is the unintended consequence of the decision to focus ‘the attention of the careers service more strongly on those who had already dropped out of the education, training and employment system or were at risk of doing so’ (Watts 2001 p.157-158). The availability of external impartial advice for all pupils may be further threatened by the recent integration of external careers service provision into the integrated youth support services provided by local authorities. With the funding for careers services no longer ring-fenced, mcGowan et al (2009) highlight concerns that ‘provision would have to compete for resources within cash-strapped local authorities with a wide range of other services and needs, some of which would be likely to be given much higher priority’ (p.10). so central expertise will continue to be targeted at at-risk groups.

secondly, vocational advice is a neglected area due to the knowledge and experience of most teachers, which is important because its provision often falls to teachers. The majority of respondents to our survey felt that teachers were the main source of careers guidance (69% agreed), however only 10% of respondents felt thattheygetsufficienttrainingonthedifferentlearningpathwaysandqualificationsavailabletotheir pupils. This has resulted in the quality of advice available to pupils being strongly dependent on whether they want to pursue a more academic route or a more vocational route. because most teachers themselves progress through a traditional academic route, they can draw from their own experiences to advise on it: while 79% of respondents agreed that they were competent to advise on university choices, only 27% agreed or strongly agreed that they felt they could competently advise those wishing to pursue avocationonwhatqualificationsandsubjectstochoose. This is partly due to the fragmented vocationalqualificationssystem,whichmeansthatitisdifficulttogainathoroughunderstandingof what leads where.

Thirdly, vocational advice is neglected because raising aspirations among bright but disadvantaged pupils to attend university is a more long-standing goal, and a less controversial one. This is rightly a common theme in the work of charities, schools and government, as it is one component in improving social mobility and global competitiveness, but those with vocational aspirations are less well catered for, although developments are also needed for the sake of our economy, to create a broad-based highly skilled workforce. indeed, the volume of initiatives (including Teach First’s own higher education Access programme for schools), media coverage and rhetoric around aspiring to university can have the unintentional effect of implying that career goals that do not involve university, are not aspirational. more should be done to raise the status of vocational careers so that they aren’t seen as the default option for low-attaining pupils but as a potentially satisfying career for all, where those with commitment and talent can reach

Chapter writers: David Boardman (’03)

Chapter researcher: Michael Gun-Why (‘06) Hannah Cheetham (‘07) Peter Kemp (’05)

SeCtiON 3How do we make sure that schools can put pupils first?

heights of excellence in the same way as academic pupils. The leitch report recommended that the esteem for vocational skills should be improved (2006). similarly, the bbc’s article ‘parents place value on skills’ illustrated parental support for vocational courses (2009).

What to do? We agree that the introduction of the new diplomas could present an opportunity for thesimplificationofourfragmentedvocationalsystem, as long as it is preceded by a high quality package of training for teachers and information for parents, and we do think that modifying the way that schools’ performance is measured would be progress, but neither of these would solve the three issues explained above. We outline below a cost-effective (see appendix 3.2.1 for estimates) universal careers advice model, that builds provision from a different direction, beginning with addressing the needs of the majority using the biggestinfluencersonpupils,thentargetingcentrally-procured expertise to cover more specialist needs. We do recognise that there are further areas which need consideration. Those areas include questions such as: are all external careers advisors competent? do local authorities have the capacity to implement a new model? Andareallvocationalqualificationsofhighqualityandofrealvalue?However,wearenotqualifiedtoundertake studies of areas such as these. At least the last concern could be mitigated somewhat through honest and evidence-based vocational advice, which had information such as the subsequent career paths of pupils taking particularqualifications.Withthatinmind,letusturn to an explanation of what our cost-effective universal careers advice model would look like.

We recommend the development of local plans for parent/carer, community and alumni engagement with discussions concerning vocational (as well as academic) aspirations and how to achieve them.

Parentsandcarersclearlyhavemuchinfluenceon pupils’ aspirations, but 83% of Teach First teachers surveyed, believed that their pupils’ parents and carers do not currently have enough information about vocational courses or careers. As with teachers, parents and carers are restricted by their own experiences and prejudices (strand et al 2008), and this is as true for vocational paths as for academic ones, so parents need more information on learning options.

When schools work with local authorities and independent advisors to create their iAG (information, advice and guidance) programme

the other critical stakeholder groups that should be incorporated into the programme are school alumni and members of the local community, perhaps at a local authority level via further educationcolleges.Theirinfluenceoverpupilaspirations and capacity to support in other ways such as interview practice and work experience, is immense. As slack (2003) points out, pupils are more likely to believe they can achieve a goal if they see someone they can relate to who has gone through the journey themselves, but are unlikelytobeinfluencedbysomeonewhotheyperceive as having come from a different background. We believe that plans to redress this issue need to be made at the local level so that information about providers and examples of successes can be local too.

We recommend that careers advice be provided by a local-authority-managed blend of teachers and other school staff for majority needs (but CPD will be needed to address the gaps in our knowledge), and external specialists for minority needs.

We believe that a mixture of teachers covering majority needs with specialists covering minority needs (less usual aspirations or situations, which would be pre-agreed with the local authority), would provide the highest-impact service. Teachers and other school staff are well-placed to provide careers advice as their relationships with pupils are based on trust. however, the cpd which needs to precede this shift, should follow the recommendations given in the previous section. Therefore, it should be tailored (to the local area, to the school and to the professional), inspirational (nobody can inspire pupils unless they themselves feel inspired) and experiential (potentially involving the development of links with peopleworkinginmanydifferentfields,includingthe external careers advice specialists). All teaching staff need some cpd on vocational pathways, but we think that the development of further expertise by particular staff in a school could be incentivised through a new explicit qualificationincareersadvice.

but using teachers to deliver all careers and learning pathway advice would of course be as impractical as using external advisors to deliver everything, so external careers specialists should provide targeted assistance to those with less common aspirations and those at risk of dropping out. And both the nature of the mixture, and the quality of the mixture, should be the responsibility of the local authority.

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To ensure comprehensive, high quality provision, the local authority should be involved in the collaborative planning and implementation of the careers programme for each partnership of schools, making sure that relevant stakeholders are involved (including families, alumni and businesses), that communications, enrichment activities and cpd plans are adequately covered and that the end result will conform to the standards set out in ‘Quality standards for Young people’s information, Advice and Guidance’ (dcsF 2007). The current role of the local authority in assuring the quality of service provided by schools themselves is unclear but we believe that each local authority should hold overall accountability for the careers service provided by schools. This independence is essential to ensure the impartiality of advice pupils receive from schools on career and therefore course choices, particularly in light of schools’ tactical manoeuvres to maximise results seen in the last chapter. it is also expedient, considering that in the new 14-19 landscape, schools need to work in partnerships.

We are encouraged by recent developments such as the recent strategy publication on iAG from the dcsF. it contains many welcome developments showing the intent to commit money to local authorities and schools to allow them to address the issues in current iAG provision. in general the strategy resonates with this chapter, but we argue that reform should go further in some areas. We suggest that rather than limiting training to careers coordinators and iAG professionals, all practising teachers should get some training. Also, local authorities are given leadership responsibility in the strategy, which we support, but we believe this needstobebackedupwithspecificpowersandinvestment. Without this, impartiality of in-school provisionwillbedifficulttoassure.

Therangeoflearningpathwaysandqualificationson offer, especially vocational ones, can be bewildering to pupils, parents, businesses and many teachers. A cost-effective model is needed for universal provision of careers advice that increasesthecapabilitiesofthemaininfluencerson pupils, complemented by external specialists for the needs of the minority procured centrally by the local authority. in this model the role of the local authority in assuring the quality and impartiality of the careers programme implemented by a group of schools is vital to ensure high quality and impartial delivery.

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CHApTER 3.3We should investigate how schools can maximise the potential of the peer effect

This chapter investigates the impact of peer effects on students and how teachers organise their classrooms and their work within school to manage such peer effects.

We also consider how peer effects beyond the individual school can be used and how school allocation and social mix within the urban school system can help create an environment where differences within schools have a positive, rather than negative impact. We will suggest that the Teach First mission of addressing educational disadvantage is best served by mixed ability teaching and mixed school intakes.

What do we mean by peer effects? The people who we go to school with, learn from and spend significanttimewith,havealargeimpactonhowand what we learn, our views and our aspirations. in practice the term is used in different contexts to mean different things but within education many have investigated how the composition of both classrooms and schools, and the grade performance of peers within these will affect the educational attainment of an individual student (schneeweis and Winter-ebmer 2007, Zimmer and Tomen 2000, sukhnandan 1998). This chapter starts with the experience of Teach First teachers in the classroom and in their schools (as expressed in interviews and focus groups), and then moves on to consider the broader educational system.

in the classroom, the eight Teach First ambassadors who were interviewed (see appendix 3.3.1), worked to facilitate groups and peer interactions along three main criteria: academic ability, social ability and behaviour. They expressed the importance of redistributing skills and abilities, pairing stronger and weaker learners to improve learning outcomes for all and developing partnerships where academic and social skills could be exchanged. however, some also somewhat contradicted this aim by saying that at times, particularly at the start of a teaching career, itwasjusttoodifficulttodifferentiateeffectively.Allthe ambassadors we interviewed were working in schools that did set by ability for at least some subjects. They were clear that setting by ability was

doneforthebenefitofteachers.Theywerealsoclear that by and large it was not helpful for students and that it created huge tension within the peer group in terms of relationships and motivation.

There is an ongoing debate within teaching about the impact peers of different abilities and backgrounds have on each other’s educational outcomes and the implications for organising our educational system (ding and lehrer 2007). The academic evidence is not conclusive, although muchofitpointstowardsarangeofbenefitsofmixed classrooms, showing similar leanings as the TeachFirstambassadorsidentified.Thereisevidence that mixed ability classes have a positive effect on the attitudes and self esteem of all pupils regardless of their ability level, whereas pupil allocation has been shown to reinforce divisions along lines of class, gender, and race (sukhnandan 1998), and in any case appears to affect high-ability students less than their low-ability peers (schneeweis and Winter-ember 2007). There also seems to be a direct link between peer performance and individual student achievement (Gibbons and Telhaj, 2006, pugh and Telhaj, 2009), although teaching, other school factors and out of schoolinfluenceshaveafargreaterimpactthanthe in-school peer effect. (Gibbons, 2006 and Zimmer and Toma e 2000). however, some researchershaveinsteadunderlinedbenefitsotherthan performance: social networks have been said to be ‘lifelines to resources that permit low status individuals to overcome social structural barriers to experience healthy social development, school achievement and social mobility’ (cottrell 2007).

We recommend an open debate on the benefits and drawbacks of setting and streaming versus mixed ability classes from the perspectives of all stakeholders.

Howeverthiswillnotbesufficient.Itseemsthatthepeer effect, like other aspects of experience in the classroom, can have wider implications; it may encourage us to place a higher value on school composition. The evidence from Teach First ambassadors and from the educational literature suggests that a balanced ‘comprehensive’ intake is both a symptom and a cause of a successful

Chapter writers: Jonathan Goldstein (’06) Jamie Audsley (’07)

Chapter researcher: Anna Moverley (‘04) Alex Shapland-Howes (‘07)

SeCtiON 3How do we make sure that schools can put pupils first?

school. Therefore a range of initiatives are suggested to counter the segregation of socio-economic groups in education, on the basis that everyonewouldbenefit.

Teach First teachers in improving schools felt strongly that changing intake is instrumental to progress, and they expressed this during focus groups in particular. This is borne out, albeit not conclusively, by a brief examination of the changes in average cATs (cognitive abilities tests) scores at one Teach First school. it has improved from ‘satisfactory with weaknesses’ to ‘outstanding’ within 10 years. examining the year 6 cATs scores of the current intake, reveals that the average cATs score is now higher than in previous years. each cohort shows an improvement on its predecessor:

Entry 2008 Entry 2007 Entry 2006 Entry 2005 Entry 2004

96.9 95.1 92.4 91.9 89.8 t

These averages hide a more complex picture. The school has actually moved from one with a skewed intake with a disproportionate number of children at the lower end of the ability spectrum to one with a more mixed, balanced, genuinely ‘comprehensive’ intake. An interview with two heads of year made it clear that this changing intake was one of the reasons that the school was becoming more successful, in terms of attendance, behaviour and achievement, and that this was not only the case for the more able children, but that the culture of success had percolated through year groups and across the ability spectrum (see appendix 3.3.2 for the full interview).

As suggested towards the start of this chapter, the importance of intake generally is backed up by academic research. Furthermore, the importance of a mixed intake in particular is backed up by research. The sutton Trust suggested that attainment gaps between schools could be evidence of a peer effect and that therefore more even spreads of pupil intakes might be a solution to educational disadvantage (2009 p.16). Analyses indicate that low-income students who are enrolled in schools where there is a good socio-economic and ability mix of students tend to perform best. The inner london education Authority introduced area-wide banding in 1965, and found that a balanced intake gave improved academic results. in particular, the size of the top bandofabilityhadasignificanteffectonacademicperformance (West 2006 p.24), which shows how

important it is for all pupils that top pupils are not funnelled into particular schools. incidentally, this was also achieved within a system of parental choice (West 2005 p.31), showing that advocacy for more mixed intakes can sit alongside choice for parents. There is research which contradicts thesefindings,butwebelievetheevidencefromthe classroom, from our teachers and from our researchers is strong enough to warrant consideration of measures to help schools achieve a balanced intake, but in whatever way seems appropriate in a given area. There are manypossibilities:someareasmayusefinancialincentives for schools, for example by attaching additional funds to disadvantaged students; others may develop systems of area-wide banding or simply structures which empower parents and carers to take advantage of choice policies.

We recommend locally-agreed admissions policies to help all schools achieve a balanced intake.

The suggestions in this chapter are intimately linked to those in other chapters. Firstly, if the intake in schools across the country were more uniform we could end up with a ‘positive choice’ system based on genuine difference. The various measures which were suggested for school performance measurement in an earlier chapter could also really come into their own in a system where schools’ intakes were more balanced; or indeed help create a more balanced system. secondly, the discussion on the peer effect at the classroom level is linked to the advocacy for collaboration between staff, schools and professions in the previous section, due to the importance of being able to develop good relationships with and between students. As one participant said: ‘it’s a relationship before it’s a process’. explicitly modelling emotional expectations and behaviours was emphasised in interviews with ambassadors as vital for developing positive peer to peer relationships. one aspect of that modelling could be seen to be the general atmosphere of collaborative learning among the staff at school. Thirdly, the peer effect is related to collaboration at the school level, as the government could ensure that schools and college consortia are working in such a way that, when carrying out elements of the new 14-19 courses, students will mix between school cohorts, experiencing mixed abilities. The combined effect of these ideas could redress some of the inequalities of our current system.

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SECTION 4: CONCLuSION

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This publication is an attempt at a new sort of contribution to educational debates: one which

takes practitioner voices seriously, uses business expertise, and which was developed in combination both with academic research and the policy landscape. it therefore is not a stand-alone piece, but hopefully will be the source of further discussion and scrutiny from those with different knowledge-bases from ours.

There are some common threads which run through the publication, in terms of its mission, its approach and its suggestions.

our experiences as practitioners are in urban complex schools, and our focus remains the mission of Teach First to redress educational disadvantage in those environments. many of our recommendations concern the teaching offer, in terms of professional development and career opportunities, as well as in terms of the interrogation of wider areas, which have been a source of some frustration to many of our teachers. We believe that if our recommendations are taken forward, the teaching offer will improve in terms of professionalisation and potential, and that as a consequence of those changes teacher motivation and retention in challenging schools would improve. This in turn would multiply the positive effects of the recommendations we have suggested.

Ourapproachhasbeenaspecificone:webelievein the transferability of the skills of excellent pedagogy throughout the education system and beyond. This belief sometimes might be argued to defy the evidence-based approach, and we know that some of our arguments seem to be based on less than unimpeachable evidence. however, some of our research into our teachers’ views does imply that concentration purely on easily measurable effectiveness may be counterproductive - we know that some of our ideas would be hard to quantify the effectiveness of - but this is because education is such a complex process. We would like to see a less reduced, more complex approach to educational planning and assessment.

simplicity is not the key, except perhaps in terms of our mission and beliefs, but neither does thoroughgoing planning hold the answers, according to our teachers. our recommendations involve the creation of networks, cross-fertilisation across sectors, personal empowerment, assessmentswithnosinglesimplifiedresult,thereopening of old debates and the development of clear opportunities for pupils, teachers, parents and communities.

Somemayfinditnotablethatwehavenottriedtomake recommendations about classroom practice beyond the broad principles of excellent teaching and learning we began with. That is because we believe our mission is more likely to be achieved if we help teachers become more independent and forward-looking professionals, within a wider systemwhichenablesallschoolstoputpupilsfirst,than if we tried to prescribe teaching techniques.

on a more personal note, this publication in itself is evidence that teachers should be enabled and encouraged to be more involved in policy debates and research. All the contributors to this publication have been made to think unusually hard about educational research and policy, and indeed our own educational philosophies. We would be foolish not to ask more teachers what their responses are, and foolish not to suggest that it is exactly this sort of stimulating opportunity which we would like to see available to other practitioners.

The next policy First publication in 2010 will follow onfromthisonebutwithaspecificgoalinmind.Wewill aim to envisage how the school system and individual schools would look if the ideas in this publication and lessons from the Front 2007 were to be operationalised in general, and in new schools in particular.

if you have been interested by our ideas and want to contact the people who have been involved in the creation of this publication through Teach First, please contact us at ambassadors@teachfirst.org.uk

We look forward to the debate.

Writer: Elizabeth Thonemann (’04)

CONCLuSION

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SECTION 5: RESpONSES FROM THE gOvERNMENT ANd MAjOR NATIONAL OppOSINg pARTIES

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to be used within each of the proposed performance categories on the report card and we would very much welcome a more in-depth discussion on the indicators suggested.

We were very interested in chapter 3.2 of the publication which considered careers education and information, advice and guidance (iAG) for young people. high quality support for decisions about careers and learning is essential if we are to realise our ambitions for young people to stay in learning and aim high. That is why we published Quality, Choice and Aspiration: A strategy for young people’s information, advice and guidance on 26 october. The strategy places schools and parents at the centre of iAG and it sets out a new approach that brings together young people with those working in business, in higher education and with peers to raise their aspirations and open their eyes to the wealth of learning and career opportunities available. The detailed commitments in the strategy address many of the issues which your report raises and weareconfidentthatitwillleadtotransformediAG for all young people.

many of the other recommendations will be for teachers’ employers to consider, and i will suggest to local authorities and schools that they should certainly give careful thought to them.

CHApTER 5.1Response from the Government

Teach First is an excellent organisation,notonlybringingfirstclass graduates into the profession but also in helping stimulate change across education. The Government fully supports its programme and will work closely with Teach First to expand and develop it in the future.

These talented people’s views make a valuable contribution to any debate about how schools should make time and resources available to develop their teachers.

We aim to transform the culture of teachers’ professional development, through the introduction of the new masters in Teaching and learning, which will be extended across the profession. We also intend to introduce a new renewable ‘licence to practise’ linked to a new professional development entitlement for teachers. This will mean that every teacher will need to keep their skills up to date and demonstrate periodically that their professional practice and development meets the standards required for the profession; and that they will have access to the necessary professional development support. We want to consult teachers and others about the best way to approach this and will be very glad to include Teach First ambassadors among those we consult.

We are maintaining a relentless focus on improving teaching and learning in all schools, and continuing to invest in the best quality school leadersandthewholeworkforce.Significantimprovements have been achieved since 1997, but we continue to focus on getting even more excellent applicants, selecting the best of them, developing them throughout their career, and encouraging them to work where the needs are greatest.

research supports Teach First ambassadors’ view that the best approaches to cpd are often collaborative and we are currently considering the

development of new high quality professional development delivered through a network of schools and teachers. our ambition is that cpd ‘clusters’ will support not just teachers’ learning but will improve staff training and development across the whole children’s’ workforce in schools.

Teaching is a highly skilled, high status occupation. recognising that the best teachers constantly seek to improve their professional skills and subject knowledge, an entitlement to cpd is grounded in the belief that raising the professionalism of teachers and head teachers will enable them to develop further throughout their careers and, crucially, contribute to further raising standards in our schools.

We greatly welcome Teach First ambassadors’ support for the school report card and the current thinking on the most appropriate indicators for inclusion in the report card.

As the report acknowledges, we are keen to move away from the relentless focus on the performance tables – which will, in time, be superseded by the school report card. however, we believe a single overall grade is importanttoshowacleardefinitiveviewofaschool’s effectiveness among all stakeholders. Without an overall grade there is little hope of removing the focus on a single academic indicator which provides only a partial account of what schools do while ignoring the different challenges schools face; the progress their pupils make, and their contribution to children’s wider wellbeing. While we are proceeding with the presumption that the report card will include anoverallgrade,wewillmakeafinaldecisiononce the detailed development work has been concluded.

As part of that development work we are piloting the school report card with stakeholders over the next two years and are currently hosting a range of initial conferences with pilot schools and local authorities to help us make the right decisions in designing, testing and building the report card. The pilot is exploring the indicators

Chapter writer: Vernon Coaker MP (Minister of State for Schools and Learners)

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CHApTER 5.2Response from the Conservative Party

SeCtiON 5Responses from the Government and Opposing Parties

personalised and tailored training. We need to deepen and reinforce a culture of professionalism among teachers. They should be encouraged to play the fullest possible part in the intellectual life of the country. Lessons from the Front 2009’s authors are absolutely right to want to encourage more professional collaboration and interaction, both within and across subjects. The idea of ‘white space’ time, in which such collaboration might take place, is a potentially exciting innovation for heads to consider.

Thestrongcommitmenttogreaterflexibilityoverteacher’s working conditions is to be welcomed. i was very interested to note that the authors picked upontheflexibleapproachtorecruitmentandworking hours used by the Knowledge is power programme schools in America. heads need more freedom over which staff they hire and how they choose to deploy them, and these staff need the freedom to maximise the impact of their talents and offer the innovative approaches to raising standards our school system needs.

school league tables are in need of reform. Lessons from the Front 2009’s diagnosis of the problem, that the pressure to hit one narrow target tempts schools towards softer exams and to concentrate only on those pupils on the c/d borderline, is dead on the

money. For those of us who believe that every child matters, a system that incentivises teachers to concentrate their efforts on the few, not the many, is quite wrong. The proposed solution of a points-based system rewarding each grade is absolutely the right one. i also welcome the emphasis placed on giving parents much more information about schools. They, and their children, are the most important people in our education system and deserve the highest quality and greatest breadth of information regarding the schools they choose.

Lessons from the Front 2009’s authors are right to focus on vocational education. opportunities for the most disadvantaged children must come in a variety of forms. We need more information and careers adviceandforhighqualityvocationalqualificationsto be celebrated for what they are, not undermined by vague notions of their equivalence to academic achievements.

Weneedtoensurethateveryfamilybenefitsfromgreat teaching in order to raise the bar of achievement for all pupils, especially the poorest. it’s morally unacceptable that so many of our children don’t achieve as they should. This year’s Lessons from the Front is a valuable contribution to closing the attainment gap and giving us the school system we need to compete with the best in the world.

You don’t need to be a policy genius, you just need to be a concerned parent, to know that the secret of a good school is great teaching. From Finland to singapore, the world’s best education systems are those with the best teachers. Getting talented people into the classroom is the best way to improve the education all children receive.

That’s why i am such a fan of Teach First. since its inception it has, like

its sister organisation Teach For America, been an inspirational organisation. it’s played a crucial role in improving the attainment of this country’s poorest pupils through its dedication to the recruitment and training of excellent teachers. The fact the programme has continued to expand without diluting its impact is testament to the excellence of its leadership and the quality of its participants.

policy First is another example of Teach First’s ability to give the country’s brightest young graduates the opportunity to channel their talents and energy toward raising educational attainment, especially for the poorest pupils.

Lessons from the Front 2009 is spot on in its analysis of the problems in many of our schools.

We need better and more specialised continuous professional development to ensure we retain and develop the most talented professionals. league tables are vital, but they need to change in order to ensure crude target setting doesn’t force schools to take a narrow approach, which negatively affects pupils. heads need more freedom over who they employ,moreflexibilityontermsandconditionsforstaff and over their school’s timetable. We need to give parents more information about schools and listen to their views far more. Vocational qualificationsneedtobeofthehighestpossiblequality, and students need to be given tailored careers advice to help them choose the best non-academic route for them if that is what suits their talents and ambitions.

Mostofall,PolicyFirstisfocusedfirmlyonthemostimportant question confronting education policy makers in england today: how to raise the achievement level of the poorest pupils and close the gap between the educational outcomes of these children and their wealthier peers.

on continuous professional development, i welcome the emphasis on teachers receiving more

Chapter writer: Michael Gove MP (Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families)

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CHApTER 5.3Response from the Liberal Democrat Party

SeCtiON 5Responses from the Government and Opposing Parties

particularly striking was the statistic that 70% of survey respondents felt that their school’s leadership encouraged pupils to choose courses thatwouldbenefittheschool’sleaguetableresults rather than meeting each pupil’s long-term needs. This says a lot about the consequences of high stakes targeting in challenging schools, alongside doubts about the comparability of differentqualificationsandgrading.

however, these pressures appear to go hand in hand with poor quality and availability of advice on vocational course and career options. Teach First ambassadors want to see young people being given better advice on careers and qualifications,andtheydonotwishtosee‘university’ being pushed as the only aspirational option.

chapter 3.1 proposes reporting exam results with and without the inclusion of vocational qualifications.Thiswouldcertainlyshedlightonpossible reasons for changes in apparent school performance, but we need to be careful not to undermine the credibility of vocational qualificationsandpathways–whichisanotherclear concern brought out in the paper. before we go down the route proposed on this point, i would want to consider whether the answer isn’t to review the standards of some vocational qualifications,andtheGCSEequivalentswhichare awarded to them. We need to ensure that pupils choose the right courses for their long-term futures, and not to meet some league table requirement of the school or college. but i would strongly support the call for better advice aboutbothcareersandqualifications,aswell as the call for ‘university’ not to be the only ‘aspirational’ option.

section 3 also questions the current and planned performance systems for schools. A new system is proposed which would more fairly assess the progress and position of schools with deprived catchment areas, and which would ensure that ‘coasting’ schools are put in the spotlight. it is clear that mechanisms for school accountability are going to be fundamentally reviewed over the next couple of years, and the proposals in this paper will repay close attention.

my party welcomes the focus on trying to create more balanced intakes for schools, and we would halt the spread of overt and covert selection in the system. Area-wide banding also needs to be explored, and all schools should be part of a system of fair admissions. i would wish, however, to give as much freedom to individual schools to make their own decisions on setting, streaming, and ‘comprehensive’ classes – i do not believe in having a national blueprint on such questions.

Finally, i very much welcome the proposals on developing the quality and skills of our teaching workforce. We do not want a teaching workforce made up of machines who are simply marketing government initiatives – we want teachers who are passionate about their subjects, and who are themselves developing their skills, interests and knowledge. That is why the proposals on continuing professional development are so important. We also welcome the idea of teachers having the chance to ‘swap’ into other schools or roles for a period, as there is otherwise a real risk that teachers will not be encouraged to learn and develop.

Insummary,thisisafirstclasscontributiontothedebate about the future of english education. i hope that it will help shape Government thinking and policy over the years ahead.

The liberal democrats are strong supporters of Teach First, and we want to see the organisation grow and develop over the years ahead.

There is huge value both in attracting some of the most able graduates into teaching, and in establishing links between teaching and other occupations, which can provide other key forms of support to our education system.

i also very much welcome this publication, and the commitment of Teach First ambassadors and participants to feed back their insights into our schools system into the policy debate.

Asapolitician,Ifinditenormouslyhelpfultohearthe views of those on the ‘front line’, as these are informed by detailed and current personal experience, which we policy makers do not routinelyhavethebenefitof.Thisensuresthatpolicy debate is better informed by facts rather than prejudice. it also ensures that policy recommendations are not framed simply to meet some pre-conceived ideological bias.

Too often the debate in education is dominated by organisations, including political parties, which have entirely predictable, ‘off the shelf’, responses to particular issues and controversies. it is refreshing to talk to those on the front line whose ideas are more likely to be shaped by observations of reality, and who are less worried about checking that what they are proposing meets some pre-conceived ‘line’ or ideological stance.

i believe that one of our greatest problems in english education is that there is no agreed view on what has happened to standards over, say, the last 10 or 20 years. some people argue that theimprovementinexamresultsreflectsamassive improvement in standards, while others argue that there has been a fall in standards – a huge ‘dumbing down’ of the system. This confusion is one of the reasons why my party has proposed an independent educational standards Authority, to make public judgments about changes in standards and to regulate the system.

This publication also raises major concerns about the present and planned systems for holding schools, and pupils, to account.

The evidence and views presented in section 3 raise major concerns about english education, and some of the incentives which have been created by recent governments. Teach First ambassadors state clearly that the present target of 5 A*-c Gcses is distorting priorities, and causing schools to focus disproportionately on c/d borderline candidates. That means we risk failing to stretch our top students, while giving up on those at the bottom of the performance/ability range.

liberal democrats agree that we need a new, points based, system which gives credit for all grade improvements, and not just those over the c/d borderline.

section 3 also raises other serious concerns – about whether schools are encouraging pupils to take‘easier’vocationalqualificationstodeliverleague table improvements, rather than because the courses in question are best for the pupils.

Chapter writer: David Laws MP (Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families)

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service provided inspiration for some of the proposals set out here. Joining forces to raise aspirations in the classroom can also deliver better outcomes by jointly developing inspirational curriculum, lesson plans and masterclasses. underpinning these proposals the authors have rightly assumed that shared services will deliver costefficiency,increasedqualityofservices,better coordination with other services for young people and a clear delineation of teaching responsibilities from support responsibilities - freeing teachers up to teach.

our experience from the private sector and elsewherearoundtheworldconfirmsthatsuchshared service models can really work. businesses employ shared services very successfully to reduce costs and improve service, and at least one group of academies already operates shared training. The key is identifying which services schools should share and which they should retain. Any move towards using more centrally provided support services must be backed with investment and support; a critical challenge, particularly in the current economic climate.

The second point of note is that what frontline teachersexperience,reflectedinthisreport,isoften very different to the language found in education policies. some authors discovered that solutions to problems already existed in current policy but a disconnect between policy and the steps taken to put into practice exists.

Furthermore, most organisations know that simply telling people to start doing something differently won’t make it so. To bring about cultural change, investment in training, measuring, monitoring and embedding is required.TheOfficeofGovernmentCommercehas already developed recognised standards in project and programme management: these are de facto standards used in local and central government change programmes yet rarely found in school management teams or their training.

i have been repeatedly impressed by the commitment of Teach First to address educational disadvantage and to raise aspirations in some of our most challenging schools. Their Ambassador programme builds on training with a holistic programme of support to help Ambassadors evolve into the leaders of tomorrow whether in schools or elsewhere and to continue address educational disadvantage. our aim through Lessons from the Front 2009 is to bring new ideas to the attention of policy makers and to encourage a wider debate on the changes that need to happen within schools to support teachers and pupils to achieve their full potential. This publication is the beginning of that journey together. The next step is to develop the debate and to test some of the concepts. We look forward to piloting and evaluating these ideas with Teach First, government and others and reporting on their merits at a later date.

AFTERwORd

POLiCy FiRStLessons from the front 2009

Addressing educational disadvantage is a social and economic imperative for the uK. As a major employer it is also a responsibility that deloitte recognises. That is why we invest heavily in supporting disadvantaged young people, through our nationally recognised

deloitte employability programme and collaboration with Teach First, to help develop the skills and attitudes young people need to successfully gain employment. The series of papers set out in this publication provide practical proposals that Teach First teachers haveidentifiedanddeveloped.Theyarebasedon actual evidence of what will work to support children and young people in some of the most challenging urban schools. some of these proposals will require structural changes while others will require changes to existing behaviours and cultural norms.

For example, implementing robust cpd will require new ways of working across the school system from initial teacher training and then throughout a teacher’s career path. Galvanising teachers themselves to engage with each other across organisational boundaries to improve performance and drive cpd through collaborative peer support, will be critical. This approach relies on the organisations themselves to encourage and sustain joint working across

organisational boundaries. equally, the shared services models described to support teacher development may require structural changes but should also improve standards and deliver more for less, that will be critical as we move towards the next government spending review.

Throughout this research there are two recurring themes.Thefirstistheautonomyofschoolsandtheir relationship with others, including local authorities and policy makers. The second theme is the growing professionalisation of all aspects of the teaching profession.

it is regularly argued that schools should be trusted to operate more independently so they can better serve the unique needs of their local community and there are frequent calls from bodies representing teachers to free up schools from centrally imposed processes, policies and constraints. Throughout this publication there are suggestions that some aspects of school operations might be better dealt with in alternative settings including those of the third and voluntary sectors.

Thereareobviousbenefitstotheimplementationof collaborative schemes. Lessons from the Front 2009 discusses a range of concepts including teacher-swapping,flexibleteacherprogrammes,continuous professional development and careers education models. deloitte’s own experience of a joint secondment programme with the senor civil

Chapter writer: Julie Mercer (Partner, Deloitte)

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2003 COHORt

2005 COHORt

2004 COHORt

2008 COHORt

2007 COHORt

2006 COHORt

2009 COHORt

TEACH FIRST TEACHERS

page 58 page 59

AFL: Assessment for LearningFormal and informal processes used by teachers and students to help gauge where students are in their learning whilst contributing to learning itself.

AmbassadorsFormerTeachFirstparticipantswhohavefulfilledtherequirements of Teach First’s leadership development Programme,whichincludesgainingQualifiedTeacherstatus. Ambassadors who started Teach First as part of the 2003 cohort are known as ’03 Ambassadors.

Annual enquiry entitlementA Lessons from the Front 2009 recommendation that funding should be available for teachers to pursue an area of interest which develops their own capacity for inquisitiveness in their teaching practice.

Area-Wide BandingA school admissions procedure organised to ensure each school enrols students from a range of abilities. When area-wide banding is in operation students are placed in quartiles pertaining to their ability based on exam results in Year 6. each school then admits students based on ability in proportion to a particular reference group: either by applications or a local or national average.

CAts: Cognitive Abilities testsTests of cognitive abilities, which cover literacy, numeracy and non-verbal reasoning, which the majority of secondary schools in england use to assess pupils’ potentialintheirfirstterm.

Confidence IntervalA statistical range that indicates the reliability of a given estimate.

ConnexionsThe government’s support-service which provides free information, advice, guidance and personal-development opportunities for young people in regards to learning and progression.

CPD: Continuing Professional Development

Activities designed to improve and support a teacher’s professional practice throughout their career.

CVA: Contextual Value-AddedValue added is a measure of progression, which asks the question: how much have students improved in their attainment over a set period of time? measures of value-added take into account prior attainment and may

also consider other factors such as social context. in essence, cVA score rates the performance of an area, school or teacher by looking at how the performances of their pupils compare with pupils who had similar prior attainment and contexts.

Deloitte Civil Service international Secondment Programme

A civil service pilot programme with deloitte to develop future leaders. The programme offers a number of opportunities to grow key leadership capability in the civil Service.Deloittememberfirmshostthesecondeesfor2months, providing them with insight into working in a professionalservicesfirmandonclientengagements.

DifferentiationTeaching methods and strategies that cater for the range of student needs within a classroom, including, but not limited to, mixed abilities.

every Child Matterslegally grounded in the children’s Act 2004, and supported by the children’s plan 2007, every child matters is a government approach based on making sure all children are supported to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being.

Flexible teacher RoleA Lessons from the Front 2009 recommendation that it should be made easier, and more acceptable, for a teacher to teach on a part-time basis, when this suits the school, pupils and teacher in question.

Governance for ChangeA Teach First initiative which allows ambassadors to develop leadership skills whilst maximising their long-term impact on educational disadvantage by serving on a school governing body.

HeAPS:Higher education Access Programme for SchoolsA Teach First initiative which aims to improve pupil progression from Teach First partnering schools to the country’s leading universities. This includes a structured mentoring programme connecting Ambassadors to Key stage 5 students, and ambassador-delivered activities for Key stages 3 & 4.

iAG: information, Advice and Guidance impartial information, advice and guidance designed to empower and enable students to make informed choices about their personal lives and futures.

iLeA: inner London education Authoritypart of the Greater london council, ileA was the former education authority for 12 inner london boroughs. ileA was in operation between 1965 & 1990.

ParticipantsGraduates teaching in schools on Teach First’s two-year leadership development programme.

PCPD: Personal Continuing Professional Development cpd activity for which the format and content is chosen by the individual teacher depending on their personal needs and interests. lessons from the Front 2009 recommends that approximately a third of cpd time should be spent on pcpd.

Peer effectA term used to describe the various informal social influencesthatcanoccurwithinapeergroup(orclassroom). These peer effects and externalities can be positive or negative, and the mechanisms through which they work are debated.

Policy FirstA Teach First platform for ambassadors to research, develop and represent their ideas on policy, with the overarching aim of addressing educational disadvantage. lessons from the Front is a bi-annual report produced through policy First, and includes insights and recommendations from both focus groups and surveys of ambassadors and participants.

Problem-Based LearningA student-centred style of learning which allows students to investigate a problem using their own methods of investigation. problem-based learning can be facilitated in myriad ways, and takes in ideas of enquiry, discussion, research, investigation, and collaboration.

School Report CardA new element of the accountability framework for schools, due to come into effect as of 2011. school report cards will contain a broad range of information about a school, with proposed categories such as pupil progress and parents’ and pupils’ perceptions. pilots of the school report card system began in september 2009.

Second-School experienceAs part of their initial teacher training, Teach First participants spend a week in a contrasting school to their placement school. This week provides participants with an opportunity to teach lessons and observe other teachers.

Setting and StreamingThe act of grouping students into classes based on ability or perceived potential. sets are classes based on ability in a particular subject. streams are classes based on general ability across a range of subjects.

SMt: Senior Management team The senior management Team of a school normally consists of the head teacher, assistant head and deputy heads.

Social entrepreneurship ProgrammeA Teach First programme which offers training, networking, support and mentoring for ambassadors interested in launching their own social venture now or in the future.

Supporting ParticipantsA Teach First initiative that provides opportunities for ambassadors to share their expertise and guidance with participants, thereby helping to create a virtuous circle that ensures Teach First becomes a self-sustaining model that is ever-improving.

teach FirstAn independent charity, launched in 2002, to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders inallfields.

teach First Summer Projects An initiative which encourages Teach First participants to spend two or three weeks of their summer holiday volunteeringasanintern,onprojectsofmutualbenefittothe participant and a supporting organisation of Teach First.

teach First teachers Ambassadors and current participants.

teach First territorial teachers ProgrammeAmbassadors who leave teaching for another career are encouraged by Teach First to return to the classroom for uptofivedaysayearinavolunteercapacity.

teach OnA Teach First network of support, guidance and professional development for ambassadors leading change in challenging schools.

teachers’ GuaranteeA lessons from the Front 2009 recommendation that time for teachers to take advantage of personalised, explorative and collaborative opportunities for cpd, should be assured.

teacher-SwapA lessons from the Front 2009 recommendation that teachers from different schools should have the opportunity to swap jobs for a set period of time and teach each others’ lessons as part of their cpd.

Vocational QualificationsQualificationsrelatedtotheskillsandknowledgerequiredfor work in a particular occupation or industry.

White Space timeA lessons from the Front 2009 recommendation that collaboration time should be integrated into teachers’ timetables.

gLOSSARy OF TERMS

POLiCy FiRStLessions from the front 2009

page 60 page 61

Jay Allnutt (’06), chapter writer Teach First colleges, philosophy, religious studies & critical Thinking Teacher, christ the King sixth Form college (religious education participant, West london Academy)

lubna Altajir (’05), chapter writer consultant, deloitten (maths participant, norwood school)

Jamie Audsley (’07), chapter writercitizen schools organiser, london citizens (Geography participant, Addington high school)

david boardman (’03), chapter writerTechnology consultant, deloitte (science participant, Feltham community college)

hannah cheetham (’07), chapter researcherhead of Geography, Feltham community college.

Vernon coaker mp, response writerminister of state for schools and learners

david cruickshank: foreword writer; chairman of the british board of partners, deloitte

stephen douglas (’06), chapter writermaths Teacher, Wembley high Technology college.(maths participant, Wembley high Technology college)

Jonathan Goldstein (’06), chapter writerhead of linguistic and cultural inclusion, st. marylebone school.(english participant, Wembley high Technology college)

michael Gove mp, response writershadow secretary of state for children, schools and Families.

michael Gun-Why (’06), chapter researchermasters student in public policy, King’s college london (english participant, selsdon high school)

Jen hall (’03), chapter writerconsultant, deloitte (modern Foreign languages participant, uxbridge high school)

matthew hood (’07), chapter researcherAssociate Tutor, Teach First (business studies and economics participant, Turin Grove school)

Alex Kelly (’05), chapter writerdirector, The Access project. (english participant, highbury Grove school)

peter Kemp (’05), chapter researcherTeach First colleges, computing Teacher, christ the King sixth Form college. (icT participant, loxford school of science & Technology)

david laws mp, response writerliberal democrat shadow secretary of state for children, schools and Families.

hannah mathews (’04), chapter researchermasters student in Applied positive psychology, uel (religious education participant, Kingsford community school)

monica mcAteer (’06), chapter writerTeacher, Green oasis school in shenzhen, china.(maths participant, Kaskenmoor school)

lydia menzies (’03), chapter researchermasters student in social policy, lse (maths participant, bexley business Academy)

Julie mercer, afterword writerpartner, deloitte

Anna moverley (’04), chapter researchersenior research executive, opinion leader (Geography participant, hurlingham and chelsea school)

Katherine richardson (’04), chapter writerresearcher, The institute of education. (science participant, st. Angela’s ursuline convent school)

Alex shapland-howes (’07), chapter researcherhead of student learning, The london Academy(maths participant, The london Academy)

sequoia Taylor (’06), chapter writerenglish Teacher, blessed Thomas holford school(citizenship participant, st. paul’s rc high school)

elizabeth Thonemann (’04), editoreducational researcher and consultant (history participant, norwood school)

brett Wigdortz, introduction writerceo and Founder, Teach First.

Alistair Wood (’06), chapter writerhead of enterprise Faculty, st marylebone school.(business studies participant, Wembley high Technology college)

many thanks to the members of the Teach First Ambassadors team who managed, administered and delivered the publication:

sarah connordirector, Ambassadors

Kim levengood (’06 Teach for America graduate)AmbassadorOfficer,theBig5andSocial entrepreneurship programme

mark smith (’03)Associate director, social change programmes

many thanks also to those members of the Teach First team who supported the contributors through feedback and advice:

professor sonia blandforddirector, research and development

neela dolezalOfficer,ResearchandPublicPolicy

Graeme duncan (’03)Associate director, policy and stakeholder relations

Treina Fabre (‘01 Teach For America graduate)Associate director, research and development

philip FearnAssociate director, corporate communications and events

pete mathershaw (’06)Officer,CorporateCommunications

chloe TaitSeniorOfficer,PolicyandStakeholderRelations

James Westheaddirector, external relations

natalie WhittySeniorOfficer,CorporateCommunicationsandPR

LIST OF CONTRIBuTORS

POLiCy FiRStLessions from the front 2009

SeCtiON xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

page 63

AppENdIX

Social entrepreneurship

Training, networking and

support for Ambassadors

intersted in launching mission

focused social ventures

Governance for Change

A chance for Ambassadors to

develop leadership skills whilst

maxamizing their long-term impact as urban school

govenors

Policy First

A forum for Ambassadors to share their insights on

educational issues and help shape education policy

for the future

HeAPS

A range of opportunities

for Ambassadors to support pupils from Teach First

schools to progress to competitive universities

Supporting Participants

A chance for Ambassadors to

offer experties and guidance to

participants and through this to ensure that TF

is build on a sustainable model

Career Development online resources - networking events - skills classes with career professionals

the Big 5

teach On

support, training and leadership development

for those Ambassadors continuing in

urban education

page 64 page 65

The publication contains the views of approximately 500 Teach First participants and ambassadors, working across all of the Teach First regions in over 100 challenging schools. We gathered these views over the course of several months, through the events and opportunities detailed here.

We held four brainstorming events to canvass Teach First participants and ambassadors’ views on which topics the 2009 policy First publication should address. The events were attended by 45 ambassadors and 29 participants across all Teach First regions: 10 February (london); 5 march (birmingham); 16 march (london); 18 march (manchester). We typed up all the notes fromdiscussiongroupsandidentifiedsixrecurring themes.

We then called a meeting for all ambassadors who were interested in doing additional research for, or in writing a chapter for the book. chapter leads and supporters nominated themselves. We presented the very broad themes to chapter teams; they decided amongst themselves which chapter they wanted to be involved with.

Chapterteamsdecidedtheirspecifictopicandinvestigated possible recommendations within their theme, through reading educational literature, compiling and then using the policy First survey, and through focus groups. some

teams also did interviews with teachers and other stakeholders, for example the writers and researchers of chapter 3.3 did 8 interviews on peer effects in the classroom, and 1 on peer effects at a school level.

300 participants and ambassadors completed a survey composed of 4-5 questions per chapter. Quantitative results from the survey are in appendix 1.2.2. Qualitative results from the survey included a large volume of statements and opinions, so these are included as appendices to chapters, where relevant.

Focus groups were held in multiple locations. The one held in canary Wharf was attended by 33 participants and ambassadors.

Teach First organised planning/writing meetings in march and April; and feedback sessions in June, July and August, each of which was attended by at least half of each chapter team. The teams also attended an argument planning webinar hosted by deloitte in may and received feedback from professionals at deloitte and Teach First on several further occasions.

if you would like to read the content of Lessons From the Front 2007 then a pdf version can be downloaded from: http://www.teachfirst.org.uk/news/policyfirst

AppENdIX 1.2.1The Policy First process: where our ideas for Lessons from the Front 2009 came from

AppENdIX 1.1.1The Teach First Ambassador Community

The Teach First ambassador community is the uniquely empowered network of Teach First alumni working in all sectors to achieve the mission of Teach First. having participated in Teach First by teaching in a challenging school for two years and having completed the leadership development programme, our ambassadors have a shared experience of raising the aspirations, achievement and access to opportunities of young people in challenging schools and a strong personal commitment to ensuring that they continue their impact on education beyond the two years whether they progress their leadership journeys within the classroom or beyond.

The Teach First ambassador community currently numbers just over 830, approximately 50% of which remains teaching in challenging schools. in fiveyears’time,thisnumberwillhavegrowntoover 3,500.

What is the Ambassador Vision? Teach First ambassadors are mobilised, equipped and inspired to address the Teach First mission as leadersinallfields.Weworktoachievethisvisionby providing Ambassadors with a range of initiatives through which they can stay connected with each other and continue to address the mission whether or not they remain in teaching. over 67% of ambassadors are engaged in at least one of these initiatives. meanwhile career development for ambassadors in general is supported through the website, which contains a wealth of resources, and through networking events and skills classes.

teach On is for those ambassadors who remain in or return to teaching. The Big5 is a package of five initiatives available to the entire ambassador community: HeAPS (the Higher education Access Programme for Schools), the Social entrepreneurship Programme, Governance for Change, Policy First and Supporting Participants. they are summarised in the diagram below and explained in the glossary.

the initiatives work. this year…154 ambassadors are in middle leadership posts, •14 in senior leadership and one is a head teacher.

135 ambassadors are heAps mentors for 275 •pupils.

10 social ventures have been launched and a •community of over 50 entrepreneurs meets regularly.

15 governors are in post and 17 are awaiting •placement.

The views of around 500 participants and •ambassadors were consulted to develop this publication.

over 200 Teach First participants were supported •by ambassadors through mentoring, coaching and events.

For further information on Teach First’s work with its ambassadors, please contact sarah connor, director of Ambassadors on 020 7517 2729 or emailsconnor@teachfirst.org.uk

9 34 96 51 3128 57 61 33 742 71 69 27 819 22 42 20 911 20 35 52 2119 14 30 21 5

Question a

In the last 12 months of your teaching practice, did you receive CPD from any of the sources below? Was it effective?

In school by Advanced skills teacher

In school by peers

Training with other schools together

In school by external agencies

Offsite Provision

In school by SMT

Answer Options 1 Not effective

2 3 Effective

4 5 Highly effective

Stronglydisagree Agree

Unable tocommentAnswer Options

A Vocational pathways are generally not seen as aspirational by teachers.

B University is generally seen as a more aspirational aim than a vocational course.

C My pupils’ parents/guardians do not have enough information about vocational courses and careers.

D My school’s leadership encourage pupils to choose coursesinformation about vocational courses and careers.

E Teachers at my school encourage pupils to choose courses

Question f

To what extent do you agree with the statements below?

DisagreeStrongly

agree

Response Percent

Response Count

79.0% 22621.0% 60

Question c

If you could combine another career with teaching (flexible working, doing two jobs part-time) would this be of interest to you?

Answer Options

YesNo

Response Percent

Response Count

Question d

If it were possible, what career would you most like to combine with teaching? would this be of interest to you? (please specify)

Answer Options

45.3% 1050.9% 2

53.4% 1243.9% 95.6% 13

28.0% 65

Teaching and Accountancy

Teaching and Industry

Teaching and Not for ProfitTeaching and Banking

Teaching and Social Work

Teaching and Consultancy

Response Percent

Response Count

Question e

Are you in favour of the report card system?

Answer Options

45.3% 92

15.3% 31

39.4% 80

Yes

No

Undecided

1 43 104 78 5

0 9 78 136 8

2 16 96 94 21

5 46 63 99 18

10 91 65 48 17

1None

3 Recognised input

5Total freedom

47 58 107 44 1168 67 87 32 9

Answer Options

ContentStructure

Question b

How much say do you/did you have over the design of your own Continuous Professional Development (CPD)?2 4

6 20 101 66 35

4 15 91 82 36

7 23 80 78 40

3 7 61 106 51

16 57 65 70 19

3 11 59 89 63

Answer Options

A Training on careers advice during teacher training

B More Continuous Professional Development for staff on giving diverse careers advice

C Independent careers advice experts in school

D Improved parental information on vocational pathways

E More discrete teaching of careers as a lesson

F More local role models from vocational careers presenting in schools

Question g

How much of an impact would each of these have on improving guidance on vocational qualifications and careers?

1No Impact

3 Some impact

5Significant impact

2 4

My school’s and my own ability to guide and support its pupils’ aspirations - to what extent do you agree with each statement?

Answer Options

A I can competently advise pupils wanting to study at university on which qualifications and subjects to choose

B I can competently advise pupils wanting to pursue a vocation on which qualifications and subjects to choose

C Pupils at my school receive good quality careers advice post-14

D Pupils at my school receive good quality careers advice before post-14 decisions are made

E My school’s curriculum caters for learners with vocational aspirations (e.g. becoming a carpenter)

F My school’s curriculum caters for learners with academic aspirations (e.g. traditional university courses)

G In my school teachers are the main source of careers guidance

H I get sufficient training on the different learning pathways and qualifications available to my pupils

Question h

Stronglydisagree Agree

Unable tocommentDisagree

Strongly agree

2 42 110 71 3

30 132 49 14 3

39 89 66 6 26

56 117 29 3 21

24 76 95 22 10

8 38 115 55 12

4 48 116 40 18

77 119 18 5 9

9 34 96 51 3128 57 61 33 742 71 69 27 819 22 42 20 911 20 35 52 2119 14 30 21 5

Question a

In the last 12 months of your teaching practice, did you receive CPD from any of the sources below? Was it effective?

In school by Advanced skills teacher

In school by peers

Training with other schools together

In school by external agencies

Offsite Provision

In school by SMT

Answer Options 1 Not effective

2 3 Effective

4 5 Highly effective

Stronglydisagree Agree

Unable tocommentAnswer Options

A Vocational pathways are generally not seen as aspirational by teachers.

B University is generally seen as a more aspirational aim than a vocational course.

C My pupils’ parents/guardians do not have enough information about vocational courses and careers.

D My school’s leadership encourage pupils to choose coursesinformation about vocational courses and careers.

E Teachers at my school encourage pupils to choose courses

Question f

To what extent do you agree with the statements below?

DisagreeStrongly

agree

Response Percent

Response Count

79.0% 22621.0% 60

Question c

If you could combine another career with teaching (flexible working, doing two jobs part-time) would this be of interest to you?

Answer Options

YesNo

Response Percent

Response Count

Question d

If it were possible, what career would you most like to combine with teaching? would this be of interest to you? (please specify)

Answer Options

45.3% 1050.9% 2

53.4% 1243.9% 95.6% 13

28.0% 65

Teaching and Accountancy

Teaching and Industry

Teaching and Not for ProfitTeaching and Banking

Teaching and Social Work

Teaching and Consultancy

Response Percent

Response Count

Question e

Are you in favour of the report card system?

Answer Options

45.3% 92

15.3% 31

39.4% 80

Yes

No

Undecided

1 43 104 78 5

0 9 78 136 8

2 16 96 94 21

5 46 63 99 18

10 91 65 48 17

1None

3 Recognised input

5Total freedom

47 58 107 44 1168 67 87 32 9

Answer Options

ContentStructure

Question b

How much say do you/did you have over the design of your own Continuous Professional Development (CPD)?2 4

6 20 101 66 35

4 15 91 82 36

7 23 80 78 40

3 7 61 106 51

16 57 65 70 19

3 11 59 89 63

Answer Options

A Training on careers advice during teacher training

B More Continuous Professional Development for staff on giving diverse careers advice

C Independent careers advice experts in school

D Improved parental information on vocational pathways

E More discrete teaching of careers as a lesson

F More local role models from vocational careers presenting in schools

Question g

How much of an impact would each of these have on improving guidance on vocational qualifications and careers?

1No Impact

3 Some impact

5Significant impact

2 4

My school’s and my own ability to guide and support its pupils’ aspirations - to what extent do you agree with each statement?

Answer Options

A I can competently advise pupils wanting to study at university on which qualifications and subjects to choose

B I can competently advise pupils wanting to pursue a vocation on which qualifications and subjects to choose

C Pupils at my school receive good quality careers advice post-14

D Pupils at my school receive good quality careers advice before post-14 decisions are made

E My school’s curriculum caters for learners with vocational aspirations (e.g. becoming a carpenter)

F My school’s curriculum caters for learners with academic aspirations (e.g. traditional university courses)

G In my school teachers are the main source of careers guidance

H I get sufficient training on the different learning pathways and qualifications available to my pupils

Question h

Stronglydisagree Agree

Unable tocommentDisagree

Strongly agree

2 42 110 71 3

30 132 49 14 3

39 89 66 6 26

56 117 29 3 21

24 76 95 22 10

8 38 115 55 12

4 48 116 40 18

77 119 18 5 9

page 66 page 67

AppENdIX 1.2.2The Policy First Survey: Quantitative Results

9 34 96 51 3128 57 61 33 742 71 69 27 819 22 42 20 911 20 35 52 2119 14 30 21 5

Question a

In the last 12 months of your teaching practice, did you receive CPD from any of the sources below? Was it effective?

In school by Advanced skills teacher

In school by peers

Training with other schools together

In school by external agencies

Offsite Provision

In school by SMT

Answer Options 1 Not effective

2 3 Effective

4 5 Highly effective

Stronglydisagree Agree

Unable tocommentAnswer Options

A Vocational pathways are generally not seen as aspirational by teachers.

B University is generally seen as a more aspirational aim than a vocational course.

C My pupils’ parents/guardians do not have enough information about vocational courses and careers.

D My school’s leadership encourage pupils to choose coursesinformation about vocational courses and careers.

E Teachers at my school encourage pupils to choose courses

Question f

To what extent do you agree with the statements below?

DisagreeStrongly

agree

Response Percent

Response Count

79.0% 22621.0% 60

Question c

If you could combine another career with teaching (flexible working, doing two jobs part-time) would this be of interest to you?

Answer Options

YesNo

Response Percent

Response Count

Question d

If it were possible, what career would you most like to combine with teaching? would this be of interest to you? (please specify)

Answer Options

45.3% 1050.9% 2

53.4% 1243.9% 95.6% 13

28.0% 65

Teaching and Accountancy

Teaching and Industry

Teaching and Not for ProfitTeaching and Banking

Teaching and Social Work

Teaching and Consultancy

Response Percent

Response Count

Question e

Are you in favour of the report card system?

Answer Options

45.3% 92

15.3% 31

39.4% 80

Yes

No

Undecided

1 43 104 78 5

0 9 78 136 8

2 16 96 94 21

5 46 63 99 18

10 91 65 48 17

1None

3 Recognised input

5Total freedom

47 58 107 44 1168 67 87 32 9

Answer Options

ContentStructure

Question b

How much say do you/did you have over the design of your own Continuous Professional Development (CPD)?2 4

6 20 101 66 35

4 15 91 82 36

7 23 80 78 40

3 7 61 106 51

16 57 65 70 19

3 11 59 89 63

Answer Options

A Training on careers advice during teacher training

B More Continuous Professional Development for staff on giving diverse careers advice

C Independent careers advice experts in school

D Improved parental information on vocational pathways

E More discrete teaching of careers as a lesson

F More local role models from vocational careers presenting in schools

Question g

How much of an impact would each of these have on improving guidance on vocational qualifications and careers?

1No Impact

3 Some impact

5Significant impact

2 4

My school’s and my own ability to guide and support its pupils’ aspirations - to what extent do you agree with each statement?

Answer Options

A I can competently advise pupils wanting to study at university on which qualifications and subjects to choose

B I can competently advise pupils wanting to pursue a vocation on which qualifications and subjects to choose

C Pupils at my school receive good quality careers advice post-14

D Pupils at my school receive good quality careers advice before post-14 decisions are made

E My school’s curriculum caters for learners with vocational aspirations (e.g. becoming a carpenter)

F My school’s curriculum caters for learners with academic aspirations (e.g. traditional university courses)

G In my school teachers are the main source of careers guidance

H I get sufficient training on the different learning pathways and qualifications available to my pupils

Question h

Stronglydisagree Agree

Unable tocommentDisagree

Strongly agree

2 42 110 71 3

30 132 49 14 3

39 89 66 6 26

56 117 29 3 21

24 76 95 22 10

8 38 115 55 12

4 48 116 40 18

77 119 18 5 9

page 68 page 69

AppENdIX 2.2.1The main barriers to the use of problem-based earning, as suggested by Teach First teachers during focus groups

Type of barrier Including … Controlled by …

National Barrier

- National Curriculum – too rigid and full;

- Assessment for Learning/ teaching to the test; linked to

league tables due to the importance for schools of their

5 A*-C measure, and the examinations themselves not

rewarding inquisitive thinking;

- National strategies and national policies.

- Government;

- Policy Makers

- Exam boards.

Teacher / School Barrier

Lack of support from senior and middle managers;

- Priority on behaviour management;

- Focus on exam results;

- Lack of teacher expertise;

- Lack of teacher time to spend with students;

- Overly rigid/ structured lessons; for example therefore

refusing to answer questions which may cause them to

deviate from the lesson plan

- Teachers unconfident in engaging with students;

- Teachers seeing questioning as disruptive.

- Senior Leaders;

- Teachers.

Student barriers

- Inquisitive is not seen as ‘being cool’;

- Behavioural problems;

- Lack of aspiration and confidence;

- Poor attitude towards learning/ disaffection with school.

- Students;

- Indirectly by

- Teachers and

Senior Leaders

APPeNDix 1.2.2The Policy First survey: quantitative results

page 70 page 71

AppENdIX 2.2.2Evidence of the benefits of teacher internships based on questionnaires on London Teach First Summer Projects 2008

Researching for an educational charity “It has renewed my passion for teaching . . . and extended my awareness of the roles and career possibilities that exist in improving access for students in urban complex schools. It has made me determined to make my own pupils and others in the school aware of these opportunities and provide them with ample visits and contact with universities and additional projects. I will remain involved with the [charity’s] work . . . It has given me a wealth of useful contacts and knowledge of a range of opportunities and projects that will benefit the pupils at my school to ensure they have the same opportunities when it comes to university applications as any other pupils from any other school.”

Creating teaching resources: Film archives “I have managed to create teaching resources for English and media studies that I would not have been able to do otherwise. I have made contacts within the organisation who will be important for providing educational opportunities for my students further down the line. I have increased my repertoire for the teaching of moving image in the classroom. This I can also share with colleagues at school. I have also increased the range of my knowledge of key areas (representation in moving image media and cartoon superheroes in film) which I have then applied to creating new schemes of work that I will be teaching.”

Subject enhancement: composing for a professional ensemble

“I have improved my skills as a composer and made various contacts in the classical music industry. This project has enhanced how I approach composing in the classroom.”

educational policy: Think-tank internship “I learnt that a lot of interesting new ideas are being tried in education and that a radical new type of school . . . are soon to be set up . . . The emphasis of the project was in making education more vocational and this is something I hope to get involved with in school”

teaching: secondary school, durban “The school is extremely under-funded and under-resourced, hence all I had to aid my teaching was a piece of chalk and a blackboard. This experience helped me develop my explanations of key concepts as no pictures or complex diagrams were available. It also meant that I had to be very innovative in thinking of how to make lessons interactive without relying on resources such as handouts, which is decidedly more environmentally friendly!”

a) What skills, knowledge and experience from your summer project will be useful to you in the classroom and school? Data based on 108 questionnaires.

b) Case Studies of Summer Projects

AppENdIX 2.3Evidence from personal stories that the Flexible Teacher role would work

evidence from personal stories that the Flexible teacher role would work

Case Study 1: Katie Katie is a Teach First participant who intended to leave teaching after two years to pursue an alternative career. Through negotiation with her supportive and innovative headteacher, Katie will be teaching Ks3 and Ks4 science three days a week and spending two days in her dual profession as a writer and actress.

Case Study 2: ella ella is a Teach First participant teaching music in an urban complex school in london. she never thought she would stay beyond the initial two year commitment to teaching. however, at the end of her second year, ella approached her headteacher with an idea that she could take on a newly-created role of director of music that would involve less curriculum teaching hours but more extra-curricular coordination in the school, including the development of the school’s first-everorchestra.Theheadteacherunderstoodella’s reasons and the value she would add to the school by taking on this new role; the headteacher allowed ella the autonomy to innovate.

The key win for the school is that they have retained a teacher rated ‘outstanding’ by ofsted; andthissubsequentlybenefitspupils.ForEllaitprovides the opportunity to gain additional responsibility and have a more innovative role within the school.

WhilstthiscasestudydoesnotfitintotheFlexibleTeacher role, it is a useful example as it shows howcreatingflexibleworkingforteacherscanretain teachers.

Transferable skills (e.g. planning, icT)

Links with outside organisation (e.g. resourses, talks, projects)

Improved teaching skills (e.g. stratagies for eAl)

New approches to subject teaching (e.g. case studies)

Will share sector knowledge with students

Dialogue with education policy or experience of other contexts

Produced teaching resourses

Extra-curricular work (e.g. clubs, school trips)

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Value in %

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AppENdIX 3.2.1A comparison of two different options for universal advice

The table below shows the main operational cost items, strengths and weaknesses of two different models for the provision of universal IAG. It does not cover the initial implementation costs, only the major anticipated ongoing recurring costs.

Universal provision of careers & course advice using external advisors

Universal provision of careers and course advice using teachers, supplemented by external advisors

Back of envelope financial

costs

Backofenvelopefinancialcosts:

mcGowan et al (2009): connexions partnership spend on careers guidance (2008/09) £197million

Watts (2008b): 40% of school-leavers in england have had an interview with a connexions personal Adviser, who may or may not be a professional careers Adviser

A simple scale up of the current spend yields a cost of approximately £500 million to provide all school leavers with at least one interview with a connexions adviser.

total additional cost ~ £300 million p.a.

Backofenvelopefinancialcosts:

dcsF: school Workforce in england (2008): number of teachers (215.4,000) + number of support staff (117.6,000) = 333,000

dcsF: number of schools in england in January each year (2007): 3343

maintain current external advice spend (no additional cost).

programme management costs: Assume 50 man days of additional effort per secondary school per year of local authority, school and careers service time to replan, manage and assure the impartiality of the programme of careers and course advice at £150/day (approximate inner london m6 supplier teacher daily rate).

50 days /school x £150 / day x 3343 schools ~ £25 million

Training costs: Assume a days worth of externally provided cpd over the course of the year per teacher/support staff member, at £250 per day.

£250 / staff x 333,000 staff ~ £83 million

million total additional cost ~ £110 million p.a.

Strengths pupils get contact with careers specialist who can easily explore multiple diverse options and provide impartial advice.

pupils may feel able to discuss issues that they wouldn’t want to tell their teacher.

pupils get advice from teachers – people they are more likely to listen to and trust due to the daily contact.

pupils can approach teachers to get ad-hoc advice more conveniently,frequentlyandflexiblythaniftheyhadtospeak to an external advisor.

Teachers have a greater opportunity to build up a rounded sense a pupil’s personality and capabilities than external advisors.

Teachers abilities and knowledge builds over time, so the spend on cpd could be viewed as a depreciating asset rather than a lost operating expense.

Teachersbenefitfromprofessionaltraining,andfeelgreaterjob satisfaction as they can better mentor their pupils.

Weaknesses Insufficientcontacttimeforadvisertoforma holistic view and gain trust of each young person.

careers and course advice may impact on other curriculum activities.

Teachers may feel the cpd and delivery responsibilities detract from their subject teaching (similar to pshe and citizenship delivery).

AppENdIX 3.1.1Quotations from Teach First Ambassadors and Participants

Policy First Survey Qualitative responses, on the problems with the current system of measuring school performance:

‘Children end up being pushed into easier, less worthwhile courses because they are more likely to get a good grade on these’

‘The focus is all on getting a grade C, and NOT anything below or above that. The result? The top students are completely ignored, and as long as they get a minimum of a C grade then no one bothers to try to get them better marks than that.’

‘Those who have skills in other areas seem to fail. A student asked me before her exams what was the point of her having to sit a paper to confirm she could only get an F.’

‘There is a sense that if you do not get your ‘passport’ of 5 good GCSEs, then you have ‘failed’. No-one recognises or values students who work extremely hard to get a clutch of Ds & E’

Focus Group Responses ‘The question all the time seems to be ‘But can they get a C?’ If the answer is no, then they simply are not given the time or resources. It’s sad but it’s also not really the school’s fault… 30% A*-C is a real struggle for us given our intake, but if we don’t make it we’re on the ‘hit list’ of so-called failing schools. Targeting those kids...it’s like taking an umbrella out on a sunny day – you might not need it, but if you don’t take it you’re guaranteed to be caught in a storm’

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AppENdIX 3.3.2Excerpt from interview transcript: one Head of Year on how ‘success breeds success’

Interviewer, Head of Year 10 (YH 1).

i: Since the school has moved from being close to special measures to outstanding, what changes have you noticed?

Yh1: Success breeds success. As you make gradual improvements and word gets around, it becomes easier to build on what you’ve already done.

i: So going back to the changing atmosphere in the school, can you give any reasons for it?

Yh1: Well, there are a number of reasons. But I do think the main one is that the intake has become better.

i: So you think that all the kids have benefited from the change in the intake?

Yh1: Definitely.

AppENdIX 3.3.1Interview questions: classroom and school-scale peer effects

8 in-depth interviews were conducted with Teach First ambassadors in london:

-2 heads of department;

-1 head of year;

-1 lead teacher;

-4 classroom teachers.

example answers are given for each of the questions we asked.

1a) How do peer relationships impact on teaching and learning in your classroom?

‘Working with peers increases learning and therefore this is a vital area. If relationships aren’t good then its an uphill struggle.’

b) How have you worked to develop positive peer relationships to improve learning in your classroom?

‘I did lots of competitions, got students to work in pairs and used techniques like call a friend to help students work together.’

c) How have you worked to mitigate negative peer relationships to improve learning in your classroom?

‘Peer-to-peer teaching and learning which is more positive for relationships and results in better learning. I have also used Philosophy for Children which has been excellent in providing space for moral and relationship issues to be discussed.’

d) What key factors which have enabled you to be/ prevented you from being successful when working to develop peer relationships in your classroom.

‘Enabled: A focus on emotional literacy. Clear boundaries, big personalities, shared goals. Prevented: Not a strong enough learning culture. Lack of attendance. Not enough time to build relationships.’

2) In order to get the best learning outcomes for a class what criteria do you use when getting students to work together? examples of criteria could be: behaviour, personality; attitude; gender; culture and ability.

‘Behaviour, academic ability, matching confident and less confident. Giving everyone a role.’

3) What are the positive and negative effects of streaming and setting policies in your school?

‘Mixed ability is harder to teach but can generate better results for all. I think teachers reach the ability to deliver well with mixed ability classes 3 or 4 years into their profession.’

‘Setting is easier for teachers, not easier for kids. Many know they are never going to move. The kids who do well are always going to do well but what about the others? Teachers often pitch in the middle say between a range of kids from level 2-6. This can be because they aren’t confident in differentiating.’

‘It’s necessary to set for a subject like Science where we have a lot to teach and it’s very difficult to achieve good results and high levels of achievement without doing this. Differentiation by outcome works well with mixed ability groups but when you’re focusing on grades it makes it harder to achieve them with mixed ability groups. My worry is the way that setting becomes an excuse to dump students with behaviour difficulties all together. ‘

SeCtiON xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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2.3: We should develop collaboration between teachers, schools and sectors.

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Section 3: How do we make sure that schools can put pupils first?

3.1: We should measure schools’ performance differently

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REFERENCE

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2.1: We should ensure that personalised and differentiated cpd happens.

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Whelan, F., 2009. lessons learned: how good policies produce better schools. london: Fenton Whelan

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clarke, d. and hollingsworth, h., 2002. elaborating a model of teacher professional growth, Teaching and Teacher education, 18 (8), 947–967.

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maden, m., 2001. success against the odds: Five years on. 2nd ed. london: routledge Falmer.

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3.3: We should investigate how schools can maximise the potential of the peer effect

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teACH FiRSt Teach First’s mission is to address educational disadvantage by transforming exceptional graduates into effective, inspirational teachers and leaders in all fields.TeachFirsttargetsexceptionalgraduateswhowould not normally consider a career in teaching and places them in challenging schools - where more than a third of pupils are eligible for free school meals or fewer than 25% achieve 5 A*-c including maths and english - for the course of a two year leadership development programme.

Teach First participants complete a leadership development programme aimed at ensuring participants maximise their impact on pupil achievement in the short term and develop a set of transferable skills that will ensure their broader impact on educational disadvantage in thef uture. The leadership development programme is masters accredited and participants have the opportunity to gain an mA by completing additional modules delivered by partner universities (the institute of education (london), university of manchester and university of Warwick).

DeLOitteDeloitte,thebusinessadvisoryfirm,workswithawide range of organisations responsible for the delivery of education and children’s services, from early years to further and higher education. deloitte brings its expertise in consulting, audit, tax and corporatefinancetohelpgovernmentanditsdeliverychain make a real difference to the educational outcomes of learners in schools, colleges, universities, the criminal justice system and in business. by bringing its experience from other sectors and countries together with knowledge of the uK education and children’s services landscape deloitte can provide new perspectives and better outcomes for all.

Teach First is a registered charity, number 1098294