Narrowing the gap, tackling inequality and being the ‘best at getting better’

Observations and lessons from classroom based research

Kevan Collins Camden Partnership

The challenge: What difference can we achieve with our funding?

5 Priorities – or rather, options for consideration

1. Tackling the gap

2. Embracing informed autonomy

3. Addressing the lived experiences of our children

4. Working with the grain of our families and communities

5. Building professional capacity

The attainment gap exists in ALL types of school

The attainment gap is BIG and

grows throughout school

Tackling the gap

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PIS

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PISA 2015 Science performance by socio economic background

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Scotland

Wales

NorthernIreland

Ontario

Do more of…

Consider…

• Sweat the pupil premium – encourage informed autonomy and stimulate evidence informed supply

• Hold fast to the benefits of securing brilliant basics for all children in the context of a broad and balanced curriculum

• Highlight performance between families of schools focus attention on rates of progress between similar schools

• Reform school admissions making ever FSM an admissions priority and introduce ballots to allocate oversubscribed admissions

• Reward teachers and heads who work in schools facing challenging circumstances – workload, support and professional recognition

Tackling the gap

6 lessons

1. We have to start early, before the attainment gap truly takes holdThe EEF’s evaluation of Nuffield Early Language Intervention, involving 350 children across 34 schools, shows the prize on offer for improving the quality of early years provision. Delivered by teaching assistants, it used targeted sessions in listening, narrative and vocabulary skills to improve the spoken language ability of children with low language skills. The evaluators found it improved learning by an additional four months.

2. Smart-talking pupils should be encouragedThe impact of high-quality talk has been demonstrated in multiple EEF trials, not just in the early years. The Dialogic Teaching project, involving 5,000 pupils across 78 schools, encouraged pupils to reason, discuss, argue and explain within the classroom. On average, participating pupils made two additional months' progress.

Professor Becky Francis CEO EEF Jan 2020

3. Teaching assistants can have a real impact, but schools have to use them wellWhen teaching assistants are well-trained and deployed, they have huge potential to improve pupil outcomes. Our trial of First Class at Number, involving 532 children across 130 schools, was one of a group of projects funded as part of the EEF’s £5 million campaign to support schools to maximise the impact of support staff, a resource which costs £5 billion nationally.

4. The simplest solutions can often make the biggest differenceIt may seem obvious, but whether delivered by teaching assistants, class teachers or tutors, the impact of small-group tuition is clear. Tutor Trust provides affordable tuition delivered by trained university students to schools across the North West of England. In the EEF’s trial of 1,201 pupils across 105 schools, children who received tutoring made an average of three months' additional progress.

Professor Becky Francis CEO EEF Jan 2020

6 lessons

5. Memory mattersThe EEF’s dedicated neuroscience round, co-funded with the Wellcome Trust, has generated a number of fascinating findings. Our trial of Improving Working Memory, developed by a team at the University of Oxford and involving 1,500 pupils across 127 schools, sought to improve the working memory of pupils in Year 3. The evaluators found it improved learning by three additional months.

6. Teachers shouldn’t underestimate the power of feedback, but getting it right is keyFeedback and formative assessment have rightly been the focus of multiple trials. The Embedding Formative Assessment project, involving 140 schools and 25,000 pupils, shows why. The project, developed by a team including Professor Dylan Wiliam, improved GCSE outcomes by two additional months' progress, and had a particularly positive impact on low-attaining pupils.

Professor Becky Francis CEO EEF Jan 2020

6 lessons

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Less than £80

LITButterfly PhonicsResponse to Intervention

Using Self-Regulation to Improve Writing*Maths ChampionsREACH*

Embedding Formative AssessmentABRA*Accelerated Reader*Writing About Values - 1st GCSE cohortOxford University - Numeracy*ReflectEdMagic Breakfast*Grammar for Writing*Texting Parents*Thinking, Doing, Talking Science*Talk for LiteracyResearch Learning CommunitiesMathematical Reasoning (re-grant)Improving Working Memory

Nuffield Early Language Intervention*Philosophy for Children*Children's University IPEELL (re-grant)Dialogic TeachingFresh Start*Shared Maths -Year51stClass@NumberSwitch-on Reading*Tutor Trust (re-grant)*Catch Up Numeracy*RISEEasyPeasy

£81 -£160

Maths Counts Success for AllCatch Up Literacy*Summer Active Reading ProgrammeGood Behaviour GameVocabulary Enrichment Intervention ProgrammeMathematics Mastery: PrimaryMathematics Mastery: Secondary

More than £161

Tutor Trust: Secondary*Tutoring with AlphieDiscover Summer School

Changing Mindsets*Increasing Pupil MotivationFuture Foundations Summer School

Flipped LearningAchieve TogetherLesson StudyRhythm for ReadingChessOne-to-One Coaching in LiteracyThinking, Doing, Talking Science (re-grant)FRIENDS

FASTCatch Up Literacy (re-grant)ShineAct Sing PlaySPOKESFamily SkillsParent Academy

No impact

Tutor Trust: PrimaryQuestUnits of SoundMind the GapProject-based learningForeign Language LearningEngage in Education

Youth Social ActionZippy's FriendsHampshire HundredsChallenge the Gap –primaryCatch Up Numeracy (re-grant)

Affordable Maths TuitionRapid PhonicsText NowTalk of the TownGrammar for Writing (re-grant)Graphogame RimeOxford University – LiteracyLearner Response SystemSwitch-on Reading (effectiveness)Sci-napse: uncertain reward

ChatterbooksPaired ReadingTeacher observationTEEPLet's Think Secondary SciencePATHSScratchMathsLiteracy OctopusChanging mindsets

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Evidence more secure

Embracing informed autonomy -Gripping innovation and reform

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% of innovative jobs by sector

Knowledge/methods Product/service Technology/tools

Source: OECD (2014), Measuring Innovation in Education: A New Perspective, Chapter 4; REFLEX (2005); HEGESCO (2008).

Do more of…

Consider…

• Invest in rigorous research methods to measure impact and cost

• Build the evidence ‘eco system’ as a non political consumer led enterprise

• Position the UK as the global lead on harnessing technology to reform education

• Incentivise and regulate the market to improve access and quality to education services

• Accept the ‘mixed economy’ of education providers and rebalance the education infrastructure and shift power, influence and resources towards local place based partnerships

Embracing informed autonomy -Gripping innovation and reform

Address the lived experiences of our children

Do more of…

Consider…

• Support local multi-agency partnerships and place based solutions

• Embed non-academic outcomes in the evidence and innovation agenda

• Position mainstream schools and a great education as a key protective factor for the significant majority of children

• Get serious about acknowledging pupil voice to rebalance the accountability framework

• Empower and resource accountable local leadership to identify, manage and monitor provision for our vulnerable children (rekindle children’s services)

Address the lived experiences of our children

Working with the grain of families and communities

Do more of…

Consider…

• Invest in early education and learning. Focus on increased access to high quality services for all

• Encourage parents and others to disrupt local education services and support the managed expansion of new community led schools

• Develop integrated early health and education services. Complete the children’s centres reform providing one stop access to all services for every family

• Require governing bodies of all schools to include trained and supported parent representation

• Empower local communities to arrive at settlements around sensitive faith based and cultural issues

Working with the grain of families and communities

IndonesiaAlgeria

Dominican RepublicCosta Rica

MexicoPeru

ColombiaHong Kong (China)

ChileArgentina**

ItalyJapan

UruguayBrazil

GermanyRussia

SwitzerlandOECD average

EstoniaSpainKorea

IrelandPoland

SingaporeCanada

United KingdomUnited States

AustraliaFinlandNorway

New Zealand

Variation between schools Variation within schools

Building Professional capacity

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Do more of…

Consider…

• Ensure that all teachers have access to evidence informed resources to inform their on going professional development (ITT and ECF initiatives)

• Encourage the culture of professional learning communities – teaching schools, local partnerships, research schools etc

• Abandon GCSE’s at 16 and move to a secondary education certificate at the end of year 13

• Rebalance the renumeration packages awarded to expert teachers and school leaders – cap the salary of heads and academy leaders

• Attend to the ‘life cycle’ of a teaching career and provide every teacher with a funded professional learning allocation

Building Professional capacity

Being the ‘best at getting better’ - professional capacity, stupid…

An informed and confident profession

An innovative and disciplined profession

A restless and curious profession