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The Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council for England today urges Government to use the Education Bill to focus more clearly and more strongly on tackling educational disadvantage (27 Jan 2006).
Addressing a national conference in Kensington, Carol Adams says that the underachievement of significant groups of pupils is the most intractable problem in the education service.
“Evidence continues to show that the correlation between underachievement and social class, ethnicity and deprivation is stronger in England than in many other countries. It is also one that increases throughout the years of schooling”, says Ms Adams.
The GTC leader challenges the Government’s emphasis on changing school structures as a means to improve standards.
“Some of the measures proposed are unproven, or are in danger of making it worse; others are highly commendable but insufficient in their extent and likely impact.”
Ms Adams argues instead that it is the quality of teaching and leadership in schools that makes the vital difference.
“The White Paper is short on specifics for improving teaching. We know that teaching the most disadvantaged children, in areas of social and economic deprivation, is extremely challenging and requires teachers with outstanding commitment, skills and resourcefulness.
“Action, including incentives to retain and develop those who work with the most challenged and challenging pupils, is urgently needed. These children have the greatest need for high quality teaching and for continuity and we need to invest in the future leadership of these challenging schools.”
Ms Adams points to evidence from a Bristol University study showing that the wider the choice of school, the more segregated pupils become by ability and background. A report from Cardiff University shows that schools which control their own admissions tend to be more segregated than LEA community schools.
Ms Adams says :
“Selection by ability is being replaced by selection based on social background, peer group and parental motivation.
“It is therefore evident that the criterion for school expansion or change of status should be whether such developments will improve the attainment and well-being of all children in an area rather than the children fortunate enough to be in popular schools, often at the expense of others.”
Referring to the report on the Education Select Committee into the White Paper which is published today (Friday 27 January 2006), Ms Adams welcomes the strong backing of the Select Committee for better professional support for teachers and targeted additional funding for pupils from disdvantaged backgrounds.
She also argues for sustained investment in securing the involvement of disadvantaged parents in their own children’s education and then in the life of the school.
“Parental involvement is absolutely crucial. For disadvantaged parents, whose own experience of school was not positive, or who have recently arrived and speak little English, it is vital to invest in long term support, first so that they can get involved in their own child’s progress and then become involved in the wider life of the school.”
