For many years, teachers and school leaders have worked hard to level the playing field between disadvantaged students and their classmates. As chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, I have seen first-hand how schools across the country are going above and beyond to support their most disadvantaged pupils’ learning. Thanks to the efforts of dedicated educators, the past decade saw notable gains for disadvantaged pupils’ educational achievement—the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates started to narrow in both primary and secondary schools.
However, 2020 has brought with it new and unique challenges that have threatened that hard-won progress. New analysis from the Education Policy Institute has found that the attainment gap has stopped closing and is now showing signs of beginning to widen. And that was before the Covid-19 disruption, which the EEF’s own findings indicate will have at least reversed the past decade’s gap-narrowing progress.
Admittedly, the findings from these research papers are discouraging. However, we should take heart from the gains that have previously been achieved, knowing that the first step in closing the attainment gap is ensuring that we fully understand the extent of it. It is important to acknowledge the current scale of the problem and to learn about how it continues to affect disadvantaged students throughout their schooling in order to plan an intelligent and proportional response.
Understanding the gap
We know that the gap is already present when children first arrive at school and that it grows progressively wider over the course of their education. By the time disadvantaged students finish primary school, their attainment is already considerably behind that of their classmates. This was visible in the 2019 Key Stage 2 SATs results, which showed that half (51 per cent) of all disadvantaged pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths compared to almost three-quarters (71 per cent) of their classmates.
The same pattern continues during secondary school, resulting in significant numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds leaving school without the qualifications they need to access opportunities in higher education, training and employment.
In seeking to close the attainment gap, we are trying to reduce the impact that a child’s socio-economic background has on their life chances. It is clear that primary schools have an important role in intervening as early as possible, as the inequalities become more entrenched and harder to reverse over time. So how best to approach this vital challenge?
Looking at evidence of what has worked well in the past, for similar schools and for similar pupils, is an important place to start. Evidence can be used to guide teachers and school leaders towards teaching and learning approaches that have been the most effective in supporting disadvantaged students in other classrooms, and also leads us away from those that failed to meet our expectations for impact on pupils’ outcomes.
Putting the evidence to work
Research exposes the problems, but it can also provide us with solutions. A large-scale example of this is the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), which was announced this summer to support schools both in responding to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and in closing the attainment gap.
After looking to a large-body of evidence, both from previous EEF trials and the thousands of research papers summarised in the Teaching and Learning Toolkit, it became clear that one-to-one and small group tuition has huge potential for mitigating against the impact of school closures on the learning of disadvantaged pupils. As a result, plans for NTP Tuition Partners began, an initiative through which schools will be able to access subsidised high-quality tuition to provide targeted academic support for struggling pupils this academic year.
Similarly, evidence from EEF-funded trials showed that the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) offers a low-cost way to boost young children’s speaking and listening skills. The intervention itself involves scripted individual and small-group language activities provided by trained early years staff. The strength of its impact was clear to see in the research findings, making it a sensible but exciting option as a recovery programme for young children whose language skills have been most affected by school and nursery closures. More broadly, the evidence is clear that early literacy and numeracy are very strong predictors of future life outcomes. For some children —and disproportionately those from poorer backgrounds— the COVID lockdown will have impeded progress in these areas. Our EEF Guidance Reports on these topics include research-based advice and examples to support the most effective teaching practice.
Looking to the future
In these unprecedented circumstances, teachers and school leaders are understandably viewing the new academic year with a certain amount of uncertainty and apprehension. The responsibility of supporting children’s wellbeing and their learning following school closures will take a sustained and collaborative effort on all our parts.
While there is no silver bullet, or ‘one size fits all’ teaching approach that will definitively turn the tide on educational inequality, research provides us with tools to address the challenge. The proven success of teaching and learning practises and interventions that have raised the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, gives teachers good reason to be hopeful about the future, and the difference that they can make to their pupils’ lives.
Translating evidence into practise: A quick guide
It matters more than ever that teachers make purposeful decisions when adapting to their school’s approaches to teaching and learning.
A good place to start would be to decide a specific area that you want to make improvements to. Then, take time to identify programmes or practices that have shown encouraging results in similar contexts. Finally, analyse whether the possible interventions you have found meet your school’s specific needs and would be feasible.
Helpful checklist questions include:
- Are we confident we have identified a clear improvement priority?
- What are we looking to achieve by choosing a new programme or practice?
- Have we used appropriate checks and balances to ensure that we have identified the right approach to achieve these goals?
- Is there reliable evidence it can have the desired impact, if implemented well?
- Is it appropriate for our context?
Professor Becky Francis is Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation
