Stability and Consistency in Secondary Schools’ Effects on Students’ GCSE Outcomes over Three Years∗

This paper reports the results of a UK study investigating the issue of differential school effectiveness. The size of overall school effects versus departmental differences in effects on 16 year old students’ General Certificate in Secondary Education performance are examined, as well as the internal (within school) consistency of departmental effects across six GCSE subject outcomes and the stability of school and departmental effects across three GCSE cohorts (1990‐1992). A value added approach is adopted, controlling for selected student intake measures (such as attainment at secondary transfer). The findings of multilevel analyses suggest that very few schools perform both consistently (across subjects) and with stability (over time). The implications of the results are discussed in relation to the publication and interpretation of schools’ examination results as well as the use of school and departmental effectiveness measures for school self‐evaluation.

     

Curriculum Balance,Curriculum Review and Curriculum‐led Staffing: A Response

There are an increasing number of research studies concerned with the realm of middle management in schools. However, few of these studies have adequately defined what might be considered middle management in schools, or have clarified which posts constitute those of middle managers. In addition, these studies have rarely considered the way in which different departmental cultures and structures affect leadership style and departmental performance. This article acknowledges the importance of the role of the head of department in secondary schools in school wide change and outlines some of tensions and dilemmas facing those who manage from the middle. It considers the leadership tensions facing heads of department in secondary schools and points towards the variety of departmental contexts, structures and cultures in which heads of department, or subject leaders operate. The article offers an analysis of the dynamic between leadership and culture within the departmental context. It concludes by suggesting that heads of department have a major contribution to play in managing cultural change at both the department and whole school level.     

‘Smart state’ for a knowledge economy: reconstituting creativity through student subjectivity

Rejecting notions of creativity as self‐realisation through free expression, this article argues that such discourses currently driving education policy comprise intellectual technologies for the production of student subjectivities required by neoliberal contexts. Using a governmentality framework, it locates the conditions of possibility for the creative subject within dominant policy articulations of the global knowledge economy and emerging rationalities of risk and uncertainty. The analysis focuses on an industry school partnership formed by a state education system in Queensland, Australia, and several multinational corporations. It examines how the partnership has emerged as a novel neoliberal space for the constitution of new education figures such as the enterprising teacher and the entrepreneurial student‐worker. These subjectivities are functional to the devolved governing strategy of social investment, which seeks to achieve a broad reconstitution of relationships between students, schools and industry in Queensland.     

Denying the sexual subject: schools' regulation of student sexuality

This article examines some of the discourses and practices through which schools produce and regulate student sexual identities. It suggests that schools' ‘official culture’ can be seen as a discursive strategy which identifies a preferred student subject that is ‘non‐sexual’. This preference is communicated through the contradictory nature of discourses and practices which constitute ‘official school culture’ around student sexuality. These discourses work to simultaneously acknowledge student sexuality and position young people as ‘childlike’. Through the tension created by these contradictory positionings, schools can be seen to undermine the kind of sexual agency that young people might access to support their sexual well‐being. It is concluded that schools' deployment of discourses around sexuality produces student sexual positionings that may in fact dilute sexuality education's ‘effectiveness’ (in terms of the production of sexually responsible citizens).     

‘Man enough to do it’? Girls and non‐traditional subjects in lower secondary education

This article examines the processes influencing the choice of non‐traditional subjects by girls in lower secondary education in the Republic of Ireland. In particular, we focus on the traditionally ‘male’ craft technological subjects, namely Materials Technology (Wood), Metalwork and Technical Graphics. Analyses are based on detailed case studies of 12 secondary schools, placing them in the context of national patterns of subject take‐up. Strong gender differentiation persists in the take‐up of these technological subjects. Commonalities are evident across schools in the way in which the subjects are constructed as ‘male’. However, some students, both female and male, actively contest these labels, and school policy and practice regarding subject provision and choice can make a difference to take‐up patterns. It is argued that the persistent gendering of subjects has implications for the skills acquired by students, their engagement in education, and the education, training and career opportunities open to them on leaving school.     

Pupil mobility in schools and implications for raising achievement

This paper examines the causes of pupil mobility and good practice in schools to address mobility issues. Pupil mobility is defined as ‘a child joining or leaving school at a point other than the normal age at which children start or finish their education at that school’. The first part draws upon evidence of a survey, which explores the views of headteachers on the nature and causes of pupil mobility in schools and the priority they give to addressing pupil mobility issues in their schools. It examines the cause of mobility in schools in the context of mobile groups. This is followed by the challenges for managing mobility and strategies to address pupil mobility in schools. The second part of the paper outlines successful strategies that minimize the effects of mobility in schools. Evidence is drawn from case‐study research and focuses on the school systems, pastoral care and access to learning which combine to support the induction, assessment and monitoring of newly arrived pupils in school and effective use of data for self‐evaluation. Examples of flexible curriculum organization, innovative approaches to additional support and effective administrative procedures are drawn upon. Evidence reflects the views of a range of school staff, parents/carers and pupils in the case‐study school, as well as the judgements of senior researchers. Policy implications for government and for all concerned with school performance are highlighted, as well as many practical suggestions for raising achievement of mobile pupils     

Standards‐based reform and its unintended consequences: Implications for science education within America's urban schools

This conceptual article examines the influence of the current standards‐based reform upon science education policies and practices within urban schools. We identify four negative yet unforeseen effects of the reform movement: undermining urban teachers' professionalism, eroding teacher–student relationships, diluting the science curriculum, and disparate instruction based on predicted individual test performance. Our awareness of these nuisances emerged from our first‐hand engagement with urban science teaching and through our collegial relationships with exemplary urban teachers. In closing, we propose mechanisms by which university‐based science educators might address these issues by assisting exemplary urban teachers to resist the reform‐induced perils and by incorporating the urban milieu as a substantive aspect of science teacher education. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 39: 114‐127, 2002     

Do parental attitudes toward and expectations for their children's education and future jobs matter for their children's school achievement?

The traditional discourse in the scholarship on cultural capital theory has focused on how exclusive participation in elite status culture by students from higher socioeconomic status families benefits their learning in schools, the effects of which are most evident in linguistic subject areas such as reading achievement. However, some scholars have argued that cultural capital is not restricted to elite status culture but could include parental familiarity with school evaluation standards and job market requirements, and that the effects could transcend languages to include performance domains with more objective evaluation that are susceptible to school influences (e.g. mathematics and science). The present study systematically examines this position using data involving 96,591 15‐year‐old students from 3602 schools in eight countries who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment 2012. Results of three‐level hierarchical linear modelling showed positive relationships between seven cultural capital variables and student mathematics achievement. The cultural variables comprised: home educational resources; parental educational attainment and occupational status; parental expectations of their children's educational attainment, future career in mathematics and school; and parental valuing of mathematics. In particular, the three parental expectations variables had substantively larger effect sizes on student achievement than the other cultural capital variables. The results demonstrated that parental familiarity with school evaluation standards and future job requirements, especially as measured by parental expectations, may constitute cultural capital that privileges student mathematics achievement in schools.     

Knowing the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject

This paper examines the fundamental yet largely neglected distinction between school subjects and academic disciplines in the discourse on teachers’ specialized subject‐matter knowledge. It analyses and critiques the curricular positions embedded in that discourse in the light of five possible relationships between school subjects and academic disciplines. Invoking Dewey’s logical‐psychological distinction and research findings, the paper argues that the subject matter of a secondary‐school science subject instead of the subject matter of its parent academic discipline lies at the heart of secondary‐school science teachers’ specialized subject‐matter knowledge. Knowing such subject matter entails knowing five intersecting dimensions: the logical, the psychological, the pedagogical, the epistemological, and the sociocultural. Implications are drawn concerning theorizing about what secondary‐school science teachers need to know about the subject matter they are expected to teach, subject‐matter preparation for teaching, and the development of secondary‐school science curriculum materials.     

Analysing the Role of the Subject Head of Department in Secondary Schools in England and Wales: Towards a theoretical framework

This paper argues that contingency theory offers a useful basis on which to consider the work of subject heads of department (HoDs) in secondary schools, particularly if they are pro-active in attempting to influence the quality of teaching and learning in their curriculum area. We have developed a provisional model which may shed more light on how HoDs actually work with other departmental staff.     

A Rough Guide to English Teachers

This article examines the way in which the history of English in schools has contributed to differing philosophies of that subject amongst English teachers. It analyses the current philosophies using, as its database, a novel research instrument called the Rough Guide to English Teachers.     

Contesting the Past, Constructing the Future: History, Identity and Politics in Schools

This paper examines the ways in which the history curriculum in UK schools has been subject to contestation in recent years and considers the implications of the impact of postmodernism — particularly consumption — upon history teaching. It explores the relationship between 'official history'taught in schools and the 'unofficial histories'which influence children in the community, in the media and through the heritage industry. It argues that the powerful images gained outside the 'official'environment have profound implications for the ways in which children are influenced and socialized, which may cause schools to reconceptualize the way history is taught. In particular, it considers the implications of Giroux's (1992) concept of a 'order pedagogy'for history teaching.     

All in a day's work: primary teachers ‘performing’ and ‘caring’

This article discusses the current nature of primary teachers' work, which is explored in terms of ‘performing’ and ‘caring’ activities. It considers how the education policies of successive Governments in the UK, particularly for England, have given rise to a ‘performance culture’ in primary schools which emphasises targets, testing and tables and is overly concerned with the monitoring and measurement of teachers' work. The article examines teachers' experiences of working in a more competitive and performance‐driven environment particularly given that primary teaching is historically perceived as ‘women's work’ and linked with caring and mothering. The introduction of performance related pay and performance management in schools in England by the New Labour Government has made ‘performing’ activities more transparent while undermining, overshadowing and rendering invisible ‘caring’ activities in primary schools. The findings suggest that there appears to be a changing role for women teachers as the primary school culture shifts significantly from its association with the feminine qualities of nurturing towards a more masculine culture of management and performance.     

Promise or reality? Physical education1 in schools in Europe

Most European governments have committed themselves through legislation to making provision for physical education in schools but they have been either slow or reticent in translating this into action in schools. Consequently, there are perceived deficiencies in school physical education provision, specifically in curriculum time allocation, subject and teacher status, financial, material (inadequacies in facility and equipment supply) and qualified teaching personnel resources and the quality and relevance of the physical education curriculum. The crux of the issue, according to the Council of Europe Deputy General Secretary, is ‘a gap between promise and the reality’. This article explores the theme of ‘promise’ and ‘reality’ by drawing from data generated by a number of international, national and regional surveys and an extended longitudinal literature review, which together highlight the extent of the alleged ‘gap’. It examines recent inter‐governmental and non‐governmental initiatives to address relevant issues and concerns and suggests some policy strategies to assist in converting ‘promises’ into ‘reality’ and so secure a safe future for physical education in schools.     

Reforming further education teacher training: a policy communities and policy networks analysis

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s teacher preparation for the schools sector in the United Kingdom was subject to a series of reforms and innovations including the establishment of new institutional arrangements to oversee the sector, namely the Teacher Training Agency (TTA – now the Training and Development Agency, TDA). Since 2002 the arrangements for training teachers in the broadly defined learning and skills sector have also been subject to scrutiny and a wide‐ranging reform agenda has been put forward by the Government. This paper examines the key reforms using a three stage model to analyse the policy development process and discusses the functions and status of the sector skills council, Learning UK (LLUK), in order to examine its relationships with external stakeholders. Contrasts are made with the approach adopted by the TTA during the reform of teacher training for school. The paper concludes with a tentative assessment of the progress of the reform agenda and the identification of a number of salient issues that warrant further research.     

CCTV,school surveillance and social control

Burgeoning fears for safety in UK schools have resulted in a rapid growth in the use of various security measures, most notably closed‐circuit television (CCTV) systems. Utilising semi‐structured interviews and non‐participant observation this research examines how CCTV is used in schools, explores the manner in which this facilitates social control and considers the wider implications of such surveillance technology. It is argued that this technology, which is predominantly focused on students, is effective in facilitating direct observation, but does little to foster self‐surveillance in the longer term. It is concluded that CCTV use in schools represents an underlying shift in values, away from exercising social control through enculturation towards system integration. This has important ethical implications.     

A Prime Minister at the helm: a public view of education policy in New Zealand

Australian and English print media are actively engaged in producing reports that claim to find the ‘best schools’, the ‘real state of education’, and ‘star head teachers’. This article considers the production of knights and dames, maverick heads and struggling schools. It argues that some of these stories are clearly the products of departmental press bureau activities and policy agendas. It shows, however, that even those stories intended to critique government policy support paradoxically a notion of the singular importance of the headship and the virtues of heroic leadership. It is suggested that the simulacrum of the heroic head works as a normative disciplinary device for performative and market practices and is singularly off‐putting to both serving and aspirant school leaders.     

Assessing and Validating Effects of a Data‐Based Decision‐Making Intervention on Student Growth for Mathematics and Spelling

Data‐based decision making (DBDM) is presumed to improve student performance in elementary schools in all subjects. The majority of studies in which DBDM effects have been evaluated have focused on mathematics. A hierarchical multiple single‐subject design was used to measure effects of a 2‐year training, in which entire school teams learned how to implement and sustain DBDM, in 39 elementary schools. In a multilevel modeling approach, student achievement in mathematics and spelling was analyzed to broaden our understanding of the effects of DBDM interventions. Student achievement data covering the period from August 2010 to July 2014 were retrieved from schools’ student monitoring systems. Student performance on standardized tests was scored on a vertical ability scale per subject for Grades 1 to 6. To investigate intervention effects, linear mixed effect analysis was conducted. Findings revealed a positive intervention effect for both mathematics and spelling. Furthermore, low‐SES students and low‐SES schools benefitted most from the intervention for mathematics.     

The impact of Teach First on pupil attainment at age 16

We evaluate whether the placement of Teach First's inexperienced new teachers into secondary schools with recruitment difficulties in disadvantaged areas in England has raised or lowered pupil attainment at the age of 16. Our matched difference‐in‐difference panel estimation approach compares the experiences of 168 schools participating early on in the scheme to those in the same region who will go on to participate in later years. We find the programme has not been damaging to these schools who joined and most likely produced school‐wide gains in GCSE results of around one grade in one of the pupils’ best eight subjects. Similarly, we estimate departmental gains of over 5% of a subject grade resulting from placing a Teach First participant in a teaching team of six teachers. The estimation approach cannot assert whether these gains arise solely through the greater teaching quality of Teach First participants compared to those they displace, or whether spillovers raise standards across the department or somehow change the ethos within the school.     

School composition,school culture and socioeconomic inequalities in young people's health: Multi‐level analysis of the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children (HBSC) survey in Wales

Health inequalities emerge during childhood and youth, before widening in adulthood. Theorising, testing and interrupting the mechanisms through which inequalities are perpetuated and sustained is vital. Schools are viewed as settings through which inequality in young people's health may be addressed, but few studies examine the social processes via which institutional structures reproduce or mitigate health inequalities. Informed by Markham and Aveyard's theory of human functioning and school organisation, including their concept of institutional boundaries, critical theories of marketisation and the concept of micro‐political practices within schools, this paper presents analysis of student survey data (N = 9055) from 82 secondary schools in Wales. It examines the role of socioeconomic composition, social relationships at school and institutional priorities in mitigating or perpetuating health inequality. It finds that affluent schools were most unequal in terms of student health behaviours and subjective wellbeing. In relation to health behaviours, students from affluent families accrue a disproportionate benefit. For wellbeing, students from poorer families reported lower subjective wellbeing where attending more affluent schools. Student–staff relationships appear to be a key mechanism underpinning these effects: poor relationships with staff were predicted by a pupil's position within schools’ socioeconomic hierarchy and associated with worse health outcomes. That is, students from the poorest families reported better relationships with teachers where attending less affluent schools. Universal approaches engaging with these social processes are needed to reduce health inequalities.