Improving Schools in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Areas – A Review of Research Evidence

Schools in difficult and challenging circumstances have received increasing policy and to some extent research attention in recent years. Improving schools in these circumstances is likely to prove a difficult process. This literature review has attempted to collect research on improving schools in these areas. Themes emerging from the literature include: a focus on teaching and learning, leadership, creating an information-rich environment, creating a positive school culture, building a learning community, continuous professional development, involving parents, external support and resources. The crucial issue of sustaining improvement is also discussed.     

Student Background and Teacher Effects on Achievement and Attainment in Mathematics: A Longitudinal Study

In this article, we have studied the effect of student social background, classroom social context, classroom organisation, and teacher behaviours on mathematics achievement and attainment ill English and Welsh primary schools. Data were collected over 2 years as part of a programme evaluation, for which we observed 138 teachers and tested and collected background data on over 3,000 students. Results were analysed using multilevel modeling, and point to the importance of student background and teacher behaviours to achievement and attainment. The implications of these findings are explored.     

The effectiveness of the use of learning support assistants in improving the mathematics achievement of low achieving pupils in primary school

The use of learning support assistants in schools has become increasingly common in England, partly as a result of government support for this strategy. One suggested advantage of the deployment of learning support assistants is to provide additional support to low achieving pupils. However, so far research on the effects of this strategy is very limited. In this study the effect of using trained learning support assistants to help pupils underachieving in mathematics is examined using a quasi-experimental design whereby pupils receiving support were matched to those not receiving support on prior achievement and pupil background factors.     

Effective teaching and values: some implications for research and teacher appraisal

Teacher effectiveness research has tended to neglect the analysis of values in two senses: the general values associated with the processes of education, and the more specific values underlying effective teaching. The possibilities for re‐conceptualising teacher effectiveness, by incorporating a values dimension, are illustrated through two examples: effectiveness in developing independent learning and effectiveness in achieving a classroom climate characterised by inclusiveness. The potential contribution to teacher effectiveness outside, as well as inside, the classroom is explored through a discussion of the strengths and problems inhering in the English government's adoption of the Hay McBer model of teacher effectiveness for the assessment of teacher performance. The contribution of teacher self‐evaluation to the process of the identification of values underlying effectiveness is discussed.     

Collaboration and Networking Among Rural Schools: Can It Work and When? Evidence From England

School-to-school collaboration as a school improvement method has grown in importance in England in recent years, and there is some evidence that such collaboration can have a positive impact on both capacity to change and student attainment. Most previous work in the area has focused on the urban context, however, despite the fact that increasing numbers of underperforming rural schools might benefit from collaboration. In this paper we examine the impact of collaboration using a quantitative reanalysis of rural school data from a previous study. We also discuss the conditions under which collaboration in rural areas is likely to be successful, using both reanalysis of rural data from a broader qualitative data set and primary data from telephone interviews. Findings show a positive relationship between collaboration on student attainment and highlight key conditions that need to be met, as well as particular difficulties of rural networks related to size and distance.     

The teaching and learning of pupils in low-attainment sets

This study explored the ways in which schools addressed the needs of pupils in low-attainment class groups, or sets, in the context of multiple and contrary government policy directives and inconclusive research findings about setting. In this article we have focused on school and classroom practices as well as the organisational processes through which low-attaining pupils were identified, grouped and reviewed within schools. The empirical data reported here predominantly refer to case studies involving classroom observations and interviews with teachers, pupils and other staff in 13 schools – both primary and secondary – from four local authorities (LAs).

In the latter part of the article, however, we also draw on survey data collected from a larger sample of schools in 12 LAs in England. Although the study found ample evidence of innovative school practices and efforts by individual teachers aimed at optimising the learning opportunities for children in low-attainment class groups, the findings also raise important questions about some of the processes of set allocation, the lack of mobility between sets, and the over-representation of particular social groups in low-attainment classes. We conclude with a discussion of the implications for equity and inclusion that moves beyond an emphasis on classroom practice to include questions about the in-school processes of social selection and educational mobility for pupils identified as low-attaining.     

Coopetition in education: Collaborating in a competitive environment

While educational theory has often seen collaboration and competition as incompatible, there is increasing evidence that collaboration persists in educational markets characterized by competition. In this paper, we use the theoretical lens of ‘coopetition’, a relationship between organizations involving competition in some segments and cooperation in others, to study this phenomenon and look at the applicability of this concept to education. A case study approach was used to study collaboration and competition in a network of eleven 6th-form colleges, which teach 16–18-year-old students in England. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with managers in each college. Documentary evidence was collected such as websites, brochures, and publicity materials. Results show that the collaborative network was perceived positively. The concept of coopetition was clearly applicable to this network, with collaboration and competition equally informing college strategies and policies, and many aspects of coopetition theory applying to the network. However, challenges to future collaboration were identified.     

Improving schools through collaboration: a mixed methods study of school-to-school partnerships in the primary sector

The principle of schools collaborating to improve is one that has seen growing interest in recent years, and there is emerging evidence that in particular collaboration between high and lower performing schools can be an effective school improvement method. However, this evidence relates primarily to secondary schools, and little research has been conducted on the factors that could make collaboration more or less effective. In this study we specifically looked at partnerships between low and high performing primary schools, in which high performing schools acted as supporters to low performing partner schools. A mixed methods approach was used. A quasi-experimental quantitative study was conducted to ascertain the relationship between partnership and pupil attainment using data from the National Pupil Database. This was followed up by case studies of nine partnerships. Findings showed that there was a positive relationship between partnership and pupil attainment at Key Stage 2, and that successful partnerships were characterised by intensive interventions focused on teaching and learning and leadership.     

Inequalities in the education system and the reproduction of socioeconomic disparities in voting in England,Denmark and Germany: the influence of country context,tracking and self-efficacy on voting intentions of students age 16–18

This article performs exploratory research using a mixed-methods approach (structural equation modelling and a thematic analysis of interview data) to analyse the ways in which socioeconomic disparities in voting patterns are reproduced through inequalities in education in different national contexts, and the role of self-efficacy in this process. The evidence suggests that in Germany and England students with lower socioeconomic status (SES) have lower levels of general self-efficacy, and that this is reinforced through early experiences of inequalities in the education system, such as within- or between-school selection. Low levels of general self-efficacy are then found to reduce political self-efficacy and voting intentions. In Germany and England, it is these students who enter initial vocational education and training (IVET). The experience of IVET then reinforces the distinctions in civic engagement, probably either through peer socialisation and/or curriculum differences. In Denmark, where SES has a weaker association with track placement, the experience of being placed in IVET plays a stronger role in reducing political self-efficacy and voting intentions.