Do academically strong pupils at your school who are on the Pupil Premium register progress as quickly and attain as highly as academically strong pupils who are not?
Do these students sometimes grasp new concepts quickly and securely in the classroom and show flair and promise in lessons, only to perform less well in exams than their more advantaged peers?
If so, what can be done to close the attainment gap?
In this series of three blog posts, Rachel Macfarlane, Lead Adviser for Underserved Learners at HFL Education, explores the reasons for the attainment gap and offers practical strategies for supporting economically disadvantaged learners who have the potential to access high grades and assessment outcomes to excel in tests and exams.
It is estimated that almost one in three children in Britain are living in relative poverty – 700,000 more than in 2010. A significant number of these pupils will be learners who show academic flair and the capacity to acquire knowledge and skills with ease, but whose progress and outcomes are impacted by the real costs of the curriculum and the school day.
In
Part 1, I reflected that learners from economically disadvantaged backgrounds often lack the abundance of social and cultural capital that their more advantaged peers have amassed, which can disadvantage them in tests and exams. Most schools work hard to build the social and cultural capital of their underserved learners, through the provision of trips and visits, speakers and visitors, extracurricular clubs and other enriching experiences. Yet such activities often have associated (sometimes hidden) costs that exclude certain students.
At HFL Education, we have been carrying out Eliminating Economic Exclusion (EEE) reviews for the past three years, examining the impact of the cost of the school day. These involve surveying pupils, parents, staff and governors, meeting with Pupil Premium (PP) eligible learners, examining key data and training staff. Reviews conducted in well over 100 primary and secondary schools have revealed that learners eligible for PP are less likely to attend extracurricular clubs and to go on curriculum visits and residentials, resulting in them missing vital learning that can impact on their exam and test performance.
Often PP eligible learners:
- Will not inform their parents of activities that have a cost, regardless of whether the school might subsidise or fund the activity;
- Will feign disinterest in opportunities that they know are unaffordable to their families;
- Will not take up fully funded enrichment opportunities due to other associated costs such as travel to a funded summer school, or the costs of camping equipment and/or specific clothing required for field work or an outward-bound activity;
- Will not stay on after school for activities because they are hungry and lack the resources to purchase a snack.
Ten top tips to help eliminate economic exclusion:
- Ensure that all staff have undertaken training to heighten their awareness of poverty and the financial pressures faced by many families in relation to the costs of the school day.
- Track sign-ups and attendance by PP eligibility at enrichment activities. Take action where you see underrepresentation.
- Contact parents directly to stress how valuable it would be for their child to attend and to explain the financial support that can be provided.
- Set up payment plans and give maximum notice to allow families to spread the costs.
- Book activity centres out of season when costs are lower.
- Use public transport rather than private coaches or plan visits to sites that are within a walkable distance.
- Ban visits to shops and food outlets to eradicate the need for spending money on trips.
- Set up virtual gallery tours and film screenings of plays and arrange for visiting theatre companies, bands and artists to come to school rather than taking the students to concert halls, theatres and galleries.
- Build up a stock of loanable equipment (wellies, coats, tents, waterproof clothing, musical instruments, sporting equipment, craft materials etc.)
- Provide free snacks for learners staying for after-school clubs.
Finally, various studies have found that pupils from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are also underrepresented in cohorts studying certain subjects, where there are significant costs of materials/tuition/coaching, notably music, PE, art and drama at KS4 and KS5.
The Education Policy Institute’s 2020 report showed that economically disadvantaged learners are 38% less likely to study music at GCSE than their more affluent classmates and that at the end of KS4 they are 20 months behind their peers. This is perhaps not surprising given the estimated cost of instrumental tuition (£8,000-15,000) involved in reaching grade 8 standard on an instrument (required to access a top A-level grade).
So pupils who are high performers in certain curriculum subjects at age 14 may not opt to continue with their studies at GCSE and beyond, unless the school is able to ensure access to all the resources they need to thrive and attain at top levels.
Three key questions to consider:
- Do you track which learners opt for each course at KS4 and KS5, ask questions and act accordingly where you see underrepresentation of PP eligible learners?
- Do you prioritise PP eligible learners for 1:1 options and advice at KS3>4, KS4>5 and KS5>higher education, to ensure that they are aiming high, pursuing their passions and aware of all the financial support available (e.g. use of bursary funding, reassurance around logistics of university student loans)?
- Do you determine, and strive to meet, the precise resource needs of each PP eligible learner?
More from this series:
Plus: this year's NACE Conference will draw on the latest research (including our own current research programme) and case studies to explore how schools can remove barriers to learning and create opportunities for all young people to flourish.
Read more and book your place.
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