A 10k ‘Pupil Premium’ prize, enhanced CPD, funding for literacy ‘catch up’ pilots, increased pay for teachers in challenging schools and Ofsted judgements on how schools are closing the attainment gap were among the ideas in Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg’s “vision for schools” announced yesterday.
In a speech at New North Academy in Islington, Clegg stated that he wanted to “strike a deal between the Coalition Government and our schools and teachers," saying, "We’ll give you the cash; we’ll give you the freedom; we’ll reward and celebrate your success. But in return, we want you to redouble your efforts to close the gap between your poorer pupils and everyone else. We won’t be telling you what to do, but we will be watching what you achieve.”
The Pupil Premium, one of the Liberal Democrat’s flagship policies in the Coalition agreement, was described by Clegg as the "most important lever we have" in closing the attainment gap and improving social mobility.
In addition to restating the increase in the Pupil Premium from 1.25bn now to 2.5bn by 2015, Clegg announced a series of new initiatives:
- -From next year, the top 50 schools judged as most successful in boosting the performance of poorer pupils, will be recognised with a new award and cash prizes of up to £10k.
- -Teachers are to be encouraged to work more closely with Universities to collect evidence on what works and research successful interventions so that the evidence can be shared between schools.
- -A new module devoted to ‘closing the gap’ will be introduced in the revised professional qualification for Headship.
- -Expanding the role of National Leaders of Education and Teaching Schools in narrowing attainment gaps.
- -The School Teachers Review Body will be asked to look into providing all schools with the flexibility to use pay to hold on to their best teachers and incentivise teachers to work in challenging schools.
Clegg also used the speech to emphasise the particular need to improve support for disadvantaged pupils at the transition from primary to secondary. Highlighting research from America that suggests that middle income pupils improve at reading over the summer period while poorer pupils get worse, he drew attention to the Pupil Premium summer schools starting this year and announced extra funds for Year 7s from deprived homes to catch up with reading and writing. This funding will come from the Education Endowment fund and will initially support pilot projects in London.
Finally, the Deputy Prime Minister talked about accountability saying “schools cannot just absorb this money (the Pupil Premium) and spend it on other things… we are putting a lot of Government muscle behind making sure this investment gets results”
The ‘muscle’ includes tougher standards for Primary Schools and new Ofsted measures to assess schools performance in closing the gap. Clegg stated that Ofsted will look “forensically at how well Pupil Premium Pupils do” and that a survey of how schools are spending the money will be produced early next year.
“The message should be clear” said Clegg, “If a school’s Pupil Premium population are failing – more likely than not – the whole school will be judged to be failing. At that point, the inspections will become more frequent... and Ofsted will take a much closer interest in how that school’s Pupil Premium is spent”.
He went on to state: “There’s only one freedom we’re not giving schools: the freedom to fail. This is a major change. We are saying, unlike ever before, that school excellence is not simply about great overall results. The best schools must be engines of social mobility too”.
Clegg’s speech coincides with the launch of a publication of a series of case studies regarding the Pupil Premium compiled by the National Education Trust in which Oakdene Primary School in Billingham, Stockton on Tees is one of the featured schools.
How is your school using the Pupil Premium? What do you think of the initiatives announced by the Deputy Prime Minister? How can schools best tackle the problem of transition? Let us know your views: email think@schoolsnortheast.com