Children and Young People Committee

CYP(3)-09-08: 11 June 2008

Child Poverty Inquiry: Additional evidence from Professor David Egan

1. In relation to excluded and hard-to reach young people in Wales, the JRF research suggests that these are an important, but neglected, target group in relation to the association and links between child poverty and education. I was conscious when doing the work for JRF that the National Review on Behaviour and Attendance (the Reid Report) was underway in Wales. I haven’t subsequently looked to see what Professor Reid and his group have to say about these issues, but I think it would be useful for the Inquiry to take cognizance of this work and. if possible, to take evidence from Ken Reid.

2. In relation to resources I would offer the following considerations:

• There is robust international evidence that additional resources can make a difference in overcoming the strong association between disadvantage and low educational attainment. The relationship, however, is complex. There are instances where additional funding has brought little overall improvement in outcomes, including for disadvantaged young people. There are also instances where considerable improvements in outcomes have been achieved with little additional funding. This suggests that it is the way that funding is used - whether it be existing or additional resources- that is critical. It is also clear that these approaches have to be adapted to specific contexts. The evidence that we have on educational effectiveness points to the importance of high quality teaching, strong leadership and an attractive curriculum as all being critical to success. The JRF work very strongly suggests that for our most disadvantaged schools and communities this requires a communitarian approach where schools become a community resource open for extended periods of time and offering a range of integrated services.
• The Child Poverty Implementation Plan suggest that all policies should be child poverty proofed and that 'policy bending’ will be needed to achieve the 2020 target to be reached . I think it is a reasonable to ask if this is now being done in relation to major education policies in Wales. For example, is this true of the School Effectiveness Framework? Will it be factored in to the National Pedagogy Strategy: £6m over the next three years to raise the standards of teaching across our education system? Will the forthcoming response to the consultation on 'Skills That Work for Wales’ and the Webb Report (Plenary Debate on 16 July, I think) be linked to the Child Poverty strategy? These all  have a major part to play in reaching the 2020 targets and it is critical that they are strongly aligned to this purpose. It is equally important that they are cross referenced to each other -and to other programmes such as Communities Next- to achieve the 'joined-upness’ argued for in the JRF work.
• In relation to existing funding systems, the Bramley Report, commissioned by the Assembly Government, suggests that the current formulae for schools does not allow sufficient weighting for deprivation . As suggested above these are complex and sensitive matters and the Bramley approach raises as many questions as it provides answers. It does raise a fundamental issue, however, that has been bypassed in the heated debates that have taken place over education funding over the last few years.  This is that whatever the size of the quantum of funding -too small or sufficient -  there is also the matter of how is it most fairly distributed and to what purpose. It might be accepted that in order to assist the child poverty reduction programme and support schools and other education bodies with additional resources, used in an effective and purposeful way,  they need additional resources. It is, however, difficult to re-allocate these from the existing quantum without taking resources away from somewhere else: a process fraught with difficulties and dangers. What this points to is the necessity to allocate additional resources, as they become available, with much greater weighting to our most disadvantaged communities.
• This is where the funding made available through the RAISE grant over the last 3 years is of importance. This has been by far the biggest quantum of funding that we have ever targeted in Wales at our most disadvantaged schools. Initial reports from Estyn on its use are encouraging. A major independent evaluation is also taking place. The outcomes of this evaluation are likely to be instructive in relation to the future use of the RAISE grant money. Evidence from the OECD on how countries can best allocate funding to tackle educational disadvantage suggest that it best to have both generic funding programmes and specific ones such as RAISE.

3. In the work that I have been doing as part of an international project on successful secondary schools we have identified four forms of 'capital’ as being important to those schools in achieving the success that they do. One of these is how they use the financial capital at their disposal. Another is how they invest in the intellectual capital that they have within the school staff (teaching and non-teaching). By 'social capital’ we mean the way in which the school harnesses the potential support offered by other parts of the community in which they are located, including other schools (particularly primary schools), parents, community organisations and civil society in general. This appears to be particularly important for disadvantaged schools, although because often the communities in which they are located are themselves fractured and needy, this means that it is also extremely challenging. By 'spiritual capital’ we mean the set of moral values/ethical codes that the school operates. Faith schools may have a particular take on these issues, but they appear to us to be important in all successful schools. In disadvantaged schools that have, nevertheless, managed to become successful, these values seem to be as important as anything else that they do. These schools have a mindset that refuses to accept that disadvantage will inexorably lead to low achievement. They nurture youngsters, developing their self confidence and self esteem, persuading them that they can succeed. This is powerfully articulated by students and teachers in these schools. They are at the front line in the battle against child poverty in education. They often achieve remarkable results against the odds. They have a clear sense of moral purpose that motivates and guides their journey. They are, I believe, some of the most successful entities that we have in Wales and we do not celebrate or recognise them enough. We need to do more for them than we do including helping them to spread the knowledge, experience and success they have had to other similar schools.

4. On impact the point I was making in the JRF paper was the tendency that governments have (WAG is no exception in this respect) to evaluate individual policies for their impact, but not to do this across the system. Hopefully the School Effectiveness Framework will lead to progress in this area, but in relation to Child Poverty and issues to do with equity in general, I would argue that there needs to be a wider whole- system review of policies of the type that the OECD has recently completed in Scotland.