Stories + Views: Inclusion

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Janet Downs: The Sutton Trust is right to highlight covert selection, but tackling England’s socially-segregated school system won’t be solved by opening up private or grammar schools to a few more FSM pupils.

“…the schools in this study, by and large, are not using forms of overt selection, they are exercising covert selection,” said the Sutton Trust’s report Improving social mobility through education. The report recommended random ballots or banding across all abilities to address this issue. But the press release added a further recommendation which wasn’t in the full report. “At the same time, independent ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Marco Bligh: "The OECD figures showing that between 18% and 26% of UK adults have not completed upper secondary education is here, P. 19: http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/50293148.pdf These figures are further supported by the House of commons figures that show 24% of UK pupils drop out ......"

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Roger Titcombe: High Performing Schools Failing Poorest Pupils

This story was in the i of 23 April. Schools Minister David Laws is bemoaning the poor performance of poor pupils in high performing schools in the richest areas of the country. He claims these schools are pocketing the Pupil Premium and that schools in areas of high deprivation do better with poor pupils. He says, "To have 65 percent of poor ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Alan: "There are outliers to 1 if you happen to be a parent like me who didn't do so well at school but who refuses to give in for one's own children. But I deeply resent how difficult it has been. ......"

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Janet Downs: LAs can’t direct academies to accept pupils: this could have negative effect on hard-to-place pupils, Academies Commission warns

The Academies Commission reported that several researchers had found that when market forces enter education systems this “provides incentives for schools to avoid particular, vulnerable pupils who might be seen as detrimental to the school’s attainment profile.” Academies are their own admissions authority. Some Local Authorities (LAs) s told the Commission that they feared an increased number of academies could lead ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by John Mountford: "At no time has it been so abundantly clear that the direction of reform of our education service is so dangerously poised to consign a generation of the most needy youngsters to a lower than second-class status. If we fail ......"

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Janet Downs: What do high-performing school systems have in common? OECD guru summarises PISA findings.

The three-yearly Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) doesn’t just test pupils’ ability to use the knowledge they have in novel situations. The programme provides a wealth of data which can inform education policy, said Andreas Schleicher* during a recent lecture. PISA found that the most successful school systems tend to be those which are most equitable. These systems don’t just ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The marking guide is below: http://pisa-sq.acer.edu.au/showQuestion.php?testId=2297&questionId=2 I don't think I'd have scored very highly because I was amused by the blatant attempt by Jago to play on my conscience (all those leading rhetorical questions). Jago was obviously trying to induce guilt ......"

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Janet Downs: Controversial freedoms, fragmentation and self-interest – just some concerns given to the Academies Commission

Note: the words in brackets are the author’s comments The Academies Commission identified two controversial “freedoms” available to academies and free schools: the freedom to employ unqualified teachers and the freedom to be exempt from school food standards. The Commission found that academy heads were exercising caution fearing that any controversy would cause public debate. Nevertheless, there had been a tendency for ... read more and comment →

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Henry Stewart: Educate and Celebrate: Schools LGBT at the Emirates Stadium

It is two years since I wrote about the LGBT celebration at Stoke Newington School. A lot has happened since then and that event seems a long time ago. Ofsted inspected the school's work on homophobia and LGBT equality, pronounced it Outstanding and now promotes the school's work in its best practice section of its web site. Elly Barnes, the ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "I hope that anyone who sneered at Stoke Newington's work on LGBT awareness two years ago reflects on their attitude especially if they have anything to do with schools...."

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Fiona Millar: Personalisation should not be a dirty word

I have written my column in the Guardian today about the government's reform of  KS4 qualifications. Having read all the critiques of the new English Baccalaureate Certificates, and in particular the letters from the chief exams regulator, Glenys Stacey, to the Secretary of State, it appears very likely that  Mr Gove could be condemning schools and pupils to an omnifiasco ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Lynn Claims she's been campaigning to get Haringey inner London funding for years: http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/issues/haringey-schools and that this had now been achieved releasing and extra £7.3million of funding + pupil premium has brought in £8.8m If any of these claims are untrue please state or ......"

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Nigel Bailey: Social engineering at King’s School, Hove

Here’s an amusing introduction to the proposed King’s School 2014 admissions policy. It states: "This admissions policy reinforces the educational vision upon which King’s Church of England School is being established. The school will be inclusive, will meet the individual needs of all learners and will be based on the principles of the Church of England." So the school, which has confirmed ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Roger Titcombe: "Most of my posts have been about the mirage of school improvement brought about by degraded curriculum. The other major school improvement smoke and mirrors tactic is the exploitation of powers over admissions policies. Any attempts at regulation to bring ......"

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Fiona Millar: Some good and bad features of the new school admissions system, according to the adjudicator.

The annual report of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator was slipped out last month, without much publicity. This is a shame as it makes some important points. The OSA has specific, but limited powers. It must ensure compliance with the Admissions Code and can receive objections to the admissions arrangements of individual schools by parents or other members of the ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Fiona Millar: "Have put in the Comprehensive Future again and it seems to be working ( on my computer at least!). It contains some other useful information...."

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Pam Field: Education of sick children, particularly those with ME/CFS

1% of children suffer from ME/CFS and are so fatigued that they are unable to attend school. Many mainstream teachers do not believe illness is preventing young people attending school. This exacerbates the illness and life chances for the young person. The break up of LEAs and introduction of Academies hits the vulnerable hardest, with centralised services hit hard by ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Hello Pam, Thanks for writing your blog. You're describing a very important issue. I don't know if you're open to suggestion regarding improving the blog but to me the obvious thing would be to cut out the first two sections and ......"

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