Saturday School - What About The Gap? Part 1

29th February seems such a long time ago! It was a miserable Saturday morning, with Storm Jorge making his presence felt, as 300-or-so teachers and other edu-bods assembled for the inaugural ResearchEd Cymru.

Why on earth would we give up half of our precious weekend to, well, go to school? The idea of teachers undertaking PL activities in their own time seems to divide our profession, even though it is quite clearly an individual choice. What I have found over time is that the more open I am to learning and being challenged, the more I want to learn and be challenged! 

The impressive line-up of speakers made it very difficult to choose just 6 of the 30 sessions to attend but as the day progressed what struck me most was the unexpected thread I discovered - 

What can and should schools and teachers be doing to narrow the 'disadvantage gap'? 

In Wales, despite the focus on this for a number of years, the gap has not narrowed and it is highly likely that at the end of this period of school closures, an even greater effort will be needed for it to do so. 

Over the course of two posts, I will try to capture key points on this theme from the different speakers I heard.

In my first session of the day, Dr Nigel Newton from WISERD at Cardiff University talked about research he has carried out with the Pioneer Schools* in which he looked at perceptions of how the new curriculum would impact the progress of disadvantaged learners. What emerged was that although teachers in schools with higher numbers of eFSM pupils were more enthusiastic about the potential effects of the implementation of the new curriculum, only around 30% of those teachers named this group when asked specifically about which pupils would benefit. Across the responses gathered, there was little reference to the disadvantage gap without further probing by the interviewer. This, he said may be a cause for concern since,

 "If we get it right for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, we are more likely to get it right for everyone."

Therefore, as we continue our process of curriculum development, whether Pioneers or not, we must, in all the decisions we make, consider the potential impact on all our learners. 

What can make the difference and how can we ensure that these are front and centre? 
  • An inclusive curriculum
  • High quality teaching
  • Rigorous monitoring and use of data
  • Raising pupils' aspirations
  • Developing social and emotional competencies
  • Engaging parents
  • Supporting school transitions
  • Strong and visionary leadership        **            
Dr Newton described an inclusive curriculum as one in which there is a radical mapping of knowledge and an unambiguous relationship between school culture and learning. 

 Perhaps we can all use this unexpected hiatus to reflect and realign where necessary so that we will be as prepared as we can be to meet the new and different challenges that lie ahead for our learners.



* Schools leading on the development of Curriculum for Wales
** List from sources cited in Dr Newton's presentation. Slides available via Academia.edu

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