Achievement and Under -achievement:

A sorry tail?Professor Martyn Rouse

m.rouse@abdn.ac.uk

The long tail of underachievement: Some key questions

Why is there concern about underachievement? Who underachieves or gets excluded? Why does it happen? What are the consequences? Why focus on achievement AND inclusion? What is being done to close the achievement

gap and to increase participation?

Why achievement and inclusion? The broader context International comparisons of participation and

achievement for different groups of children PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study)

Why achievement and inclusion? The broader context The role of schooling in achieving public and private

human, economic and social development goals: Social cohesion and inclusion Security and safety Prosperity Subjective well-being

In the context of: International competitiveness Globalisation and migration New patterns of employment

Why achievement and inclusion? Many countries have groups of children who are

excluded and/or underachieve This leads to long term economic and social

consequences for all of us The economic and social returns from education are

complex….but: There are clear links between poor educational outcomes,

poverty and additional support needs Tackling underachievement and exclusion is the right thing to do,

it makes sound economic and social sense This is an international movement

Who underachieves or is not included?

In UK it’s associated with ASN/SEN (especially behaviour), class, poverty, ethnicity, language, gender, mobility and ‘looked after children’ See:

‘More choices,more chances’ Quality and Equity of Schooling in Scotland (OECD 2007) Others international studies (PISA, PIRLS) UNICEF study, Children’s well-being in rich countries.

Where do we stand?

The highest achieving pupils in the UK compare with the best in the world

Scotland does better than England ….BUT The UK has one of the longest tails of underachievement

in the developed world Scotland has high levels of disengagement from

education post 15 The UK is at the bottom of international comparisons of

‘children’s well-being’

How serious is underachievement?

Gap between average pupils and low achievers S4: trend over ten years

But how do we compare?

Mean student achievement in best and worst classrooms across countries

What are the causes?

An emphasis on sorting, sifting and predicting School structures

Streaming, banding and setting Inequalities within and between schools

Who gets the ‘best’ teachers? Who gets the ‘best’ students?

High poverty students/ low achieving pupils are more likely to get less experienced/less well qualified teachers

Resource inequality leads to an ‘opportunity gap’

Causes: continued Competing policy initiatives

How are schools judged? Whose achievement is valued? How is achievement assessed, recorded and reported? What kinds of achievement are valued?

School cultures and reward systems High and low status work Attitudes, beliefs and stigma

“Us and them” ……..worthy and unworthy children But where do these notions come from?

Embedded beliefs about social class? Reinforced by the media? The need to classify, categorise and pathologise? Beliefs about human differences?

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The real culprit?

Some consequences of ‘bell curve thinking’

Focus on the measurable Reification Unwarranted status because of its elegant mathematics Makes it difficult to demonstrate learning Comparisons with inappropriate populations Leads to beliefs about ‘worthy’ and ‘unworthy’ people Deterministic thinking about learning Limits expectations Associated with the notion of prediction and POTENTIAL

Consequences: continued

Intergenerational low aspirations When translated into school level expectations

The achievement gap leads to an educational debt across generations for certain groups Think of the ways in which the annual trade gap leads to the

national debt across the years Used to justify streaming, tracking, ‘leveling’ and

FAILURE Leads to negative social, emotional and behavioural

outcomes

Disciplinary climate: gap between best and worst mathematics classrooms

Why confusion about assessment? Lack of clarity about the purposes and nature (especially

ASN) Beliefs about the predictive power of testing No shared meanings for concepts of…….ability,

aptitude, attainment, achievement, standards, and potential

Lack of understanding about the differences between formative, summative and ipsative assessment

AND between norm-referenced and criterion referenced assessment

When the rules change….

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It’s not all bad news: what’s been achieved with achievement and inclusion? Real progress in some schools, BUT problems remain Inclusion does NOT necessarily have a negative impact

on the achievement of others Some schools are inclusive AND high achieving Getting it right for children who find learning difficult,

brings benefits for all Schools which add the greatest ’value’ often serve the

most disadvantaged communities

What are they doing? Recruiting and retaining good teachers Reviewing and clarifying roles Investing in support for teachers as well as students Believing that all children can learn Defining achievement broadly Recognising that learning takes place outside school

Connecting with the community Getting involved in collaborative research Providing meaningful alternatives Using the curriculum flexibly to keep pupils connected

What are they doing? Connecting pupils and families to the school

Creative arts Extra curricular activities Peer tutoring Homework clubs Learning mentors Community outreach Quality vocational education

Raising aspirations and expectations Redefining additional support…the current definition:

‘provision which is additional to, or otherwise different from, the educational provision made generally for children……’

Redefining additional support

Enhancing what is ‘generally available’ by using the principles of universal design

Dealing with difference from the outset Recognising that inclusion is not a denial of difference Not waiting for ‘failure’ before intervening Developing inclusive pedagogy and systems of assessment

that recognise progress Focusing on learning, teaching and participation Developing skills for working with other adults

Classroom assistants Voluntary sector Parents

A framework for participation Participation and access (being there) Participation and diversity (recognition and

acceptance) Participation and collaboration (learning and

working together) Participation and achievement (recognising and

celebrating progress)Adapted from: Black-Hawkins, K., Florian, L. & Rouse,M. (2007)

Achievement and Inclusion in Schools. London: Routledge

So…where do we go from here?