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Things that challenged me- Laura Briggs 

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Things that challenged me- Laura Briggs 

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What challenged me from the readings and briefing papers was that the numerous interventions, strategies and supports schools across Scotland develop to tackle the PRAG highlight that although there has been an impact, it is still never enough. In fact, it perhaps will never be enough- poverty and it’s forms change over time. Over the last eight years, I have seen how PEF monies have been used solely to improve the life experiences of children living in poverty. Although attainment improved by a marginal amount, LA scrutiny and pressures of attainment data statistics meant that we had to adapt and redesign our PEF plan to ensure that we were closing the gap. I feel that SLT and teachers today face a higher level of scrutiny over analysing data year to year where in fact we should be looking at attainment and achievement over time into positive destinations for lifelong learning.

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Things that resonated with me from the readings- Laura Briggs 

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Things that resonated with me from the readings- Laura Briggs 

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As Mowat (2018) suggests, poverty is not an issue within the Scottish Education system, it is infact a global issue where all countries wrestle with the topic and the impact it has on a child’s education.

Mowat (2018) presents that we need to consider the needs of the whole child and the learning experiences should promote resilience, develop their attitude towards school and positive destinations rather than attainment outcomes. However, at local authority level, PEF plans are scrutinised pushing the importance of attainment of a level.

Mowat’s view here resonated strongly with me as I have worked in three schools in highly deprived areas across the central belt of Scotland. In my current establishment, this nurturing core principle is our backbone. Post pandemic and throughout the cost of living crisis, the picture of poverty has changed dramatically in my school. Working in a school where 62% live in SIMD 1 and 2 we receive a substantial PEF sum to tackle the poverty attainment gap, but, what has emerged over the last 18 months is the ‘hidden poverty’ and the impact it has on our families in deciles 3-5 who are working, have limited benefits due to this, pay rent and rising childcare costs. Although we have many positive ways in which we support our parents who are living in extreme poverty, I feel we need to scrutinise and review the planned outcomes in our PEF plan and align this with the data- are the big costs  producing a low outcome or are the low costs actually having a significant impact on participation, inclusion and attainment?

Equity will be the focus of my SCI- reviewing our current equitable measures and interventions in line with recent policy developments, building all stakeholders understanding and awareness of poverty so, as Mowat (2018) concludes they are more knowledgeable about disadvantage allowing them to challenge their mindsets to transform the culture of our school. (p 24)

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Things which resonated with me from the readings - Lindsay Scott

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Things which resonated with me from the readings - Lindsay Scott

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"A major barrier to education for poorer children lies in the culture of education itself." Treanor, M. (2017)

" To close the attainment gap, schools should improve and enhance the everyday experience of school for children living in poverty. This would begin by educating teachers and other school staff on the risks, causes and consequences of poverty, which are often conflated and misconstrued." Treanor, M. (2017)

These two statements from Treanor's briefing really resonated with me and made me think about my own context. There is a lot of hidden poverty in and around our local community. It really made me reflect on how as a school we are evaluating our own practice in regards to closing the gap. Are we focusing on the most glaring challenges facing or families? Are we investing in the most effective and sustainable resources and initiatives? How well informed are our staff team about the factors that influence our most vulnerable and widely affected wee people living in poverty each and every day?

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Things which challenged me - Lindsay Scott

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Things which challenged me - Lindsay Scott

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"This briefing acknowledges that, while schools have an important role in closing the attainment gap, what they contribute is only one aspect of the multi-dimensional efforts across various organisations, policies and practices." (Geetha,M) 2016

The SPICe briefing(2016) threw up a number of questions and moments of reflection for me. It forced me to delve deeper into my thinking around how much influence, we as educational leaders can have on closing the poverty related attainment gap. It is clear from the readings related to this task that there needs to be a multifaceted approach to tackling this problem. Schools can only do so much to address the challenges. A much more cohesive, collaborative approach must surely be much more effective? Too often at the moment, issues related to child poverty are laid solely at the door of education.

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1. The shared vision for Scottish education is to deliver excellence and equity for all. How do we ensure that we are doing this on a daily basis and having the grestest impact on our children, when we are faced with the challenge of so many influencing factors?

2. How do we continue to effectively navigate the fight to close the poverty related gap once government funding ceases to exist?

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Treanor's remarks about the misconception that low-income families don't have aspirations for their children's success really resonated with me. Families from low- income backgrounds do have high aspirations for their children and I see and hear this from families on a daily basis in my setting. Families are willing to work with the school and outside agencies to acquire the best for their children. It's up to society, the government to provide adequate support services, improving access to quality education and tackling socio-economic inequalities.

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Schools Can’t Do It All (Marcus, 2016)
Marcus highlights that while schools can make some difference, they can’t solve the poverty-related attainment gap on their own. This is a challenging thought to me as effective leadership and school interventions can help steer children and families out of poverty.
"Schools cannot overcome societal inequalities in isolation" (Marcus, 2016, p. 7).
Partnership working with other sectors - health, social care, etc are essential to really tackle these big challenges. Generally it seems that there is a lack of funding in these areas to make the positive change required.

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Challenging the ‘Poverty of Aspiration’ Myth (Treanor, 2017)
Treanor argues that the idea that poor families don’t aspire for their children to succeed is not accurate. It’s not a lack of ambition that’s the problem, but rather the systemic barriers these families face.  "The issue is not that children from disadvantaged backgrounds lack aspiration, but rather that they are held back by a lack of opportunities and resources to realise their potential" (Treanor, 2017, p. 4). We need to look at the bigger picture.

Big Picture Thinking on the Attainment Gap (Mowat, 2018)
Mowat’s take on how we need to look beyond just school-based solutions to tackle the attainment gap. She emphasises that the problem is much bigger than schools alone can handle. Inequality in society is a big part. "Tackling the attainment gap requires addressing the underlying causes of poverty and disadvantage" (Mowat, 2018, p. 312).
We need to look beyond the classroom.

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Where does the ultimate responsibility lie for closing the attainment gap and how can we make more meaningful progress with a holistic solution to the endemic problem of sustained poverty? It’s easy to look for quick fixes and to focus on education in isolation, but the attainment gap remains, so a new approach is needed.  How do we move from the current unhelpful context of ‘blame’ being attributed to schools, children and families to a different agenda? What will need to happen to re-frame the problem and for a new strategic approach to addressing the challenge being developed?

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PISA international comparison data has a significant impact on the policy agenda. The pressure to engage in an international competition for glory fails to address key contextual factors including differences in educational history, politics, socio-economic conditions, culture, and institutional structures. Mowat, J. (2018) Closing the Attainment Gap - A realistic proposition or an elusive pipe dream? Journal of Educational Policy, vol 33.

What (if any) learning points can we take from the PISA data to support a more nuanced reflection on what’s working in Scotland and what needs to be addressed?

Mowat, J. (2018) highlights that the OECD report, ‘Excellence, Equity and Inclusiveness in Education.’ (Schleicher 2014a), observes that many economic and social problems, such as early pregnancy, are linked to lower educational attainment but fails to recognise that it may be underlying societal and structural issues (such as inequality) which underpin both.  There appears to be a desire to attribute blame for social economic issues more widely on schools, yet the root causes are multifaceted.

Treanor, M (2017) highlights that a  major barrier to education for poorer children lies in the culture of education itself because ‘the form of participation that is required of them at school doesn’t closely match the one that is required of them at home and in their immediate surroundings’.  I found this point interesting as I hadn’t previously considered this perspective.

The concept of ‘resilience’ is interesting.  It is challenging to reflect on why some children manage to succeed in spite of their circumstances while others do not. Studies have shown that the idea also allows practitioners in the field of education, health and social services, to intervene and support children and families by working with their strengths to prevent the exacerbation of their vulnerabilities. Successful schools and effective teachers seem to identify and build on these strengths to promote resilience (Rutter, 1985, 1987; Cefai, 2008; OECD, 2011; Siraj Blatchford, 2011).

The OECD (2007) belief that variations in school standards in Scotland do not have the impact on a child’s overall achievement that socio-economic deprivation in a child’s family background does.  Yet, Geetha Marcus (SPICe Briefing Closing The Attainment Gap: What Can Schools Do? August 2016) highlights that schools can arguably make a positive contribution to a child who is disadvantaged. This presents as an inherent conflict.

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Treanor, M. (2017) talks about parents living in poverty also having high aspirations for their children but feeling unable to engage with their child’s learning in the home and feeling inadequate in their knowledge and experience to help their children. Aspirations, even in communities struggling with poverty, are very high, with the missing element is the knowledge of how to make these aspirations real and obtainable.  I’ve worked in a range of different contexts and have experienced this first hand.  No family has poor aspirations for their children, rather their aspirations are often set within their own frame of reference.

Treanor, M (2017) stresses that the problem with the ‘poverty of aspiration’ as a concept is that facilitates a blame game, enabling responsibility for the responsibility for a presumed lack of aspirations to be passed onto parents and children. In so doing it shifts responsibility away from local and central government, and schools to children from low socioeconomic backgrounds.  Over time, I have experienced the direct impact of challenges around ‘closing the gap’ and the frustrations which can be felt within schools on this.  Staff engaging in a negative narrative on the implications of the cycle of poverty can be an unintended consequence. Treanor’s point on the real challenge for disadvantaged young people being that they are able to overcome the barriers to education, which include teachers’ poor perceptions of their aspirations and abilities, in order to both learn about and achieve aspirations particularly resonated with me.

Despite the time and resources which have been directed towards the problem, the attainment gap is proving to be heavily resistant to change.  Improvement initiatives which focus on education and schools in isolation are limited in their impact.  Something significant needs to change in terms of a more holistic approach to addressing the causes of poverty and inequality.

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How can current education policies better integrate with social and economic policies to more effectively address the root causes of the poverty-related attainment gap?

In what ways can we ensure that efforts to close the attainment gap do not stigmatise students from low-income backgrounds?

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When discussing the attainment gap we discuss whether children are on track for literacy / numeracy and if not discuss what interventions would be beneficial. That is only part of the jigsaw, there is a gap in children's experiences and wider achievements. PEF funding being used to offer financial support to attend school camp etc. but what about everyday experiences that many children take for granted -reaching out beyond their local community.

A challenge I have faced historically is well meaning parent council fund raising and allocating funds to support children of families in poverty but they didn't realise they way they were discussing was derogoraty until checked on it. This led me to consider the representation of the parent council - how do we achieve an accurate representation of our school demographic?

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In my current setting there are a high number of Q1 and Q5 with a dip in the middle. A mixed demographic with a rapidly increasing role. Teachers within my setting have an increased understanding of the impact of poverty, are becoming more confident to use data and target interventions in attempt to close the attainment gap. There are frustrations though as we feel it is not enough.

Mowat states the problem is framed in terms of what education systems, schools and teachers can do to redress society inequalities rather than how addressing society inequalities could lead to improved educational outcomes. It is a cycle that needs to be broken but perhaps flipping the focus would have a more significant impact.

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I have worked in areas of high deprivation throughout my career and have found that the children do have high aspirations. However, I can resonate with Treanor's comment that parents may lack an understanding of how to support their children to make their aspirations a reality. Teachers can support with this - they have a vital role to play to support children through the four capacities and ensure focus on future aspirations are built into the curriculum offer.

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Questions/comments for further discussion with the panel

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Questions/comments for further discussion with the panel

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How do we break the “middle-class culture of education”? is this barrier getting more problematic? How problematic is this barrier?

“reducing the attainment gap is proving to be heavily resistant to change” – what do the panel make of this statement? Time for a different tact at national and local level?

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Things which challenged me from the readings

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Things which challenged me from the readings

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The research paper challenged my thinking about the time, support and interventions that pupils in my care receive. With the rise of ASN numbers, people from middle class backgrounds, who tend to be highly educated themselves, are often the parents/carers who have high/unrealistic expectations of my school. The reading challenged me to think about those who do not have a voice, or have the capacity to research policies and practices. I need these people at the forefront of my mind and ensure everyone has a voice and involved in decision making.

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Things which resonated with me from the readings

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Things which resonated with me from the readings

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Something that resonated with me was the focus on looking at the inequalities in society  and the multi layered problems in Scottish and UK communities. A multi-dimensional focus is needed, across various organisations, policies and practices. Schools do have an important role in closing the gap, as Marcus explains, but I have often felt that education is seen from outside as the main driver – which is problematic.

The poverty of aspiration myth is extremely interesting. I feel parent/carer capacity to support pupils is an important driver. Many parents/carers I work closely with know that education is important but are unable to support or know/have the confidence to support and help their children and young people to achieve and attain.

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Analysing data is essential in schools. We are able to measure the impact of individual interventions and school leaver destinations, however, can we measure the impact further down the line? 5 years after leaving school? 10 years after leaving school? Is the trend still the same? Why/why not? I think this data would help professionals understand the outcome and see the long-term effects.

Another point was the fact that as Marcus (2016: 7) conveys, pressure to close the attainment gap should not all be centred around the school. The wider community and government have a role to play in order to help remove barriers to forms of discrimination, not just poverty related. What can we do to ensure that this is the responsibility of all? How could schools and the wider community/government link more in order to work together?

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The fact that we are measuring the gap through attainment data. This surely is not the best way to measure this gap and the successes. As outlined in the readings, there are various interventions in place to support learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. If most schools are confident when analysing their data and measuring the impact of interventions (as stated in the progress report), why is this not being used more effectively to show the impact and difference on individual children nationally?

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From the readings, there were a couple of concepts that resonated with me specifically “poverty aspiration” and the idea of the government “chucking money” at the problem.

Treanor disputed “poverty aspiration” as she claimed that children from disadvantaged backgrounds do have “high aspirations” but may, as they grow older, drop in confidence. It was interesting to note that parent aspirations are not low, but it is what is familiar to them and what they know or have experienced themselves (Treanor. 2017: 5). “Standards and expectations are not lowered” for children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds (Marcus, 2016: 9) and as a teacher/leader, this is what we strive to promote in our ethos.

The idea that the Scottish Government “was throwing money at the problem” and thus allowing the local authorities and individual schools to be accountable (Mowat, 2017: 27) is interesting. In order to support learners, schools need resources and resources (whether physical or human) cost money. Allowing schools to decide how their money (e.g. PEF) is spent allows schools to explore what is best for their context and learners (Marcus, 2016: 11).

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One thing that challenged me from the reading was the fact from Mowat (2018) that, when all other variables are taken into account, schools account for 8 – 15% of what we can achieve for pupils experiencing poverty. This highlights the need for a multifaceted approach to tackle the poverty related attainment gap.

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From the readings undertaken, it is clear that his is a multi-faceted issue which abounds with complexity. Although schools play a part in addressing the poverty related attainment gap, framing the problem solely around schools, without recognising the significant impact of wider societal issues, is unlikely to bear fruit in addressing the core issues (Mowat 2018). However, it was affirming to read in Marcus et al (2016) that there were tangible things that schools can do to address the gap; moreover, the importance of effective classroom teaching and strong school leadership – to name but a few of her recommendations – are actions that are within our grasp. This leaves me with a sense of hope that we can make a difference to the lives of our most disadvantages young people.

It also resonated with me when Traynor (2017) challenged the misconception that children who live in poverty suffer from a ‘poverty of aspiration’. She presents evidence which demonstrates that this is not the case for children, but also highlights an issue with parental aspirations. This is with particular reference to the difference between persistent poverty and non-poor parents and their sense of being able to positively influence their child’s achievement at school. For me, this highlights the importance of school in working beyond the school gates and supporting parents with how to engage with – and influence – their children’s achievement at school.

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Evidence suggests children do not start with low aspirations but this is something deflated through experiences of life & socio-economic circumstances impacting immeasurably.

‘The promise’ comments on removal of barriers for families – that families are supported to access and work with thoughtful and well considered supports & interventions. A thought with which I agree, but how can this be resourced when budgets are becoming further strained & in terms of position, where does this priority really sit in comparison with others?

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The problem with the ‘poverty of aspiration’ as a concept is not only that the research evidence does not support it, but also that it passes the responsibility for a presumed lack of aspirations onto parents and children. In so doing it shifts responsibility away from local and central government, and schools to children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. How does education support aspirations?

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Aspirations have become a key educational policy driver in Scotland and the rest of the UK and are seen as critical levers for closing the attainment gap between children and young people of high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Yet the existing evidence claims that children living in poverty do have high aspirations for themselves, although the jobs they aspire to are often of the gendered variety familiar to them within the context of their knowledge and experience, such as hairdressers or mechanics That is to say that ‘aspirations expressed by young people reflect the expectations and constraints inherent within their setting, rather than a free choice of desired outcome’ The evidence shows that children do not start off with low expectations. When they are younger they have the same hopes and dreams as all children, however, their confidence in their ability to attain their aspirations becomes diminished over time . Aspirations, even in communities struggling with poverty, are very high – the missing element is the knowledge of how to make these aspirations real and obtainable.

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Questions/ Comments for Further Discussion with the Panel

Whilst most teachers would agree that getting it right for every child and meeting the individual needs of the child are the most important aspects of our role, actually changing mindsets about what this looks like in the classroom and shifting practice is more challenging. In your experience, what have been some of the most effective professional learning activities staff have taken part in which have not just changed mindsets, but practice?

To what extent are spaces such as CEC Wellbeing Hubs currently working as an attempt to create more of an ARM space in schools?

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Mowat’s Singapore question is an interesting consideration of how despite higher social inequity, there is higher overall performance and an arugably smaller income based attainment gap. This raises the question about how schools and education are viewed in different societies and contexts and underpins why ‘Building Trust and Respect’ is outlined as a key principle in Marcus’ work.

The other key aspect which challenged me is Mowat’s caution around ‘policy borrowing’. This both resonated with me and challenged me as I recognise the feelings of urgency around needing to do something and looking for a workable solution when time, people and resources are restricted. This has prompted me to be more considerate and thoughtful to create a more inclusive dialogue around ‘policy learning’ when considering and leading initiatives across all areas of my role.

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The importance of intersectionality and understanding what the gap is in your particular school context resonated strongly with me. In the past in school contexts I have worked in ‘closing the gap’ looked exclusively at SIMD/ FME and did not take into account the other considerations for the individual child such as ASN and EAL which may exacerbate other challenges around income. Our school recently did work on ‘our gap’ and identified and developed, based on the evidence available, a context specific gap.

Treanor’s report about not making assumptions about aspiration also resonated and has made me consider the extent to which our staff – in a predominantly and particularly affluent part of Edinburgh-  may have a gap in their understanding of the realities of poverty and insecure income. The reminder that our aspirations are shaped by our own experiences underlines the importance of our curriculum as opening possibilities for families and doors for pupils to create ‘vertical and horizontal ladders’ (Raffe et al in Marcus 2016, p.16)

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Scotland relies heavily on SIMD data when discussing or policy making regarding poverty and the poverty attainment gap. By using this as a measure we are missing a large number of Scotland’s young people who are experiencing hidden or rural poverty. How do we as a profession begin to reflect and address this issue?

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In CRFR’s briefing from 2017 states that parents living in poverty do not lack aspirations for their children, but their aspirations are a construct of what is familiar and known to them. It does not make them deficient in aspiration; rather, their aspirations for their children are what they have experience of, know they can influence, and what they believe is achievable. – at a school level how do we overcome this and ensure that we widen the horizons of not just our children but our families?

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Things which resonated with me - C Foggin

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Things which resonated with me - C Foggin

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The concession that the poverty related attainment gap can not be closed by schools alone and that a societal approach is required and the conclusion that children from household experiencing poverty start school less equipped to learn than those who don't. While both these points are not surprising to me as they chime with my experiences as a teacher and as a leader they did resonate in terms of my current role.

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Things which have resonated with me from the readings

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Things which have resonated with me from the readings

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As a Senior Leader in an area of predominantly SIMD 1 and 2 post codes, the impact of poverty related attainment and wider issues is a serious concern.

The readings recognise that the poverty related attainment gap is an International issue and that it needs to be improved.

“The attainment gap associated with socio-economic status is an international problem

that is highly resistant to change” Mowat, 2018

The link between socio-economic disadvantage, academic attainment and job prospects is a global issue (OECD, 2011, 2014)

The Marcus (2016) review focuses on what schools can do to close the attainment gap. It identifies five guiding principles:

1. Putting the child at the centre;

2. Addressing individual needs;

3. Building respect and trust;

4. Balancing autonomy and accountability;

5. Enabling flexibility and creativity.

And six key areas/interventions, gathered from evidence-based educational research both nationally and internationally, that have collectively proved effective in closing the attainment gap. Providing:

1. High quality teachers and teaching;

2. Strong school leadership;

3. Reflective practice and research;

4. A network of support and collaboration;

5. Effective assessment and evaluation;

6. Early intervention.

What is clear to me from the readings, and personal experiences is that education alone cannot ‘fix’ the poverty related attainment gap. A multi-agency approach is required to support families and young people. It is also evident from the readings that there is no quick fix and that a clear and consistent strategy is required to bring about change.

A range of studies within the UK examining the impact of poverty on educational

outcomes for children and young people has shown that it extends beyond formal

educational outcomes to factors such as dispositions towards learning and school;

feelings of anxiety and lack of confidence about school; and perceptions of

discrimination as children try to negotiate the economic, social and relational

constraints associated with poverty (Hirsch 2007; Ridge 2011).

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Things which have challenged me - G Henderson

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Things which have challenged me - G Henderson

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From my personal experiences and evidence from these readings, a challenge that frustrates me is that the actual systems that lead to the poverty related attainment gap are, at times, the most resistant to change.

Our education system and outcomes are measured against systems such as PISA where the highest ranking countries have varying levels of social inequity and major cultural differences compared to Scotland. In Scotland, schools are annually ranked in order of the being able to achieve five Higher passes, the ‘godl standard’ of Scottish Education. It is no shock to see year on year, that the most deprived areas have the lowest level of achievement in this area. Alternatives to SQA Highers are not taken into in these statistics and therefore create a stigma around these schools at the lower end of the rankings.

The biggest challenge for me is that this situation has existed for so long. How can we end the cycle of this? In many families several generations are affected by this and have no aspirations or ability to break this cycle.

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With our current model of one exam body for Scotland and predominantly Local Authority run schools in Scotland – do we have the capacity to bring about needed rapid, change for the poverty related attainment gap?

Do we currently have the required multi-agency approach required to work on the social and educational issues that arise in deprived areas? E.g are organisations such as the SVRU having the impact they could? Is there enough work being done to support the related drug and alcohol abuse in these areas?

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Questions:

·       How can schools, local authorities and government develop their narrow focused mindset of ‘qualifications only’ and take the step towards positive pathways that meet the needs of each learner, including those who learn best away from the classroom?

·       Is it worth developing a variable attainment scale that takes into consideration geographical location, additional support needs and social deprivation? This measure would be more accurate when reviewing the impact the education and schools have on individuals rather than the traditional one shoe fits all policy of SQA certificated subjects where all pupils are measured against the same outcome.

We need to ask ourselves the question, what is success for our young people and what does it look like. (Qualifications, positive destination, ready for employment, being self-sufficient, improved independence, being socially aware and make safer choices, building resilience, being respectful and trustworthy or all the above)

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Things which challenged me:

·       Teachers can focus blame of young people’s poor attainment levels back to parents by believing that they have lower aspirations for their children.

·       Young people from poorer backgrounds must first learn to learn as the expectations and demand placed on them by schools do not match those required at home.

·       Young people’s aspirations diminish over time due to a lack of awareness and knowledge about how to make their aspirations real. This mean that their future employment goals become more of what I can see, I can be- e.g. hairdresser, builder, retail worker, etc.

·       Schools are still measured by performance information in league tables based on assessment which has long been challenged by professionals. This can be demoralising, yet we continue to do it!

·       Wilkinson and Pickett (2010) cite that it is not poverty that impacts education performance but inequality in society and ask if we are approaching this problem from the wrong direction.

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Things that have resonated with me- G Gibson

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Things that have resonated with me- G Gibson

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Things that have resonated with me:

·       The attainment gap will never be narrowed if policy focuses on young people’s educational outcomes rather than the factors that affect their outcomes.

·       Schools should aim to improve and enhance the everyday experiences of school for young people living in poverty.

·       By focusing on attainment data and keeping the curriculum narrow restricts skill development in young people. Teachers want to make a difference for all pupils, however, feel under pressure and conflicted by policy directives (Moore and Clark, 2016).

·       Schools need to be given greater autonomy to become more innovative and move beyond the restrictive constraints of assessments and league tables.

·       According to OECD (2017), headteachers in Scotland are amongst the most positive in judging the adequacy of staffing and teaching resources.

·       Appropriate assessments are required to help support young people assess their own progress, however, they are over used and add to teacher’s workload.

·       Significant progress has been made with evidence showing that the gap has reduced, but this remains a complex and long-term project.

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Can our approaches to closing the attainment gap keep pace with growing inequalities and financial pressures, both on families and schools, globally?

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'..schools have an important role in closing the attainment gap, what they contribute is one aspect of the multi-dimensional effect across various organisations, policies and practices.' (Marcus, 2016)

Although we are part of a bigger system, we seem to be used to address gaps within other organisations; NHS (SaLT), to social work (investigating CP, coordinating referrals), how can we continue to do more with less? I feel that our attainment data does not always reflect just how much other work has gone in to getting each child to where they are.

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How can school staff gain knowledge about the causes and consequences of poverty in an equitable, fair and sensitive way?

With the current Scottish Government rejecting many of the key recommendations in the Hayward review, how can genuine reform take place in Scottish education to close the attainment gap when ministers aren't taking on the viewpoint of experts from within our country (as opposed to those from an international perspective who don't perhaps know the national context/culture)?

How can senior school leaders reduce the current barriers of 'structural elements of poverty' and 'middle-class culture of education' to support children from poorer socio-economic backgrounds to achieve in Scottish schools in the next few years? Or are we trying to eat soup with a fork to even attempt to do this?

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Things which challenged me - Roddy Graham

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Things which challenged me - Roddy Graham

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The paper by Treanor (2017) challenged me when it stated 'schools lack knowledge about the causes and consequences of poverty' and this made me reflect on where I have the knowledge about this. I'm not sure that I do. I'd like to think that I have solid understanding but it is something that I will need to investigate further.

I agreed with a lot from the paper in terms of improving and enhancing everyday experiences of schools and that policies are focused on outcomes rather than factors that affect their outcome. It's how we get to this point that is the difficult part!

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Treanor, M. (2017) concluded that 'To close the attainment gap, schools should improve and enhance the everyday experience of school for children living in poverty. This would begin by educating teachers and other school staff on the risks, causes and consequences of poverty, which are often conflated and misconstrued.'

What would the panel suggest are effective strategies that could achieve:

1. The enhancement of school provision for all young people.

2.Developing staff understanding of the risks, causes and consequences of poverty.

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Reading around the Poverty Related Attainment Gap

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Reading around the Poverty Related Attainment Gap

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‘Research undertaken by the Department for Education highlights that the most successful schools, ‘have an ethos of high attainment for all pupils and avoid stereotyping disadvantaged pupils as all facing similar barriers or having less potential to succeed’ (MacLeod et al., 2015).

The Briefing 'Closing the Attainment Gap: What Can Schools Do? Marcus, G. (2016) highlighted 6 Key Strategies for Closing the Poverty Related Attainment Gap:

1.High Quality Teachers and Teaching
2.Strong School Leadership
3.Reflective Practice and Research
4.Networks of Support and Collaboration
5.Effective Assessment and Evaluation
6.Early Intervention

These all point to our teachers being well informed of individual needs of their pupils, strong pedagogy, and from the role of the leader - clear, well established systems and networks. The team around each child must have a clear understanding of each others roles and responsibilities to promote the best outcomes.

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The idea that a 'holistic approach' (Mowat, 2018) is needed to close the poverty-related attainment gap is the first thing that resonated with me. Schools have (for as long as I can remember in my career) been asked to pick up the baton to solve so many of societies issues and I don't feel this holistic approach has been carefully or strategically enough thought through. It was highlighted across all the readings for this task that this isn't a Scottish or UK issue but a global one. However, in a neo-liberal society where market-oriented reform policies are at the centre of most government thinking, it is becoming more challenging to have this approach. It needs flipped about as Mowat (2018) states 'the problem is frame in terms of what education systems, schools and teachers can do as a means of redressing inequalities in society rather than how redressing inequalities in society can lead to more equitable educational outcomes'.

Whilst I do believe the Scottish Government has tried to move away from the neo-liberal approach used by other governments, as cited in Hodgson and Spours, 2016), some of their policies have been adopted from governments who have this neo-liberal approach (see London Challenge for one such example or giving money to local authorities/schools to 'fix' the problem being another).

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“The real challenge for disadvantaged young people is overcoming the barriers to education, which include teachers’ poor perceptions of their aspirations and abilities in order to both learn about and achieve aspirations.”  Mowat ( 2018,p,g 7)

Initially I disagreed with this statement but it caused me to pause, reflect and consider unconscious bias and if this is in fact an invisible barrier. Do educators unconsciously lower their expectations? Therefore, as a leader it is crucial that we support teachers to recognise strengths/ potential in ALL children.  That we ensure staff fully understand the context that they are working in and that they promote the school’s vision, values and aims so children are fully aware of the aspirations we have for them. It is also vital that we work with parents/carers to ensure that triangulation of expectation. As by encouraging them to have high expectations, coupled with their teacher’s/school, it will enable children to have intrinsic motivation to have goals and ambitions.

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Mowat (2018, p.g 2) states “ the problem cannot be addressed  by focussing primarily and almost exclusively  on the school as the agent of change and that the starting point for change should be addressing endemic inequalities in society.”

It does often seem as though schools are expected to fix societal problems. Schools are important, but they can't solve poverty, health disparities, or family instability on their own.

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In a time of limited resources, when it feels like so many agencies etc push back to Education, how can we ensure that we aren’t working in silos?  You would hope that working together could help us take a more holistic approach and be more effective with our resources.

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Treanor’s point of the need to consider how the culture of school creates an unfamiliar environment for some children, and how, when we look to justify our PEF spending, we are focused so much on attainment is a challenge.  Looking at how we adapt our school culture to make changes to factors such as value and participation within school is important.

Looking at how policy has been ‘borrowed’ from other areas and cherry picked to suit a local context is also a challenge.  What we do has to be appropriate for our settings, but it is important to consider how policy has been interpreted and adapted by politicians.

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The recognition that poverty is a national/global problem is reflected in the different readings.  Therefore, it is important to highlight that, while Education can carry out many actions, we are not the only sector that needs to work to address it.  Marcus’ guiding principles of putting the child first, addressing needs and building trust and respect should be at the centre of any school community, when seeking to meet its needs, not just in the area of poverty.  While my current school does not have significant areas of poverty, there is a level of hidden poverty.  Building trust with families helps school focus some support.

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How can schools effectively engage parents and communities, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in meaningful ways that positively influence students’ academic outcomes?

Given that external socio-economic factors such as poverty and housing are significant contributors to the attainment gap, what partnerships and collaborations between schools and other agencies have proven successful in mitigating these challenges?

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One of the key points that came from reading Treanor, M. (2017) was the observation that some teachers also point to the low aspirations of parents as a contributing factor to children's lower educational attainment. This made me question how you challenge this view and how much engagement with children and parents in poverty is being used effectively if this is the view of some of our teachers.

I also found myself concerned about policy borrowing ( Mowat J 2018)  and if it is enough. By borrowing policy is there enough consideration about different contexts and cultures or is the pressure to perform the reason to use policy from ‘good practise’

I also have concerns that when policies are introduced the problem is put on the school which then adds to more pressure and criticism of teachers and staff when there is actually wider responsibilities from governments to meet social and economic needs.

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I was interested in how parental and community engagement can help address the attainment gap and how we can develop positive relationships and support learners at home ensuring alignment between school and home. My potential SCI is based round Parental Engagement and the reading reinforced the importance of this but also the challenges of engaging parents and how I would need to break down many barriers.

Linking on from the importance of parental engagement Treanor, M. (2017) reinforced the importance of understanding how low income parents feel and it was really important to recognise that while less successful progress is often blamed on a child / their parent’s poor aspiration, that is not the case at all. Aspirations are still high for children living in poverty but are based more round parents own knowledge, understanding and experience. There needs to also be recognition that parents may lack confidence in how they can assist their children based on their own experiences and barriers. It is essential to make sure that expectations and standards for children living in poverty are not lowered and they are not discriminated or disadvantaged but that necessary targeted support is put in place for individual children where needed in terms of academic, emotional and psychological needs

I also found myself in agreement with the ideas from Mowat, J. (2018) where he highlighted the five principles that schools can follow to help address the poverty gap but also reinforcing that it the responsibility is not down to school alone. So many other issues needed to be addressed in the inequalities of society.

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How do we educate staff in schools about the socio-economic background of our children and young people in a more current and meaningful way, without making it too political?

How do we explore the hidden poverty, particularly post Covid that has impacted different demographics but has no lesser impact on the attainment of the children but who are missed when allocating funds to schools to mitigate barriers? This is challenging when your postcode does not match the measure by which these funds are allocated.

How do we reach consensus across political parties for sustainable change?

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What challenged me most from the readings-Gail Middlemiss

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What challenged me most from the readings-Gail Middlemiss

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‘While schools have an important role in closing the attainment gap, what they contribute is only one aspect of the multi-dimensional efforts across various organisations, policies and practices’. (M Geetha 2016).  What challenged me about the reading for this task is the idea that despite policies and practices to combat child poverty as a society we are not changing this. The readings made me consider the impact of those policy actors and how we combine our efforts to have that holistic approach regardless of the politics of the day. Education and in particular schools, put the child at the centre but we need more joined up systems and practices to effect real change and stand any chance of closing the poverty related attainment gap. It is imperative to have those aspirations M Treanor talked about for our children and young people, but it requires greater collaboration and linked thinking from policy makers in all sectors to make this to happen. We need to change tack and perhaps look differently at the data from other countries who are making inroads into tackling this problem.

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Things that resonated with me from the readings-Gail Middlemiss

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Things that resonated with me from the readings-Gail Middlemiss

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On reading the article by M Treanor (2017) what resonated with me was the statement that the ‘middle class culture of education has little to no idea of the risk, causes and consequences of poverty.’ As a profession, we need to challenge our own views and potential unconscious bias around poverty, even amongst those who have great experience working in the most deprived areas. In J Mowatt (2018) they talk about ‘challenging mindsets, norms and assumptions to bring about a new level of understanding, transforming the culture of the school’. We need to be a profession who take time to do this regularly to make sure we are putting our resources, time, effort and love into the things that make the most difference.

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How can schools effectively build and maintain strong relationships with parents and communities to support attainment and achievement? What barriers might exist, and how can they be overcome?

In what ways can support and intervention be offered to address the needs of families where there is disadvantage?

What steps can schools take to ensure that all stakeholders and partners are actively involved in efforts to close the attainment gap? What is their role in supporting schools?

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‘Education’s powerful role does not mean that it can work alone. Reducing inequality also requires policies for housing, criminal justice, taxation and health care to work hand in hand with education to make a lasting difference’ (OECD 2016, 10)

We cannot focus alone on what schools can do to address the problem. It needs to be addressed holistically, requiring a systems approach and a critical scrutiny of the range of policies – educational, social and economic.

As all readings suggest there is a ‘problem’ to be addressed, the challenge lies with how do we solve this problem and who should be involved in this process, not only education and schools but other agencies and services including housing, health care and some of our partners such as social services.

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In the article "Can we put the ‘poverty of aspiration’ myth to bed now?" by M. Treanor (2017), the author challenges the commonly held belief that low aspirations among people living in poverty are a major barrier to improving their circumstances. The briefing emphasises that people in poverty often have high aspirations, but systemic barriers like limited access to resources, opportunities, and support hinder their ability to achieve them. In the article "Closing the Attainment Gap: A Realistic Proposition or an Elusive Pipe Dream?" (2018), Joan Mowat critically examines the challenges and complexities of addressing the educational attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers.

In my context, there are two polar extremes: 13% of families are entitled to Free School Meals (FME) in a highly deprived area, while a significant number come from middle-class areas. I notice a clear difference in the readiness to learn between these groups, particularly when some children arrive at school hungry, unkempt, and at times dysregulated. However, is it fair to categorise children and families solely based on their socio-economic status? It’s crucial to adopt a more holistic approach to address the various barriers our families face.

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How can education policies work alongside other agency policies to further ensure equitable funding, resources, and support systems for schools in high-poverty areas, addressing not only academic needs but also the social and emotional barriers that contribute to the poverty-related attainment gap?

How can this in turn, support more children to stay positively aspirational and develop resilience towards pursuing greater attainment, achievement and positive outcomes?

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Marcus, G (2016) explores five guiding principles, number 1 being "putting the child at the centre", which I whole heartedly agree with, however, I feel that as education alone we do not have impactful enough influence to tackle the wider societal challenges. From exploring the factors around the poverty related attainment gap it is apparent that the whole family, politics, health and housing have an influential impact.

As much as we endeavour to support the child, and family, holistically we can face barriers when it comes to supporting with key factors such as housing, income and ingrained parental views that need wider agency input beyond education.

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It resonated with me when aspirations were explored by Treanor, M. (2017). It was stated that pupils were not born with limited aspirations but they develop over time. That is something that we see regularly in my setting. As pupils develop beyond the ego centric phase they further compare themselves to others including their race, attainment, level of poverty and wealth, the clothes they wear and their needs. This greater awareness of others in comparison to their selves seems to be a driving force to alter their aspirations in line with their perception of possibility.

It is vital that we take a holistic approach to explore all barriers that learners and their families may face beyond attainment and achievement in school.

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If PEF continues, what would the panel see as the best use of PEF money to reduce the poverty-related attainment gap or is it so dependent on individual school contexts that there are no “one size fits all” solutions?

Taking into account the complexity of closing the poverty-related attainment gap, and acknowledging that the solution will not just be achieved by education, what do the panel see as realistic next steps for closing the gap outwith the education sector?

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Things that challenged me (Fiona McDonnell)

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Things that challenged me (Fiona McDonnell)

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In Morag Treanor’s reading about the ‘poverty of aspiration’ (2017), I found it difficult to read that it is us as teachers who have poor perceptions of children and young people’s aspirations and abilities. I would like to hope that even if these perceptions exist, the impact they have on children’s attainment and positive outcomes is not an influencing factor.

Whilst all of the readings highlighted that there remains a significant poverty-related attainment gap in Scotland, despite this being known as a problem for a number of years, none of the readings have suggested workable solutions. Rather, they have served to expand on the knowledge of the problem. Action needs to be taken to reduce the gap and research must therefore be carried out on the ground in schools to interrogate PEF spending and attainment data to see if there have been any successful attempts to close the poverty-related attainment gap within schools. If success has not been achieved, surely the time has come to put pressure on policy-makers to change the direction of policy and move it away from schools and into broader public services including healthcare, housing services, employment agencies and social work.

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The challenge we face as teachers and educators to overcome and ‘culture of education’ differences highlighted by Morag Treanor (2017). I would agree, from my experience, that often children and young people from middle-class families come to school more ready to learn than children from poorer backgrounds because their home circumstances more closely match those at school with high expectations and firm boundaries on behaviour, for example. It is therefore important to look at what early-interventions are needed to support families in poverty to prepare their children for school.

In the paper by Joan Mowat (2018), I agree that the problem of the poverty-related attainment gap cannot be addressed by only focussing on schools – the problem is much wider-reaching than that. The current model is aimed at teachers redressing inequalities in society rather than implementing policies to redress inequalities in society and lead to more equitable educational outcomes. The blame is then placed on schools only when the poverty-related attainment gap is not closing.

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Where does the accountability lie when a school does not appear deprived but does not meet its expected attainment levels? Teachers? Headteacher? Local Authority?

How can we better showcase the true complexity of a setting or area in the face of continued media and government pressure to perform on league tables and attain at predetermined levels?

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In my own setting we struggle with pockets of rural poverty. On paper our schools do not meet many of the requirements for SAC or PEF funding of any significant amount compared to the needs and growing gap we see amongst our children and families. The strategies and suggested initiatives that are discussed in both the Progress report on closing the poverty related attainment gap 2016-2021and in the reading from Marcus (2016) are more difficult for our settings to access and use due to our lack of funding. For example I have tried to apply for grants for equipment for certain programs but because our data does not indicate we sit within an area of deprivation we cannot access funding, yet the items we are looking to purchase are out with the means of our families. Where is the equity in schools that don’t fit in the government identified boxes of being deprived, a needs-based system created on more than just free school meals or overt deprived characteristics is perhaps needed.

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The poverty related attainment gap needs to be tackled in a far more holistic way than the current government is approaching it. Applying global policy to what is a complex problem which is not yet successful. The pressure to raise attainment is ingrained in every facet of my daily work. How to balance this pressure to attain and be critical of policies that are implemented without truly considering the context of schools is something I struggle with.

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How can schools effectively personalise their interventions, initiatives and strategies to address both wellbeing and learning needs of pupils, while also navigating the limitations imposed by wider systemic inequalities and policy requirements?

·       Is our current needs assessment identifying the specific barriers?

·       What changes do we need to make to our data collection methods to engage on a deeper level?

·       How are we sharing our successful practices with policymakers?

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One key challenge from the readings is the limits of school autonomy in addressing wider societal issues that have a significant impact on pupil outcomes. As a headteacher it can be hard to accept that despite a school and staff’s best efforts we cannot achieve long-term success alone.

This challenge has direct relevance to my potential SCI focus on trauma-informed practice. It is important to be mindful of the limitations of what a school can achieve on its own, especially when external factors are involved. The root cause of these challenges must be addressed and although schools can create supportive environments where pupils make progress, multi-agency collaboration and policy changes are equally crucial.

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The readings highlighted the long-term and complex challenges of closing the attainment gap for marginalised groups. Across the literature there was a consistent message that although schools play an integral part in closing the gap, wider system issues such as poverty and mental health, require sustained and consistent multi-agency collaboration and support and a holistic focus on both learning and wellbeing. This highlights the importance of culturally responsive pedagogy that takes into account the diverse needs of pupils and the need for school leaders to advocate for policy changes that address systemic inequalities. Schools cannot progress alone without sufficient resources and support.

My insights from the readings have a bearing on my potential SCI focus on trauma-informed practice. The focus on holistic support and multi-agency collaboration aligns with trauma-informed approaches which also favour prioritising wellbeing alongside academic progress.

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Throughout all of the reading, much of what is spoken about is evident, to varying depths, in most Scottish Schools. However within the Marcus. G. Paper, Closing the Attainment Gap, he does explore that teachers need to have relationships and be knowledgeable. In respect of this part, I totally agree, yet I wonder if to properly overcome a poverty related gap, that we need to develop tighter links across agencies. In my experience Police and Social Work teams share a framework database, Education are very often missing from these. In a previous role, the knowledge from these could be the key to supporting strong relationships. A more global, agency and service overview, could support the narrowing and near closure of the poverty related gap.

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Throughout all of the readings in this section I have been struck with an over whelming set of sub questions. This I join to the theory that Poverty is much further reaching than simply school education. We explore generational poverty, absolute poverty etc yet we still seem stuck on referring to Attainment. The attainment gap, even with PEF funding has grown. We teach in a curriculum that celebrates achievements yet these are negated when exploring attainment.

If we truly want to have an impact on poverty that we get a new ruler? One that can measure more facets and allows greater support and opportunity?

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Throughout the readings ( And indeed all in this batch of intersectional activity) I am really interested in the views around policy adopting or borrowing. When I explore these I fear that too often the expectations upon schools to deliver appear as 'silver bullets' to an identified problem. A policy adopted, with leaders in school left to decide how these should be implemented. It is concerning that we have a curriculum that celebrates its tailored approach to the individual school yet when we adopt a policy to overcome an issue not enough time is spent exploring the dimensions that lead to this.

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Readings that resonated with me - D Woodcraft

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Readings that resonated with me - D Woodcraft

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It seems an over-simplified statement to make that there should be a balance of formative and summative assessment and that the assessment and feedback should be of high quality to be effective. A more resonating statement Marcus, G. (2016) made was the ‘Education Endowment Fund (2016) found that ‘Feedback studies tend to show very high effects on learning…but it is important to understand the potential benefits and the possible limitations of the approach. Feedback has effects on all types of learning across all age groups’. Providing feedback is challenging and the EEF (2016) recommends that ‘it should be specific, accurate and clear’.’ We see that in action in our school where we say feedback should be kind, specific and helpful.

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This quote challenged me since I am looking at an SCI focussed on assessment of learning. It challenges me as it identifies the need for support and professional learning that will I will need to put in place for this to be a success:

‘Donaldson (2009) recommends ‘putting in place arrangements to support teachers in their assessment of learning, so that they and society can have confidence in their judgements and that assessment plays a central role in tracking and facilitating progress in learning.’ This view was echoed by the EEF (2016) – ‘professional development requirements are likely to be necessary for success’.’ Marcus, G. (2016)

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(Mowat, J, 2018) states that the poverty related gap is not just an education issue. GIRFEC is designed that we collaborate better as organisations because it is the 'Responsibility of all'. However, how we work systematically still needs resolved to ensure no child is left behind. In practice, I can see a delegation of duty rather than a desire be the difference. This may be due to the overwhelming numbers of cases social work, the healthcare system and education face, but we must find a way to work together better to Get It Right For Every Child. Sosu and Ellis (2014) argue that networks of support and collaboration are vital in reducing poverty and closing the attainment gap, do you have any suggestions or examples that are making a difference to 'wicked problems' and working more effectively collectively to this systemic problem?