‘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)

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?

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.

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.

·       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?

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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. 

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

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.  

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?

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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!

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?

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.

·       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.

·       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.

·       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)

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?

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.

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).

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)

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.

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?

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.

‘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?

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.

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).  

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?

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.

“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?

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

" 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?

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)