New plans being published by the Department for Education on Wednesday will outline plans to improve educational outcomes in 55 ‘cold spots’ of the country where school outcomes are poor.
95 per cent of these areas are outside London and the South East.
In these new ‘Education Investment Areas’, the Department for Education (DfE) will offer retention payments to help schools keep the best teachers in the highest priority subjects.
These areas will also be prioritised as the location for new specialist sixth form free schools to increase the chances of talented children from disadvantaged backgrounds being able to access quality education.
Schools in these areas that have been judged less than Good in successive Ofsted inspections could be moved into strong multi-academy trusts. This will be subject to a consultation in the spring.
The DfE says tomorrow’s paper will set a “new national mission” to ensure that 90 per cent of children leaving primary school in England are reaching the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths by 2030. In 2019, just 65 per cent of pupils met all three standards, with the proportion substantially varying across the country.
Schools in the Education Investment Areas will also be given support to address wider issues. For instance, schools struggling with attendance will be encouraged to join a new pilot programme to tackle the issue.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said ahead of tomorrow’s full announcement: “The most valuable resource on the planet is the human resource. Investing in people to get on in life and receive the best possible education is core to the mission of this Government, and we are determined to help people gain the knowledge and skills needed to unleash their potential.
“This White Paper sets out our blueprint for putting skills, schools and families at the heart of levelling up. It focuses on putting great schools in every part of the country, training that sets you up for success in a high-skilled, well-paid career and ensuring no one misses out on opportunities simply because of where they live or their family background.
“Raising our expectations and aspirations for children, as well as creating a high-skilled workforce, will end the brain drain that sees too many people leaving communities in order to succeed. These plans will help create a level playing field and boost the economy, both locally and nationally.”
Commenting on the plans, Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute said: “Targeted investment for those areas of the country with high levels of educational inequality will be key to the government’s efforts – we know from our research that very large education gaps are deeply entrenched in parts of the North and Midlands, and pupils in these areas have also seen far greater levels of learning loss following the pandemic.
“It will be important to closely scrutinise the criteria used by the government for selecting its ‘Education Investment Areas’, and how it intends to deliver ‘intensive’ support over so many areas.
“The adoption of our recommendation for retention payments for teachers in challenging areas is encouraging. One of the greatest challenges in education is ensuring that highly qualified teachers are available to schools in deprived parts of the country. Severe teacher shortages remain in subjects such as maths and physics, with teachers in these areas far less likely to have a degree in the subject that they teach.
“It is essential that the government’s plans for these areas follow policy interventions on school improvement that are proven to work, and support is also offered to pupils beyond the school gates, to families and within the community. Without a sound evidence base and sufficient resources, the government’s ambitious plans to level up may fail to get off the ground.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the organisation “share the government’s ambition to improve numeracy, literacy and therefore the life chances among the one-third of young people who need more support.” However, Mr Barton described it as ” slightly infuriating that the government insists on talking about ‘illiteracy’ and ‘innumeracy’. These children are not illiterate or innumerate and it is somewhat insulting to describe them as such. They just fall below the expected standard at primary school against a specific set of tests.”
“Identifying 55 communities for intensive additional support sounds promising and we look forward to seeing exactly how this will work. We are not so sure about the idea of setting up ‘new elite sixth forms’. This sounds like they will serve children who already do very well and could put pressure on existing provision when the simplest solution would surely be to improve the lamentable state of post-16 funding,” he went on.
