Beng Huat See

The Impact of Socio-Economic Status on Participation and Attainment in Science.

In this paper we combine the findings from two recent studies relating to participation and attainment in school science – a re‐analysis of existing official data for England and a review of wider international research evidence in the literature relevant to the UK. Although the secondary data are drawn mainly from England, the comprehensiveness of these datasets, together with our inclusion of a review of international studies on maths and science participation provides a useful reference point for an international audience. The research was prompted by concerns over a reduction in the uptake of the physical sciences post‐16 and especially in higher education and interest in ways of encouraging the study of science by students from less prestigious socio‐economic status backgrounds. Such concerns are not unique to the UK. Using large‐scale official datasets we show that participation and attainment in science are stratified by socio‐economic status. Students from poorer families are less likely to take sciences at post‐16 than many other subjects and those who do are then less likely to obtain grades high enough to encourage further study of the subject. No conclusive evidence has been found to explain this satisfactorily. Plausible reasons suggested in the literature include the relative scarcity of local opportunities putting off those who do not wish to study away from home or the perceived time demands of studying science, and so the difficulties of combining part‐time study and part‐time work for those needing to continue earning while studying. Direct support from professional parents may also lead to greater participation in post‐16 science for students from higher SES. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that participation in science at any level is often predicated upon success at the previous educational stage. There are clear differences in science attainment at age 16 between students of differing backgrounds, which could explain the subsequent differential participation. However, these differences are not dissimilar to those for all subjects. The largest gap presented in the paper is between students eligible and not eligible for free school meals. We also show that these patterns appear early in the life of children. At ages 7 and 11, attainment in the three core subjects (English, maths and science) is negatively related to living in an area of deprivation. The paper ends with a discussion of suggestions for research, policy and practice emerging from this review of the evidence.

How can we enhance enjoyment of secondary school? The student view

This paper considers enjoyment of formal education for young people aged 14 to 16, largely from their own perspective, based on the view of around 3000 students in England. The data include documentary analysis, official statistics, interviews and surveys with staff and students. Enjoyment of school tends to be promoted by factors such as successful social relationships, small classes, variation in learning and students having some control of their learning. Enjoyment tends to be inhibited by perceived lack of respect or concern by teaching staff and passive pedagogy. For some disengaged students, a work or college environment with more adult relationships appears to restore enjoyment and enthusiasm. Enjoyment, unlike attainment, for example, is not particularly stratified by the standard student background variables. Nor is there evidence of a clear school effect. This means that enjoyment should be easy to enhance more widely, positively affecting the learner identities of all young people, including the more reluctant learners.

The role of parents in young people’s education — a critical review of the causal evidence.

There is currently a considerable body of research suggesting that parental involvement is linked to young people’s attainment at school. It is also generally agreed that a number of factors such as parental background, attention, warmth and parenting style are associated with children’s later life outcomes. However, although widely assumed on the basis of these associations, the nature of this causal link has not yet been established. This paper summarises what would be needed to demonstrate that enhanced parental involvement produced better attainment and other outcomes, based on establishing an association, the correct sequence of events, sensitivity to intervention and an explanatory mechanism. It then reports on the findings of a systematic review of available and relevant studies, based on this approach. The search for evidence on the impact of attitudes, expectations and behaviour on attainment yielded 1,008 distinct reports. Of these, 77 were directly about the impact of parental involvement. These confirm that parental involvement and attainment are linked, and in the correct sequence for a causal model. There are several plausible mechanisms to explain why parental involvement might have an impact. And most crucially and unlike all other areas linking attitudes and behaviour to attainment, there is promising evidence that intervening to improve parental involvement could be effective.

Overcoming disadvantage in education

Governments, local authorities, school leaders, and teachers all over the world want to improve the educational attainment and participation of all students, and to minimise any systematic differences in outcomes for social and economic groups. A particular concern is for those students from backgrounds that may objectively disadvantage them at school and beyond. However, considerable effort and money is currently being wasted on policies, practices and interventions that have very little hope of success, and that may indeed endanger the progress that is being made otherwise. The poor quality of much education research evidence, coupled with an unwillingness among users of evidence to discriminate appropriately between what we know and do not know, means that opportunities are being missed. At a time of reduced public spending it is important that proposed interventions are both effective and efficient. Overcoming Disadvantage in Education is unique in the way that it: Shows where the solutions to underachievement and poverty lie combines primary(new), secondary (official) and published (review) evidence distinguishes between those possible causes of underachievement that are largely fixed for individuals, and those that are modifiable. There are evidence-informed ways forward in handling under-achievement and increasing social justice in education. This book shows which the more likely approaches are, and where further work could yield further benefits. This book will be a key text for students, developing academic researchers and supervisors in the social sciences, and for those research users charged with improving educational outcomes.

Teacher demand: crisis what crisis?

This paper is based on two studies of teacher recruitment and retention commissioned by the General Teaching Council of Wales and the ESRC. Using official statistics from a variety of secondary sources, it shows trends over time in teacher numbers in England and Wales, and examines teacher vacancies, pupil‐teacher ratios and teacher wastage. It concludes that although individual indicators, examined in isolation, are an inadequate basis for assessments of the situation, there is no evidence in the data of any ‘crisis’ of teacher supply or demand in Wales (or indeed most of England). There are regional, occasional and subject‐specific disparities, but there are now more teachers than ever before, while the number of pupils in schools is falling. The paper, therefore, considers a variety of possible explanations for the widely‐held belief that there is a serious shortage of teachers.

Is science a middle‐class phenomenon? The SES determinants of 16–19 participation

In the UK, as in several developed countries, concern has been expressed by interested commentators about the apparent decline of post‐16 participation in the ‘hard’ sciences (especially physics and chemistry). While formal full‐time participation in 16–19 education and higher education has increased since the 1990s, both the relative and absolute numbers studying physics and chemistry have declined. If the development of scientists is seen as key to economic, technical and intellectual progress then this decline could be very serious indeed. One way of understanding and perhaps remedying this decline is to consider those currently under‐represented. In recent years much attention has focused on differences in participation by boys and girls. However, this paper examines the changes in post‐compulsory science participation since the 1990s in terms of socio‐economic factors to answer the question – is science a middle‐class phenomenon? It uses Pupil‐level annual schools census/National pupil database (PLASC/NPD) and Higher Education Statistics Agency/Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (HESA/UCAS) data sets, and summarises a review of 1083 pieces of relevant literature, conducted by the authors for the Royal Society.

A reflexive approach to interview data in an investigation of argument

As part of an exploratory study at three universities (two in the UK and one in the USA) of how first‐year students in three disciplines (biology, electrical engineering and history) learn to argue, we conducted interviews (individual and group) with university faculty and students about the place of argument in their teaching and learning. Here we reflect on the complexity of researching a term that refers both to an abstract concept and process and to diverse actual practices that often appear to be in excess of, or only partially covered by, such abstraction. We found stable, definitive data about argument hard to abstract convincingly from the interviews. The analysis instead drew our attention to how faculty and students inflected the term ‘argument’ in diverse, nuanced ways; constructed their accounts of ‘argument’ and of themselves as students or teachers interactively in the interview; and introduced various related terms (e.g. ‘analysis’, ‘interpretation’, ‘critique’). Reflecting on ways in which the interview can foreclose as well as open up opportunities for sense making around ‘argument’, we concluded that an approach that anchors talk in detailed accounts of practice is most fruitful in developing our understanding. In this way, interviewing can be a valuable research tool in developing understanding of how ‘argument’ is used in discourse and manifested in actual practices.

Narrowing Down the Determinants of Between-School Segregation: An Analysis of the Intake to All Schools in England, 1989–2011

This article describes the social and economic “segregation” of students between schools in England, and the likely causes of its levels and changes over time. It involves a re-analysis of the intakes to all schools in England 1989–2011, and shows how strongly clustered the students are in particular schools. The pattern for primary-age schools is the same as for secondary-age schools. However, each indicator of potential disadvantage—poverty, learning difficulty, first language, and ethnicity—has its own level and pattern of change over time. This suggests that there is not just one process of segregation. The implications for any state wanting a fair and mixed national school system are spelled out.

The potential role of schools and teachers in the character development of young people in England: perspectives from pupils and teachers

Abstract This paper considers the potential role of schools and teachers in the character development of pupils aged 10–19. It is based largely on the views of 5207 pupils in England, drawn from 25 state schools, including five primaries. Data include document contents, interviews and surveys with pupils and their teachers. Pupil accounts suggest that formal education has not done much to develop their character, and this is especially true of secondary pupils. They do suggest that their values can be shaped by their school experiences outside the curriculum. This is in some contrast to the views of teachers who report formal activities intended to promote character development. While teachers advocate the need to be good role models, pupils do not always see such qualities in their teachers. Teachers need to reflect in their behaviour, the kind of behaviour they want to see in their pupils and in society.

Accelerated Reader as a literacy catch-up intervention during primary to secondary school transition phase

This paper describes an evaluation of an internet-based reading programme called Accelerated Reader (AR), which is widely used in UK schools and worldwide. AR is a whole-group reading management and monitoring programme that aims to stimulate the habit of independent reading among primary and secondary age pupils. The evaluation involved 349 pupils in Year 7 who had not achieved secure National Curriculum Level 4 in their Key Stage 2 results for English, randomised to two groups. The intervention group of 166 pupils was exposed to AR for 20 weeks, after which they recorded higher literacy scores in the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) post-test than the control group of 183 pupils (“effect” size of +0.24). The schools led the organisation and implementation of the intervention, and also conducted most elements of the evaluation, with advice from an expert external evaluation team. The process evaluation suggests that these schools were very capable of conducting evaluations of their own practice, given appropriate guidance.