The government began consultation on its vision for the '21st Century School', which would focus on every child and be at the heart of the community. It described how the schools system could be transformed through personalization – both in terms of tailoring learning for each pupil in the classroom, and also making sure wider children's services were tailored to the needs of each child. It said that this could only happen with more and better collaboration and co-location of services.
Source: 21st Century Schools: A world-class education for every child, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Consultation document | DCSF press release | ADCS press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A report said that academy schools were not doing enough to work with other schools in their neighbourhoods, in terms of admissions, exclusions, and sharing their resources. Academy admission practices should be more closely monitored to make sure they did not harm the intake of other schools.
Source: Andrew Curtis, Sonia Exley, Amanda Sasia, Sarah Tough and Geoff Whitty, The Academies Programme: Progress, problems and possibilities, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Dec
The government announced that it would make £500,000 available for a pilot of up to 100 school trusts with co-operative governance models, in which parents, teachers, and communities had direct power over the running of local schools.
Source: Press release 11 September 2008, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0870 000 2288)
Links: DCSF press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Sep
A report presented the findings from the national evaluation of the 'New Relationship with Schools' policy (designed to improve the relationship between central government, local education authorities, and schools; and to ensure closer alignment of national and local priorities). There had been a move towards the 'intelligent accountability' framework envisaged when the policy was first announced. There was also evidence that these developments were contributing to improvements in quality and standards for some schools and local authority areas, particularly in the secondary sector.
Source: Georgina Cowen, New Relationship with Schools: Evaluation report, Research Report RR050, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2008-Aug
An article examined the English 'systemic' approach to school leadership for school improvement (in which schools work beyond their school borders for the benefit of the school system as a whole).
Source: 'The English approach to system leadership', OECD Education and Skills, Volume 2008 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Aug
A report examined national and international research to determine what impacts on attainment had been measured when business was involved in education, and in schools in particular. There were positive impacts of employers' involvement with education: but these impacts had seldom been demonstrably measured.
Source: Air UK, The Involvement of Business in Education: A rapid evidence assessment of the measurable impacts, Research Report RW052, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2008-Aug
Researchers examined the delivery of the 'core offer' of extended school services in England. The vast majority of schools surveyed believed that their extended services provision was likely to expand over the next three years. Overall, there was a high level of satisfaction among schools with the support received in developing and delivering extended services.
Source: Ipsos MORI, Extended Schools: Testing the Delivery of the Core Offer in and Around Extended Schools, Research Report RW037, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jul
A think-tank report said that academy schools were delivering significantly improved results, and called for the programme to be greatly expanded – including into the primary school sector.
Source: Julian Astle and Conor Ryan (eds.), Academies and the Future of State Education, CentreForum (020 7340 1160)
Links: Report | CentreForum press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jul
A paper examined the assumption that 'choice and voice' – the power to withdraw a child from a school, and the ability to have views about school quality heard – created user-driven incentives to increase educational quality. But it was found that choice and voice might complement each other only for middle-class parents.
Source: Deborah Wilson, Exit, Voice and Quality in the English Education Sector, Working Paper 08/194, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2008-Jul
An official advisory body said that early school designs under the government's rebuilding programme for secondary schools were not good enough to support educational transformation. A design threshold was needed which would prevent bad schemes from continuing through the system. It should not be acceptable for public money to be used to procure poorly designed schools.
Source: Press release 21 July 2008, Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (020 7960 2400)
Links: CABE press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report said that efforts to create a more equitable education system were at a 'strategic crossroad', trapped between a target-driven effectiveness and improvement model of service reform, and efforts to develop localized and co-ordinated responses to inequity. If equity were to be enhanced, the space should be created for policies to be joined up locally and oriented to meeting community needs.
Source: Mel Ainscow, Alan Dyson, Sue Goldrick, Kirstin Kerr and Susie Miles, Equity in Education: Responding to Context, Centre for Equity in Education/University of Manchester (0161 275 3464)
Links: Report | Manchester University press release | TES report
Date: 2008-Jun
A statistical bulletin examined the data available on school composition (including private schools) in England. It looked at issues such as how representative schools were of pupils in their area (focusing specifically on deprived pupils and those from low-attaining ethnic groups), how far pupils travelled to school, and movement between local authorities when pupils changed from primary to secondary school. The number of pupils taught in grammar schools had increased by nearly one- quarter in the previous 10 years. Pupils from middle-class families were more likely to commute long distances to attend a secondary school.
Source: The Composition of Schools in England, Statistical Bulletin 02-08, Department for Children, Schools and Families (web publication only)
Links: Bulletin | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Jun
Researchers examined the experiences of three primary and three secondary schools in their journey towards becoming community-based organizations, offering services to the wider community. Networking and partnership working were identified as essential to the success and continuation of this approach to provision.
Source: Anne Wilkin, Emily Lamont, Richard White, Kay Kinder and Paul Howard, Schools as Community-based Organisations, CfBT Education Trust (0118 902 1000)
Date: 2008-Jun
The education inspectorate in Wales examined how well schools and local authorities were using funding from the Welsh Assembly Government to provide a range of services and activities to meet the needs of pupils, their families, and the wider community. It called for schools to encourage their local communities to use school facilities and resources more.
Source: Provision of Community-focused Services and Facilities by Schools, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales (029 2044 6446)
Links: Report | HMCIETW press release
Date: 2008-May
An annual survey examined parental involvement in children's education. Around half (51 per cent) of parents felt 'very involved' in their child's school life, a noticeable increase from 29 per cent in 2001, and 38 per cent in 2004. In common with previous years, work commitments were perceived as the main barrier to further involvement. There had been a moderate shift in parents' attitudes away from a child's education being the school's responsibility, towards it being mainly or wholly a parent's responsibility.
Source: Mark Peters, Ken Seeds, Andrew Goldstein and Nick Coleman, Parental Involvement in Children's Education Survey 2007, Research Report 34, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | DCSF press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-May
A literature review examined what was known about the effectiveness of intergenerational practice, in particular in education, community development/neighbourhood renewal, and health settings. There was evidence that successful intergenerational projects had the potential to deliver positive outcomes for participants and for communities.
Source: Iain Springate. Mary Atkinson and Kerry Martin, Intergenerational Practice: A review of the literature, National Foundation for Educational Research (01753 747281)
Date: 2008-May
A report examined the impact of social care professionals working within the multi-disciplinary environment of an extended school. The benefits of this type of service integration were seen as significant, including: earlier identification of needs and quicker access to services; a better understanding and knowledge of roles and responsibilities between social care and education colleagues; and a more coherent, holistic package of support.
Source: Anne Wilkin, Jenny Murfield, Emily Lamont, Kay Kinder and Paul Dyson, The Value of Social Care Professionals Working in Extended Schools, National Foundation for Educational Research (01753 747281)
Links: Report | Summary | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Mar
An audit report said that despite the fact that over the period 2000-2008 more than £5.2 billion would have been committed by the government and local councils to improving Scotland's school estate, about one-third of schools were reported to be still in poor condition. It was estimated that at existing rates it would take another 20 years to make all schools fit for purpose.
Source: Improving the School Estate, Audit Scotland for Accounts Commission and Auditor General (0131 477 1234)
Links: Report | Summary | Audit Scotland press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Mar
The education inspectorate in Wales said that partnerships between local authorities and education providers in children's homes were in need of 'significant improvement'.
Source: Education in Children's Homes, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales (029 2044 6446)
Links: Report | HMCIETW press release
Date: 2008-Mar
The report of an independent advisory body said that the Department for Children, Schools and Families was showing signs of a real commitment to give more freedom for local authorities to get on with delivering the best possible services for their communities: but there was still a long way to go. National information technology projects such as the integrated children's system had often been poorly planned, and had actually created more difficulties for social workers than they solved, as well as diverting attention away from professional approaches to meeting the needs of children and families. The report recommended that local councils providing a good service should only be inspected every two years.
Source: Review of the Department for Children, Schools and Families, Lifting the Burdens Task Force, c/o Local Government Association (020 7664 3131)
Links: Report | Task Force press release | LGA press release
Date: 2008-Feb
A think-tank report examined the impact of the academy model in turning around 'failing' schools. It said that the management independence of the academy model could benefit all state schools – with a particular focus on radical changes to the employment of teachers, and on regulations on discipline, curriculum, and performance tables.
Source: Richard Tice, Academies: A Model Education?, Reform (020 7799 6699)
Links:Report | NUT press release | NASUWT press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Feb
Researchers said that children in England started their formal schooling one year and in some cases two years earlier than in many other countries: but that the assumption that an early primary school starting age was beneficial for children's later attainment was not well supported by the research evidence.
Source: Anna Riggall and Caroline Sharp, The Structure of Primary Education: England and other countries, Research Survey 9/1, The Primary Review/Faculty of Education/University of Cambridge (01223 767523)
Links:Report | Summary | Review press release | PAT press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2008-Feb
The schools minister said that his vision was for academy schools to be in the vanguard of meritocracy for the next generation in the way that grammar schools had been for a proportion of the post-war generation – providing a ladder for less advantaged children to the very best education and qualifications, irrespective of wealth and family background, but without unfair selection at the age of 11.
Source: Speech by Andrew Adonis (Schools Minister), 7 February 2008
Links: Text of speech
Date: 2008-Feb
A new book said that parents faced a school admissions system fraught with confusion, as schools were given the right to develop their own admissions policies. It called for schools to work together to co-ordinate policies, and for the government to reform the admissions code.
Source: Robert Hill, Achieving More Together, Association of School and College Leaders (0116 299 1122)
Links: Summary | ASCL press release | BBC report | Times report
Date: 2008-Jan
An annual survey found that schools in England were increasingly happy with the support and services they received from their local council and its partners: but that more should to be done to help vulnerable children and young people.
Source: National School Survey Results 2007: Schools' views of their council's services and the services provided locally for children and young people (England), Audit Commission (0800 502030)
Links: Report | Audit Commission press release | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Jan
Researchers examined the effectiveness of secondary school admission arrangements in England in 2006, and parents' experience of them. Admissions in 2006 were better co-ordinated and more effectively regulated than in 2000: but in some areas the co-ordination role of local authorities ended with the offer of places in March. Appeals heard had increased up to a peak of 7 per cent of all admissions in 2000-01, and then had steadily declined to 6.1 per cent in 2005-06. Parental satisfaction with the system was broadly similar to that in 2000. Rules should be introduced to make the system fairer to pupils from low-income families, and faith schools should be made to take a quota of children from non-religious backgrounds.
Source: John Coldron et al., Secondary School Admissions, Research Report RR020, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Telegraph report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jan
An annual survey examined headteachers' views on a range of educational issues. Budget levels remained the main concern in primary schools in 2007, although the level of concern was lower than in 2006. In secondary schools, staffing issues had overtaken budgets to became the main area of concern, partly because of difficulties with recruitment.
Source: Karen Lewis, Tamsin Chamberlain, Anna Riggall, Kerensa Gagg and Peter Rudd, Annual Survey of Trends in Education 2007: Schools' concerns and their implications for local authorities, National Foundation for Educational Research (01753 747281)
Links: Summary | NFER press release
Date: 2008-Jan
