Excellence and equity: Tackling educational disadvantage in England's secondary schools

Article

In this book, leading education thinkers, commentators and practitioners outline how England's schools can match up with the best in the world and provide opportunities for all our children.

It is vital that every child has an equal opportunity to succeed at school. Education equips people with the skills, knowledge, friendships and credentials to participate fully in society.

However, there is a strong relationship between poverty, deprivation and academic achievement. These gaps in education performance persist, entrenching wider inequalities in the labour market, housing market and social structures. In the world's leading school systems a child's academic success is less likely to be a result of their family background and more likely to be the result of their own ability and effort.

This book sets out some ways to tackle educational disadvantage. The specific issues and approaches addressed include:

  • school choice and admissions
  • school accountability
  • the teaching profession
  • fragmentation in the school system
  • the pupil premium
  • tackling disadvantage beyond the school gates.

The edited collection includes ideas and perspectives from a rich and diverse range of contributors:

  • Foreword by Brett Wigdortz - How will we know whether we have succeeded in tackling educational disadvantage?
  • Jonathan Clifton and Will Cook - The achievement gap in context
  • Rebecca Allen - Fair access: Making school choice and admissions work for all
  • Simon Burgess - School accountability, performance and pupil attainment
  • Jonathan Clifton - Getting the most out of the pupil premium
  • Dylan Wiliam - The importance of teaching
  • James Toop - Reducing within-school variation and the role of middle leadership
  • Tim Brighouse - The importance of collaboration: Creating 'families of schools'
  • Christine Harrison - Testing times: Reforming classroom teaching through assessment
  • David Price - Tackling pupil disengagement: Making the curriculum more engaging
  • Alan Dyson, Kirstin Kerr and Chris Wellings - Beyond the school gates: Developing children's zones for England
  • Ann Hodgson and Ken Spours - After school: Promoting opportunities for all young people in a locality

Related items

  1. A front three quarter length view of a small group of university students walking together talking in the city on an autumn day in Newcastle, England

    A generation apart? Youth politics, alienation and democratic renewal in Britain

    Public debate about young people and politics is loud, contested – and largely wrong.

  2. Britain’s broken social contract: Young people have lost faith in their future

    Drawing on new evidence, this blog examines the decline in young people’s optimism about work, success and social mobility, and argues for a new deal to rebuild trust in Britain’s social contract.
  3. Female beggar in London. Sitting on a bag, with a blanket round her legs and a blue hood and brown coat. A newspaper and litter is on the path as she rests with a hand out against a map as people walk past

    Closing the gaps: Immigration status and homelessness

    Homelessness in England is on the rise, including among migrants and refugees.