Russell Haggar

Site Owner

Parts List

Part One: Some Introductory Links Followed By Early Investigations - Click Here
Part Two: Some More Recent Investigations - Click Here
Part Three: School Effectiveness Research 
Part Four: Secondary School Choice - Click Here
Part Five: Summary and Conclusions - Click Here

 

Social Class Differences in Educational Achievement [2] : The Schools

Part 3

School Effectiveness Research

In any case ,however, although interactionist sociologists from the 1960s to the 1980s focused very heavily on  the possible impacts of negative and positive labelling often linked to processes of streaming, banding and setting , it is clear that even if these processes are very significant they are not the only factors affecting the overall effectiveness of schools. In so called Schools Effectiveness Research which became increasingly prominent in the 1980s and1990s it was pointed out that different schools with very similar socio-economic intakes often produced very different examination results thus suggesting that any adverse effects caused by the social class, ethnic or gender mix of schools student populations could to some extent be offset in well organised schools. Professor Barber summarised some important conclusions of a 1995 study  by expert school effectiveness researchers Sammons, Thomas and Mortimore as follows:

 “In a recent study of 94 secondary schools in eight inner city local education authorities it was found that ‘the difference between the most and the least effective schools was over 12 GCSE points for an average pupil This is the equivalent of achieving 6 grade B GCSEs as opposed to 6 grade D GCSEs ” which represents a very significant differences in achievements with possibly major implications for pupils’ future educational careers.

[Source: The Learning Game 1996]

Thus in the opinion of school effectiveness researchers the effectiveness of schools themselves can have a major impact on the educational achievements of their pupils  so that it is vital to discover the factors which contribute to increased schools effectiveness.

 

Activity1.      What is the significance of the above quotation from the Sammons, Thomas and Mortimore study?2.      Imagine that you are a Head Teacher at a secondary school situated in a socially deprived area and that examination results at your school are significantly below the national average. ·        Briefly state some of the factors internal to your school which could explain the below average examination results. ·        Briefly state some of the factors external to your school which could explain the below average examination results. ·        How would you feel about the situation if your results were below the national average for all schools but above the average for schools in areas as socially deprived as your area? ·        How would you feel about the situation if your results were below the national average for all school and below the average for schools in areas as socially deprived as your own?

 

Conclusions on Schools Effectiveness Research

Although the conclusions of Schools Effectiveness Research do seem to be very plausible the critics of Schools effectiveness research have argued that it deflects attention from the impact of socio-economic inequality on educational opportunity and encourages governments to believe that educational opportunities for disadvantaged groups can be improved without radical measures to tackle the socio-economic inequality which, according to many critics of government education policy, is the underlying cause of educational inequality. Even if New Labour governments have had some success in the reduction of child poverty the extent of economic inequality as measured by statistics on the distribution of income has barely changed at all since 1997 and, as we have seen, there are very strong correlations between social class membership and educational achievement.

Perhaps it is reasonable to conclude that if disadvantaged pupils are to be given fair educational opportunities both school based reforms and  effective widely based social reforms to reduce social inequality and poverty are both necessary.

Click here for a Guardian article on Schools Effectiveness Research

For further recent information [Feb 2012] click here for February 2012 BBC Radio 4 Analysis Programme entitled “Do Schools make a Difference? 

 

 

Part Four: Secondary School Choice - Click Here