A Great Education for All

The Headteachers Roundtable

POLICY PAPER:
TACKLING UNDERACHIEVEMENT AT THE SOURCE

Education Election Manifesto 2015

Media contact: Ruth Whymark
ruth.whymark@cranmer.merton.sch.uk
@ruth_whymark

We are a non-party political group of Headteachers operating as a think-tank,

exploring policy issues from a range of perspectives. Our goal is to provide a vehicle
for people working in the profession to influence national education policymakers
so that education policy is centred upon what is best for the learning of all children.
Twitter: @HeadsRoundtable
Find us at: http://headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com
Contact us at: headteachersrt@hotmail.co.uk

A Great Education for All

Less is always more. If we try to change too much we often end up changing very little and
damaging what we didnt want to change in the first place.
Our ten policy proposals are a modest collection of coherent ideas which, if implemented fully,
would result in a huge improvement to the education system of this country.
Implementing our proposals will take the will of politicians and a commitment to investing in
education; without investment, growth is very difficult to establish.
If we are going to grow great teachers and provide a great education for all, we have to invest in
improving the quality of education in this country.
Its that simple.

Ten Policies towards a Great Education for All

1a:

1b:
2a:
2b:
3a:
3b:
4a:
4b:
5a:
5b:

To introduce the entitlement to a professional development programme leading to QTS for

all teachers after a maximum of two years induction and a masters-level professional
qualification after five years.
To implement the blueprint for the Royal College of Teaching.
To introduce a National Baccalaureate framework following the Headteachers Roundtable
model.1
To introduce progressive qualifications in English and mathematics up to Level 3 to
facilitate continued study to 18 for all learners.
To implement an Intelligent Inspection Framework.
To stabilise Performance Measures.
To harmonise freedoms across maintained schools and academies.
To Introduce Transition Standards Grants to incentivise innovation towards systematic
primary- secondary progression.
To develop a National 0-5 Parent Support Strategy.
To establish a National Recruitment Fund.

http://headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/htrt-english-baccalaureate-trial-update-jan-2014/

Tackling Underachievement at the Source

The Pupil Premium, whilst welcome, has so far had a very limited impact upon raising the educational
outcomes of the socio-economically deprived. The key intervention to tackle underachievement
needs to be aimed at the families of the very young because the die is cast by the time children reach
school age. If we do not tackle this issue at source we will never properly eradicate the cycle of
generational underachievement. On that basis, it makes sense to re-direct some Pupil Premium
resources towards this area of policy. The other major issue which needs addressing is how we
attract high quality Headteachers and leaders to lead under-performing schools. At the moment
there is no incentive for good Headteachers or leaders to take on the difficult challenge of leading a
school in special measures because failure can mean the end of their careers: the personal cost of
failure is too high. There is a similar issue surrounding the recruitment of English and mathematics
specialists, as well as middle leaders.
POLICY PROPOSAL: To develop a National 0-5 Parent Support Strategy
We need to develop with some urgency a national inter-agency strategy supporting all parents to
create an optimal home learning environment for under 5s. Whilst recognising that families in socioeconomically deprived communities will have the greatest need, our aspiration should be to establish
universal entitlements to services that help all parents maximise their childrens health, well-being
and learning in the period before they arrive at school, whenever that may be. Parents who need
support to develop their childs language development, self-esteem, school readiness and broader
aspirations should have access to education-orientated services in their communities. Building on the
evidence from research in this important field, we propose funding a series of extensive pilot projects
that work with parents, schools, health and social services to explore the most effective way to
deploy resources. This is a long-term strategy that will require cross-party commitment before the
results are seen; however it is unacceptable to ignore it any longer and we need to make start.
Within five years, we should be looking towards the implementation of a National 0-5 Parent Support
Strategy characterised by:
Access to a funding stream that will allow an inter-agency strategy working within socioeconomically deprived areas where funding is targeted towards the most vulnerable families;
The acknowledgement that this type of intervention is long term, beyond the electoral cycle
of government, with cross party political support for what will be a 20 year project or longer;
Funding for evaluative research into the impact of the initiative upon the life chances of our
children, with published outcomes.
It is well known that by the time children arrive in school, affected from experiences and trauma in
their early childhood, their developmental impairment is already established. Attachment disorders
lead to symptoms which often can merge with diagnosed conditions such as ADHD and ASD. Adverse
childhood experiences have a clear correlation to negative adult outcomes, particularly those not
addressed or overcome before adolescence.
Attachment is the deep connection established between a child and care-giver that profoundly
affects a childs development and ability to express emotions and develop relationships. Attachment

disorders are the result of negative experiences in early relationship. Caught in infancy, attachment
problems are often easy to correct with the right help and support.
Children who grow up in stressful environments generally find it harder to concentrate, harder to sit
still, harder to rebound from disappointments and harder to follow directions, all of which have a
significant impact on the success of children throughout their school careers and into their adult
futures.
If families in poverty, with clearly identified risk factors such as family breakdown, addiction and
dysfunctional parenting, were supported appropriately through early intervention by health care
professionals and educationally-orientated services, the impact on learning readiness would be
immense.
A more sophisticated version of the Pupil Premium is needed to encompass families with children
from pre-birth to five. Already available data should be utilised to identify families, such as those in
receipt of housing benefit and who live in an area of deprivation, in order to enable further support
to be offered to allow children the best possible start in life.
We could develop a Profile Tool which identifies childhood trauma or special educational needs
linked to childrens Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). Health Visitors and/or midwives could
utilise the profiling tool and could design family interventions for the most vulnerable, such as
attachment therapy, play therapy and parenting schemes. Other interventions could include a paid
mentoring scheme to raise aspirations for vulnerable families with funding streams redirected from
the Youth Justice programme and the Prison System.
POLICY PROPOSAL: To establish a National Recruitment and Retention Fund
In order to attract great leaders to areas of greatest need we should establish a National Recruitment
and Retention Fund which will provide well-targeted funding for areas of deprivation to attract and
retain talented Headteachers, senior and middle leaders as well as specialist English and
Mathematics teachers. There should be three to five year contracts with security of tenure for
talented leaders and teachers who commit themselves to working in schools in the most socioeconomically deprived areas of the country, with a guaranteed post once they have finished that
fixed-term contract. The retention of experienced school leaders, at every level, as well as specialist
classroom practitioners is widely acknowledged as one of the most challenging aspects of the school
workforce today. There also needs to be a national system of the identification and nurture of the
most promising future leaders in order for talented younger members of the school workforce to be
promoted.
As part of this Retention strategy, school leaders and teachers should be invested in through
professional development opportunities; for instance, paid sabbaticals should be part of the standard
pay and conditions of service, as in other countries like Australia.

Schools in challenging circumstances often struggle to recruit and retain high quality staff, leaders
and governors. They often have falling rolls and therefore reduced budgets so that traditional
recruitment and retention strategies are not available to them.
Any additional funding available for recruitment and retention is not sustainable for the school
budget and so access to an alternative national recruitment fund is essential. Our policy is that
schools will be able to apply to the National Recruitment and Retention Fund in order that they can
offer remuneration which reflects the challenging circumstances of the posts being offered. There
has to be an acceptance that recruiting to challenging schools, or a school that is in challenging
circumstances, is difficult and costly.
Financial incentives from the National Recruitment and Retention fund should be used for
secondments, coaching models and school-to-school support so that capacity is built through the
system rather than drained from schools who are already struggling. High quality Chairs of Governors
should also be able to be seconded to schools in challenging circumstances in order to strengthen the
schools governing body.
Building internal capacity for sustainability will be supported through the National Recruitment and
Retention fund.
Applications to the National Recruitment and Retention fund will be available for the following:
To enhance salaries to attract headteachers, senior and middle leaders;
To fund the recruitment of governing bodies with the correct strategic skills and abilities;
To fund relocation allowances;
To enhance CPD packages including masters level professional development courses;
To fund cross-school mentoring and coaching leadership support;
To fund the early identification and support of aspirant leaders.
If we are going to improve the quality of teaching in all our schools we cannot, proverbially, afford to
continue to do what we have always done. We cannot just wish our schools in the most socioeconomically deprived areas of the country to be better; we need to follow what has happened in
London for the last decade, and invest extraordinarily in the leadership of our schools country-wide.
We have to tackle underachievement at the source.

The First 100 Days

We believe the following actions should be taken in the first 100 days of any new
government:
To ensure that children and families eligible for the Pupil Premium Grant
(PPG) are identified centrally by the DfE, utilising existing data around
benefit entitlement. Schools should not have to rely on parent selfdeclaration method of identification of pupil eligibility. This accurate
identification of children and families eligible for the PPG would then ensure
that all 2 year olds eligible for the PPG have an entitlement to 15 hours of
free nursery provision.
To establish a national Recruitment and Retention Fund for schools in
challenging circumstances and identify centrally schools eligible for access to
the fund.
To review school teachers pay and conditions to ensure the issue of
retention is addressed, allowing for paid sabbaticals after a significant
period of service.
To launch a national recruitment strategy for school governance.
To create a national scheme to identify talented leaders and future leaders
to work in the most challenging circumstances.

Twitter: @HeadsRoundtable
Find us at: http://headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com
Contact us at: headteachersrt@hotmail.co.uk