How do we close the poverty gap?

We have all sat nervously looking at a child and thought, I don't know how to help you. It is an uncomfortable truth and one that many teachers would be unwilling to admit or acknowledge. However in literally every class I've taught there has been at least one of these children. A child who receives little or no home support, a child who often can't hold a pencil properly even in Key Stage 2, a child who is simply maturing far slower than their peers. For me educating these children is not about trying to get them to reach Expected Standard or beyond (as much as my SLT may not like to hear that). It's not even necessarily about progressing them according to a schools academic monitoring programme. So what is it about? Quite simply, surviving. Providing them with the tools need to survive growing up and into adult hood. 

Statistically a child from a poor background is already about 8 months behind their more affluent peers in their reading ability upon entering school. 8 months, let that sink in for a moment. 8 months. Essentially an entire academic year behind their peers from day 1. A reception teacher is therefore faced with the prospect of having to drag an extra 8 months progress out of a child that will often not have had nursery pre-schooling and is potentially not being read to at home. For some their parents won't be able to read. 

So when I sit down with my disadvantaged  child in Year 4- note I hate labels but sometimes they are needed - they will have been playing catch up every day for their entire school career. As we all know quality reading flows into quality writing so the gap widens across the curriculum. Children so far behind are then regularly withdraw from Foundation subjects in the afternoons to attend booster groups or interventions so their understanding of Geography or History suffers. Suddenly before we know it we are packing a child off to Secondary School with a 'sorry we 

tried our best' sticker on their forehead. And we did. We really, really did. 

Let me be clear this is 100% not a criticism of any setting I have worked in or come into contact with. It's not a criticism of the hundreds of thousands of teachers out there who probably spend more sleepless nights tossing and turning over these children than any of the others. But I defy any teacher to say they haven't whispered to a colleague 'I just worry about what will happen when they grow up.'

And that's the point. 

The Office of National Statistics claim that children are seven and half times less likely to succeed at school if their father is poorly educated. If the mother is then this drops to three times. It goes on to conclude in its poverty report that poor education is the number 1 reason for the maintaining of poverty in certain families. Let's not sugar coat this, the child that you are always having to support, the child that you're always having to check on and give extra guidance in Year 4 is almost statistically guaranteed to have a child in the exact same position some years in the future. The cycle will continue. Unless it is addressed. 

So how do we do that?

1. School ethos - everything will rise or fall on school ethos. Every child will succeed, no matter what. This buy in amongst all staff is utterly imperative to success. Along side this practical steps must be taken, set up an invite only homework club. Teachers hand pick those they feel need the most support, these children are expected to attend every week or the issue is passed to SLT to contact parents. (It works, trust me, it works.) This is done after school and on occasion invite parents to come along too. 
2. Raising aspirations - focus on small victories. What can said child do? What are they already good at? Build on this and make this the positive vehicle that carries them forward. 
3. It's all about the parents - there is only so much we can do. The Sutton Trust has pleaded with Government that alongside free childcare we need huge investment in free adult education and parenting support. In my setting we run regular parent workshops on how we deliver different subjects. Phone your target parents before hand, explain you'd love to see them there. If they don't answer phone again and again and again. Catch them at the school gate. Don't let them say no. 
4. Buddies - every child in my class that I know comes from a difficult background or a background of poverty is sat next to a buddy. This person doesn't need to be the brightest and certainly not the richest. However by simply providing them with a role model of aspiration and attitude it is incredible how quickly you can see personality changes in some of these children. Buddies should be very carefully selected. 

The truth is many schools are already doing this and more. Many are trying to find ways to support these under achievers. But it clearly, according to the research, isn't working nationally. According to latest figures 29% of our child population live in poverty. 29%. Take a look at your new class in September, statistically 29% of them live in poverty. Repeating the same process year after year will bring the same results. Results that often don't change a thing. Make a change, be the change you want to see in your children and in your school. 

The College according to Joe

It has been 8 months since The Chartered College of Teaching officially opened for membership and there has been lots of exciting news and developments along the way. I was fortunate enough to spend some time recently with Joe Treacy, Head of Membership & Partners at The Chartered College and could discuss with him how things are going.

The overwhelming feeling is one of optimism and enthusiasm for the future. With nearly 6000 members now signed up there is a sense of achievement within The Chartered College, however Joe is very aware that there is a much longer journey ahead. Whilst pleased with the current figures he explains to me that the biggest challenge is simply making teachers aware of The Chartered College in the first place. Those that are not on Twitter, he explains, are the hardest to engage with. “How can we get our message out there?”, he asks, perhaps hoping I had an answer. However, a plan is already underway, marketing teams are being put in place and engagement through social media is a key strategy for the coming year. Working closely with organisations like Teach First and the Unions will help and an advocacy team is now set up made up of volunteer teachers and educators, their role is to engage and promote The Chartered College as much as possible with an aim to increasing numbers, interest and support. Finally, the regional research networks have been formed with training due to take place in September offering a go to point for support and research across the country.

Joe, himself a former teacher, is quick to highlight why he feels The Chartered College is destined to become a real success.Joe jokes that they should give Dame Alison Peacock, CEO at The Chartered College another dame hood for the work she has done and the impact she has had on the profession. He openly says that it is the biggest privilege of his career to work with her and describes how Dame Alison could have very easily gone on to work with other established, reputable organisations interested in her skills, and could naturally have continued the fantastic work she was doing at The Wroxham School. However, she felt that The Chartered College was the way forward, a real chance for the profession to regain its autonomy and voice. Joe highlights nicely how Dame Alison sums up The College, it’s about giving teachers something they don’t even realise they need yet.  

This is the strength of The Chartered College according to Joe, the potential and opportunities to work together as a profession. We openly discuss the often self-depreciating nature of educators and the disagreements within our community when practise or theory comes into play. Joe explains that The Chartered College isn’t about designing prescriptive teaching or writing a how to guide. Rather, it is about exploring research together and linking it with every day practice, finding out how we can improve the profession by communication and collaboration rather than teachers in Sussex trying to carry out a pilot scheme of something that may already be taking place somewhere else. It is also about moving away from fads, what is in fashion in education. The College, Joe explains, is there to put those two parties in touch with each other, to arrange visits, share in ideas and suggestions and discuss changes and improvements. Finally, to celebrate the teaching profession for the brilliant profession it is and raise the prestige around it. Joe asks “why can’t teachers be held in the same regard as other professions such as doctors?”

With the Chartered Teacher status due to begin next year, Fellowship, the most prestigious and highest category of membership is also planned to be launched this September and the regional hubs due to begin their work it is an exciting time for The Chartered College. Joe’s infectious enthusiasm for their work is tempered by his readiness to listen to my suggestions. That’s the entire point of The Chartered College, it is about what we as the educators want, how do we wish to be supported, what do we wish to see? Many teachers will feel that they already do a very good job, the vast majority of them do, but that doesn’t mean, according to Joe and The College, that we can’t do it better.

Teach them to love reading, but how?

Let’s get them to love reading, how?

One of the most frequent debates I see on the social media of the education world is the role of reading and how it is delivered. More specifically how we can develop and foster a love of reading. In the second half of the previous academic year I began to give this considerable thought. How can we give a child an emotion? How can we ‘make them’ want to read? This I felt was more of a challenge than teaching them how to write a sentence for example or learn their tables. Those are tasks that can be proven and completed. In comparison loving reading is, of course, an intrinsic emotion that is hard to quantify. This is even further complicated by the fact that much of this reading naturally will be done away from school and as children get older away from parents too. Therefore I set about a three pronged attack on my class’ unsuspecting minds and observed how they got on.

Reading is number 1 – This sounds silly but I looked at my own class bookshelf and noticed that though there were several great children’s books on it (and a number of education ones) there was no real depth. How was I promoting quality children’s literature to my class if I wasn’t doing this myself? To let you in on a little secret, I haven’t read perhaps half of the books on my bookshelf, but the children can see they are there and that I fully have the intention of reading them. I am sure many teachers are already doing this however I now have many teachers popping into my room to borrow off my bookshelf. These books have been bought by the school they aren’t ‘mine’ but it also shows the children the value that the other adults in the school put by high quality texts. The class rushed to ask for recommendations and requests and next year I am going to make some books ‘out of bounds’ like a forbidden section in the library. There will be special release dates when the children can then ask to borrow something that I know they have had their eyes on for a while rather than just asking for it because they like the cover. It is utterly imperative that teachers know children’s books, Dahl, Morpurgo and Enid Blyton have their place but they are most certainly not what we should be relying on when you have fantastic writers like Marcus Sedgwick, Abi Elphinstone and Maz Evans producing relevant, engaging and enthralling modern tales that children can relate directly to.

Freedom. . .  to a point – So what is appropriate for children in say Upper Key Stage 2 to be reading? Who gets to decide? Is it even our job to decide? Personally I think that is entirely up to you, you are the professional, you are the teacher, you know your class, do what you think is right. Having said that you’ve read this far so I will now bore you with what I think. I want every single child in my class to read as much as they can, as many different styles and genres as they can and as many different text types too. We have a responsibility to support this and if necessary set barriers to ensure this happens. This year I will be colour coding specific genres of different books, the children will record what book they have read and see what genre this falls into. At Christmas we will discuss what colour cards they have and why this is. If they have only read what we have dubbed ‘family dilemma’ books, Tracey Beaker etc is this necessarily going to provide them with the depth of language and setting variety we would want? If a child adores Beast Quest that is brilliant however I feel it is my professional responsibility to also ensure they are reading books that aren’t fantasy based, different text types like poetry and a range of non-fiction too. Think of it like this, imagine speaking to said child when they hit 16 and they had only ever read fantasy, they may have grown into Tolkien and Pratchett but they will have been denied the world of Dickens and Stephen King because we just want to make sure they are reading? All the research shows reading tends to lessen as children hit their teenage years, we must show them the whole world of possibilities before they start to narrow their reading choice even further. Of course some of this rests with parents also but I feel we must take a hand in this. If we as educators demonstrate a desire to read as widely as possible, and explain the virtues of different genres and text types then little constraint and directing should be needed anyway.

Beyond reading – now I know this can be a contentious point and that’s fine but I love reading records. When used properly they are a treasure trove of information and evidence for a teacher. Note I am not speaking of the diary that says ‘Read page 4-8. Signed Mum’ this is entirely pointless and just smacks of teachers pushing their children to fill them in because SLT say they must be used.

What I am talking about can be seen below,

This particular child has recorded her journey through the book. She wasn’t initially enjoying the story though as you can see from her comments. However she explains what she feels the author’s intentions are.  By combining simple comprehension explanation with their own feelings and attitudes to the text I am able to get a much clearer understanding of where this child is with their reading. I am not going to pretend this was the standard for every child however every child did develop their diary almost as a companion; they viewed reading as naturally flowing into writing and discussing books. It is almost a diary of their reading accomplishments and feelings. This feeds into their class ethic and work.

By May I had half of my class spending 40 minutes a morning reading to each other in what became known as reading conferences and then sharing their feelings about the books. They trained themselves, learnt from others and guided each other through this process to such a point that other than dropping in the occasional ‘question bomb’, as they came to dub them, they were fully independent. This left me to fully engage with the children that still needed more support on decoding and comprehension.  

I am not going to pretend that every child in my class suddenly fell in love with reading and did it without pause. However  every single child left more engaged with books, better aware of how to talk about and interact with a book and far more aware of the texts around them. Please try these ideas, let me know if you have any suggestions of how to improve them or if you think I am missing a trick somewhere. Good luck!Let’s get them to love reading, how?