Plans for more pupil premium funding to be spent on boosting literacy and numeracy risk “watering down” efforts to help disadvantaged pupils, a leading education figure has warned.
The Department for Education’s Schools White Paper, launched yesterday, contains a pledge that by 2030 every child who falls behind in English or maths will get the right support to get back on track - a policy that has been dubbed the “Parent Pledge”.
The policy paper states that “use of the £2.6 billion per year pupil premium is key to delivering the Parent Pledge”.
It adds that, while the pupil premium will retain its “core focus” on driving up the attainment of disadvantaged children, the DfE will “make it easier for schools to use this money to support literacy and numeracy skills where needed”.
But, speaking at a Tes debrief on the White Paper, Carole Willis, CEO of the National Foundation for Educational Research, warned that the suggestion that pupil premium would be “watered down” was a “concern”.
Pupil premium funding is awarded to schools based on the number of pupils on their roll who are eligible for free school meals - or have been eligible in the past six years - or have been adopted from care, have left care, or who are looked after by the local authority.
Schools White Paper: Fears over plan for pupil premium funding
The government’s own guidance says that the money is “to improve education outcomes for disadvantaged pupils”.
But while the White Paper states that the funding will retain its “core focus” on improving the attainment of disadvantaged children “wherever they fall on the ability spectrum”, it appears to suggest that more money should be used to help support literacy and numeracy skills more generally.
Speaking about the pupil premium at Tes’ event yesterday, Ms Willis said she worried that the funding had not kept up with inflation in previous years.
She added: “There was also a suggestion in the White Paper that it might be watered down further and used for pupils who aren’t disadvantaged to help them meet their literacy and numeracy target. So that’s a concern.”
James Turner, CEO of educational charity The Sutton Trust, said it was “vital” that the announcement did not cause a watering down of the pupil premium’s focus on supporting the most disadvantaged.
He said that while schools should “absolutely” have flexibility on how to spend their pupil premium money, it is “important” that this is based on the best possible evidence.
“We cannot forget disadvantaged pupils with high potential who also need support to fulfil their promise. It is vital that this new announcement doesn’t mean a watering down of the pupil premium’s focus on supporting the most disadvantaged,” he added,
“Resources are already thinly stretched and every decision on how the pupil premium is spent must be justified in terms of supporting better outcomes for the poorest pupils.”
The DfE has also produced a “menu” of options alongside the White Paper that tells schools what they can then spend money on, with “interventions to support language development, literacy and numeracy” included on the list.
A DfE spokesperson said: “The Pupil Premium remains focused on accelerating the progress and boosting the attainment of disadvantaged pupils - the Schools White Paper does not change that.
“To help schools drive maximum impact from their Pupil Premium, we have introduced a ‘menu of approaches’ informed by evidence of what works. This will support schools to use their funding effectively, including on boosting literacy and numeracy skills. “
