Rachel Macfarlane remembers the introduction of the pupil premium well. She was a headteacher at the time and witnessed the roll-out first-hand. There’s no denying, she says, the positive impact the policy has had in helping schools to support some disadvantaged children.
She does, however, have a warning: the pupil premium “label” is not a perfect proxy for poverty, and if schools want to really help disadvantaged students, they need to look beyond this.
“There are some families who are living in real poverty who just miss out on eligibility. Even before the pandemic, it was estimated that a third of all children in the UK were living in real poverty. That number has increased massively in the last few years and, with the current cost-of-living crisis, it will go up and up,” she says.
“We also know there are some children who are eligible for pupil premium who are not the most disadvantaged children because they have a huge amount of emotional and educational support from their families.”
It’s crucial, therefore, that schools don’t “lump pupil premium students together in one homogenous group”, she adds. Instead, leaders and teachers need to get to know every child as an individual to see which ones are presenting with the greatest needs.
Macfarlane has decades of experience in school leadership, and today is the director of education services at Herts for Learning. She is also the author of Obstetrics for Schools: A guide to eliminating failure and ensuring the safe delivery of all learners. Here, she talks to Tes about what she believes schools need to do differently with disadvantaged learners.
Tes: Where should schools begin when it comes to supporting disadvantaged learners?
There is research that teachers can look at around this: just this year, the Education Endowment Foundation published an updated version of its evidence-based guide to developing a pupil premium strategy. Many of the approaches mentioned in the document are ones that I implemented throughout my career as a teacher and headteacher, and write about in my book.
Essentially, schools need to ensure that they have sharpened antennae to find out which children are presenting with the greatest needs and vulnerabilities. Next, leaders and teachers need to work smartly, to really hone in on the particular barriers or obstacles that each one of those children is facing and to find an effective solution to each specific barrier.
What does that process look like, in practical terms?
In Hertfordshire, we’ve devised a pupil premium audit tool, which encourages senior leaders to look at their disadvantaged cohort and really drill down and ask questions like: how many of these learners have got economic poverty in their life? How many of them are suffering from the fact that there’s no one at home really taking an interest in their education? It might be that they are on the pupil premium register and they have English as a second language, or they’re on the register and also have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
There are so many little nuances and I’d really encourage school leaders to find a manageable system or way of ensuring that somebody in their school knows each and every student who could be vulnerable.
With many pupils, you get to know them and very quickly realise they’re being supported in lots of ways: whether that’s in school already, through their family and community networks, or via after-school societies and clubs. But when you find a child who isn’t getting that support, the school needs to act as a surrogate parent.
Capturing that level of detail is a challenge; how do you go about gathering it?
A lot of it comes down to a really good transition programme: there needs to be a really thorough form or conversation asking the right questions and collecting the right data, whether a child is transitioning from nursery to Reception or from Year 6 to Year 7, or joining a school mid-year.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but if you don’t have a smart and sharp process around transition, you’re missing out on a significant piece of the picture. Research shows us that disadvantaged learners benefit disproportionately from smooth transitions.
When I was principal of Isaac Newton Academy, we made the decision that every child would have a home visit before they started school in Reception or Year 7. That’s a really comprehensive way of getting to know every child: you sit in their front room, meet their family members, and see their certificates and holiday photos. You get the chance to talk to them about their hopes, fears and aspirations.
It takes half an hour, and you get a wealth of information, which can then be disseminated to the teaching staff to assist with a smooth start to school.
It’s a great way to build a relationship and a sense of trust, and it makes it much easier when, a year or so later, you might need to make a difficult call to the family because something’s gone wrong in school.
How can schools make time for home visits when many members of staff are already struggling with workload?
In the first couple of years of Isaac Newton, it was mainly the SLT who did the visits, and they did take hours. However, as the cohort of staff grew, we asked for volunteers and had a great response from operational and teaching staff. Nobody was required to do it, but the majority of staff wanted to and, in the end, no one did more than four or five in the summer term, so it was much more manageable.
Schools could always adopt a smaller scale version, and just visit those who are flagged up as vulnerable by the feeder school, those on the pupil premium register and those with SEND.
What support should schools offer to pupils after transition?
Allocating a staff champion to each disadvantaged child can be really effective: it could be the person who did the home visit, but it doesn’t have to be.
That person would arrange to meet the student, say once a week or every fortnight, for a casual catch up. They may arrange to sit and have lunch with them on a Wednesday, for example, and just talk about their life and studies, how they are finding school, where they are thriving, and where they are struggling.
The staff champion acts as the spokesperson or a representative for that young person, liaising with other staff to help break down barriers and overcome issues.
What about within lessons? How can classroom teachers help?
It’s all about connecting with each child individually, and showing them that you are interested in them. That’s not easy to do when you’re teaching 180 children a day, but even something like what your teaching space looks like can relay the message that you care.
For lots of disadvantaged learners who come from really chaotic homes, coming into a classroom that is really cluttered, messy and noisy is off-putting: it can create background fuzz that is really confusing and distracting for them. Think about how conducive your teaching space is to a student like that.
When you’re planning your lessons, think about what your PowerPoint presentations and resources look like, and ask yourself, am I creating unnecessary clutter, noise and distraction? Will this add to the student’s cognitive load?
Again, this isn’t easy because you’ve also got to balance that with students who will really respond well to stimulation and who need lots of things to interact with because, at home, they may not have any discussion around their studies. Within the classroom, try to create sub-environments that are going to help individuals or types of learners to feel supported and stay stimulated, inspired and safe.
Developing oracy, too, can be a great way to support disadvantaged learners. Teaching students how to articulate, to talk fluently and effectively, is going to give them a huge advantage later in life. They should know how to project their voice without fear or anxiety, and to speak without using lots of sentence fillers. This isn’t a quick win, and it’s something that should be built into every subject over time.
Is there anything else teachers should consider when it comes to pedagogy?
A colleague of mine at Herts for Learning, Alison Wood, devised a checklist that assists classroom teachers in addressing the needs of disadvantaged learners.
When planning, for example, teachers need to take the student’s specific needs into account: things like making sure they’re seated according to their needs, whether that’s nearer to the front, around high-attaining pupils, or in a desk space that is easily accessible by a teacher of TA, can make a huge difference.
Many teachers do this already, but it is worth reinforcing: some students may need adapted resources depending on their barriers, and you should check that they have all the equipment and books they need and, if not, ensure the school provides them.
When giving feedback, teachers should ensure they engage in dialogue with disadvantaged learners. This may mean marking the books of these students with particular care and, where necessary, in more detail.
If there are any problems - or indeed, if the pupil has made positive progress - take the time to feed this back to the student’s tutor or champion, so they can have in-depth conversations with the student about their learning.
Independent learning and homework may pose particular problems for some of these students. What strategies might help here?
There is a range of subtle things you can do with more vulnerable students that can give them a boost during independent learning and homework.
Take a few minutes to speak quietly to the student to support, encourage and challenge them, while the rest of the class is working quietly. Saying things like “I’m expecting you to aim for…” can prevent them from being overwhelmed. You could also write a quick positive comment on their work, so they can see it in black and white, and take encouragement from this.
When it comes to homework, suggest that they try working with a study buddy out of school and suggest someone who would be a good choice.
