The pupil premium: eight ideas for how

schools can do more with less

Louis Coiffait@LouisMMCoiffait

@LouisMMCoiffait 2

NAHT EdgePearson

FreshMinds

Cambridge

TTA

Westminster CouncilYork/UCLA

MinisterMP

California

Quick intro

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Quick contextAttempt to summarise EEF/Sutton Trust and NAO reports in last 24hrs, then read the runes…

Growing commitment to narrow the attainment gap, 94% of schools now target support for disadvantaged students, compared to 57% before it was introduced

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Quick contextThe Pupil Premium (PP) is having an effect, as 2011-14 data shows;

• 4.7 per cent overall reduction in attainment gap between disadvantaged students and their peers in primary

• 1.6 per cent reduction in secondary

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Quick contextBut “no clear trends” according to the NAO, it’s still early days to judge the Pupil Premium

And the gap is still wide e.g. 27.4 per cent in 2014 for English and Maths A*-C GCSE

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Quick contextNAO

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Quick contextChallenges identifying all disadvantaged students eligible for PP support (issues: FSM definition, PP formula, UFSM, Universal Credit)

75% of school leaders report low-income working families ineligible

A new ‘data sharing system’ called for by EEF/Sutton Trust

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Quick contextThe Pupil Premium associated with

No government can abandon it, but…

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Quick contextValue for money will be scrutinised more, £2.5bn spent on 2m PP students this year

Schools should make the most of the freedoms and support they have

But also share challenges they face e.g. recruitment and funding – the government does respond to pressure

Here are eight ideas for what schools can do (and how the government can help them)

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1• Prove PP spending is focused on disadvantaged students

2• Collaborate creatively to get the staff needed

3• Make use of evidence to inform decisions

4• Demonstrate value for money

5• Get an external review

6• Check websites contain all the right information

7• Turn to… Ofsted

8• Apply for a Pupil Premium award

8 ideas for schools

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1: Focus £ on PP students

NAO found 77 per cent of PP funding being ‘diluted’ by being spent on all students

Schools need to show evidence of ‘prioritised spending’

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1: Focus £ on PP studentsTough to prioritise funding this way in austere climate of cuts…

EEF/Sutton Trust found 50% of primary and 44% of secondary teachers said their schools fund activities that would otherwise have been cut due to budget pressures

The NAO found 45% of schools faced real-terms cuts e.g. 5 per cent real terms cuts to 16 per cent of the most disadvantaged secondary schools, even with extra PP funding

The Institute for Fiscal Studies found 12% real terms budget cuts are coming

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1: The London weightingNAO

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1: Primary fundingNAO

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1: Secondary fundingNAO

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1: Focus £ on PP studentsCurrent funding system is unfair, we badly need a national funding formula from the government

Government’s role is to ensure schools have the resources they need

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2: Collaborate on staffingSchools can work collaboratively and creatively to get the staff they need

You know that the single best way to help disadvantaged students is through great teachers who can deliver high quality lessons But where will they come from? Especially in MFL, physics and maths

Where will the next generation of middle and senior leader come from?

We face a dip in the number of graduates at the same time as a surge in student numbers, as well as an improving economy offering alternative, better paid-careers

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2: New teachers vs targetThe Conversation/DfE

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2: Collaborate on staffingSchools can work together through secondments, CPD, mentoring, shadowing, shared roles and projects

Government urgently needs to do more to make teaching an attractive, rewarding career for life

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3: Be informed by evidenceNAO found many schools using ineffective approaches without challenge for years (so expect more accountability soon)

Still early days for teaching to become a truly ‘evidence-informed profession’

Although it’s up from 52% in 2012, still only 64% of school leaders are using the EEF toolkit to inform their PP spending

The College of Teaching is in its infancy

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3: Be informed by evidenceYes every school/class/student is different

But high performing schools focus on variation between classes and systematically test what works for each of their students

They use evidence to inform both practice and management decisions

Cycle: Hypothesis – Experiment – Evaluate

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3: How do you decide?

EEF/Sutton

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3: How do you decide?NAO

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3: Be informed by evidenceGood schools also embed innovation and change into their teaching and learning, as well as their management practices

They have a clear idea of what the evidence says and what they’re currently testing in their school

Government, Ofsted and others should trust them more and give them time

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4: Show value for moneyThe NAO found an over-reliance on ‘high-cost’ approaches

Consider cost and impact in the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) toolkit

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/

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4: What schools are doing

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4: The EEF toolkit

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4: Show value for money1:1 tuition (in 71% of schools, ££££/5, +4 months) vs small groups (£££/5, +4 months) vs peer-to-peer (25% are, ££/5, +6 months)

What’s the cost/impact of using extra teaching assistants? 71% of schools do, relatively expensive ££££/5 (£430m spent), not that effective (+1 month) unless used well

Are you using feedback effectively? (63% of schools focus on it, can be cheap (££/5) and effective (+8 months), but EEF/Sutton Trust found only 6% of teachers/leaders prioritise spending on feedback

The government needs to increase the investment in CPD for both teachers and school leaders

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5: Get an external reviewSchools can get external support from an independent and approved reviewer

See https://www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-reviews

The NAO found that up to Feb 2015, only 7 of 214 approved reviewers were in the South-West

DfE is addressing this shortage, there are currently 526 reviewers nationwide, including 34 in the South-West

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5: Get an external reviewBut only 10% of schools have used them so far

Note that 8% of primaries and 21% of secondaries inspected by Ofsted Sep to Dec 2014 were asked to do so

The government can ensure the quantity and quality of reviewers meets demand

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6: Check your websiteDfE guidance: https://www.gov.uk/what-maintained-schools-must-publish-online#pupil-premium

You must publish details of how your school spends its pupil premium funding and the effect this has had on the attainment of the pupils who attract the funding. You must include the following:• your pupil premium allocation for the current

academic year• details of how you intend to spend your

allocation• details of how you spent your previous academic

year’s allocation• how it made a difference to the attainment of

disadvantaged pupils

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6: Check your websiteHeath School and Belmont School websites are listed as helpful examples

The government can also help create a climateof hope rather than fear, by using appropriateLanguage…

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7: Turn to… OfstedNAO found Ofsted was one of the most popular sources of PP best practice

See the (archived) Ofsted guidance http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20141124154759/http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/pupil-premium-analysis-and-challenge-tools-for-schools

One mention in Jan 2015 Ofsted inspection frameworkhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-framework-for-school-inspection

How inspectors use their time during inspections?55. Inspectors will evaluate evidence relating to the achievement of specific groups of pupils and individuals, including those eligible for support from the PP

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8: Apply for a PP awardFind ideas at http://www.pupilpremiumawards.co.uk

What’s to lose in applying? It costs nothing but a little time, 600 schools win cash prizes this year

The process itself should be a helpful one

Hopefully the government will listen to EEF/Sutton Trust calls for even greater rewards for schools effectively spending PP funding

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Thank you…