Author: Tim Dracup
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. This post features analysis of the 2016 primary transition matrices, but mostly raises awkward questions. . Context Publication of the 2016 primary performance tables is imminent, together with revised national figures for achievement of the KS2 higher standard and new breakdowns by pupil characteristics, including receipt of pupil premium. We also await the results…
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. This post probes the ‘centres of excellence’ proposal in the selection green paper. ‘Schools that work for everyone’ (September 2016) includes within its chapter on selection three proposals for ‘existing selective schools to do more to support children at non-selective schools’ This context is critical for understanding much of the confusion over centres of…
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. This post reports five-year trends in the admission of disadvantaged students to selective universities, as revealed by the government’s key stage 5 destinations data. This half decade coincided almost exactly with the lifetime of a government that was strongly committed to social mobility through higher education. What does the destinations data reveal about the…
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. This experimental post revisits the question whether all grammar schools are effective in closing attainment gaps between disadvantaged students and their peers. Ministers have asserted as much in recent speeches, but they are relying on a single piece of research, now more than a decade old. The Education Policy Institute has countered with qualified…
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. I included in my last post, on the selection green paper, a set of seven draft principles to inform national policy on educating high-attaining learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. I wanted to lay out a framework that would challenge the thinking of proponents and opponents of selective education alike, to show how it might be possible…
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. This extended post is about the selection green paper and the prime ministerial speech preceding it. I come at this issue from a different position to most. It is of course essential to ensure that the government’s proposals do not unduly disadvantage the majority of learners. But it is equally important to consider their…
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. This post is about the new ‘achieving at a higher standard’ headline measure that will now feature in the primary performance tables. Provisional statistics indicate that only 5% of the 2016 end of KS2 cohort achieved this standard. That is disappointing, even allowing for the substantial impact of curriculum reform and new assessment arrangements.…
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Originally posted on Gifted Phoenix: This post considers how England’s selective schools are addressing socio-economic disadvantage. Another irrelevant Norwegian vista by Gifted Phoenix It is intended as an evidence base against which to judge various political statements about the potential value of selective education as an engine of social mobility. It does not deal with…
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. This post: Reviews progress to date on white paper policies to improve the education of higher attaining learners Considers some wider implications of the white paper’s commitment to equality of educational opportunity, regardless of background and prior attainment, and Proposes a dedicated national centre, based in a leading university, to specialise in the education…
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. This post discusses the gap between what the schools white paper said would be in the ITT core content framework and what was actually published. . Background In a previous post – Differentiation in the ITT core content framework (March 2016) – I described the origins of the framework and its intended focus on…
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. This is the third in an occasional series of introspective posts exploring whether or not I belong ‘on the spectrum’. The first explained why I consider myself a borderline case, while the second described the traits that have led one family member to out me as a bona fide Aspie. The latter painted such…
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. HMCI Sir Michael Wilshaw devoted his monthly commentary for June 2016 to the education of our most able learners. He has consistently championed the education of the most able in non-selective secondary schools, having instigated two Ofsted survey reports on this topic, published in June 2013 and March 2015 respectively. This new commentary is…
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. This is the latest in a sequence of posts dedicated to the formation of a Dracup diaspora during the Nineteenth Century. Previous episodes have documented the arrival of our surname in: India, where soldier Isaac Dracup served from 1798, married and later returned to live with his wife after being pensioned off in…
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. This is the second in a sequence of occasional short posts exploring the very personal question whether or not I am ‘on the spectrum’. An initial post set out my immediate reactions. I made it clear that, if the answer is affirmative, I must be very much a borderline case: ‘If there’s a spectrum I’m…
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. The devil squirms, the angel mocks Their cruel sniggers prise her face about While she squats athwart the thunderbox. Upon the desiccated dust heap cocks Strut the light fantastic. Black as stout The devil squirms, the angel mocks. A wrinkled, lissom postman knocks Now her bolt is shot. The rustling spout While…
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. Several of my recent educational posts have mentioned the new-found commitment to ‘educational excellence everywhere’. This was the title selected for the March 2016 white paper, but it is also the strategic goal at the heart of this government’s education policy. It should influence every part of the white paper, informing every educational decision…
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. This post compares white paper plans to strengthen fair access with the proposals set out in the green paper. It assesses each element of these plans and whether they amount to a convincing national strategy. It also considers whether the white paper is likely to bring about a much-needed improvement in the recruitment of…
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. Ofqual is attempting a double-U-turn on how to define grade 9 in the new GCSE scale. This will affect the highest attaining learners in all our schools, all staff who teach them and all those who rely on GCSE grades to select high-attaining students, including university admissions staff. It also has implications for the performance…
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. This post examines ministerial targets for improving England’s educational performance by 2020, as measured by international comparisons studies. It explores the evolution of these targets, how they might be interpreted and the prospects for achieving them given likely outcomes from the next round of reports, scheduled for publication in December 2016/2017. PISA 2015 results…
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