IPPR report suggests Pupil Premium should be directed towards primary schools

The report Excellence and equity: Tackling educational disadvantage in England’s secondary schools launched at an event in June with Schools Minister David Laws, argues that the additional £1.25bn over the next two years from the pupil premium should be focused on primary schools, while the pupil premium in secondary schools would be held at its current level. It says this would ensure that resources are targeted to where they are needed most.

The report shows that around one in five children left primary school without having reached a sufficient standard in reading and writing, and that these children then struggle to catch-up and fall further behind at secondary school. It highlights the following problems with the pupil premium:

For the majority of schools, the pupil premium is not additional money. Over the next three years, schools face a cut in their main budget on the one hand, and an increase in their pupil premium funding on the other. As a result, around two thirds of primary schools will see a real-terms cut in their budget over the course of this parliament.

Schools face pressures to spend their resources on things that are not directly related to tackling educational inequality. The pupil premium is not ringfenced – it is an additional sum of money in a school’s general budget and is therefore subject to competing demands.

Many of the pupils who fall behind do come from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, although they are not technically eligible for free school meals or the pupil premium.

Reading skills
The report provides evidence of successful programmes to boost reading skills in primary schools, and shows that targeted support for children who struggle to read in primary school can have a lasting impact on their educational attainment. The report raises concerns that these programmes may be cut as a result of tight government spending. It argues that targeting any future increases in the pupil premium on primary schools could help to protect these programmes, and ensure that resources are targeted where they are needed most.

Jonathan Clifton, Senior Research Fellow at IPPR, said: “The pupil premium is a good idea. But the key to narrowing the achievement gap is high-quality literacy and numeracy interventions that are targeted towards pupils who are falling behind in primary and early secondary school.

“For the majority of schools, the pupil premium is not additional money because of cuts in schools’ main budgets. Because the pupil premium is not ring-fenced, schools face pressures to spend their resources on things that are not directly related to tackling educational inequality. Many of the pupils who fall behind do come from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, although they are not technically eligible for free school meals or the pupil premium.

“There are reports that the Department for Education may be asked to make £2bn of spending cuts after this month’s spending review. It is important that scarce resources are targeted where they will be most effective, and that is boosting reading skills in primary schools.”

Report chapters
The report includes the following essays: How will we know whether we have succeeded in tackling educational disadvantage? by Brett Wigdortz,  founder and CEO, Teach First; Fair access: Making school choice and admissions work for all by Rebecca Allen, reader in the economics of education at the Institute of Education, University of London; School accountability, performance and pupil attainment by Simon Burgess, professor of economics at the University of Bristol, and director of the Centre for Market and Public Organisation; The importance of teaching by Dylan Wiliam, emeritus professor at the Institute of Education, University of London;  Reducing within-school variation and the role of middle leadership by James Toop, ceo of Teaching Leaders; The importance of collaboration: Creating ‘families of schools’ by Tim Brighouse, a former teacher and chief education officer of Oxfordshire and Birmingham; Testing times: Reforming classroom teaching through assessment by Christine Harrison, senior lecturer in science education at King’s College London; Tackling pupil disengagement: Making the curriculum more engaging by David Price, author and educational consultant; Beyond the school gates: Developing children’s zones for England by Alan Dyson, professor of education at the University of Manchester and co-director of the Centre for Equity in Education, Kirstin Kerr, lecturer in education at the University of Manchester and Chris Wellings, head of programme policy in Save the Children’s UK Programme; After school: Promoting opportunities for all young people in a locality by Ann Hodgson, professor of education and director of the Learning for London @IOE Research Centre, Institute of Education, University of London and Ken Spours, professor or education and co-director of the Centre for Post-14 Research and Innovation at the Institute of Education, University of London.

To download the IPPR's report - 'Excellent and equity: tackling educational disadvantage in England's secondary schools' please click here