Schools may team-up for support as a result of budget constraints

Underperforming schools could improve with support through school-to-school partnerships with high-performing institutes, a report suggests.

According to research from the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER), there is “considerable potential” within the current state school system to improve the quality of underperforming schools ‘in need’ of support through school-to-school partnerships with high-performing schools within a certain radius.

The report suggests that in light of an overall cut to school budgets, leveraging existing, established sources of support for underperforming schools represents an “effective use of resources”.

However, the NFER state that this would depend on schools being willing to collaborate and the capacity within high-performing schools who may already be helping out other establishments.

This comes following analysis of EduBase and school performance data. Researchers found that there were 5,677 high-performing schools and 2,511 underperforming schools in need of support.

The number of high-performing schools exceeds the number of schools ‘in need’ in all government office regions at primary level and most regions at secondary level.

The research revealed that 27 per cent of primary schools are high-performing with the potential to provide support.

Amongst secondary schools, 33 per cent were identified as high-performing and 17 per cent were noted as ‘in need’.

NFER chief executive, Carole Willis said: “We hope that this evidence will be used to support heads and governing bodies, showing them that they have a range of local, potential partnership options available.

“Harnessing support from same-phase high-performing schools in close proximity will maximise the potential for successful collaboration.

“We suggest that the Government prioritises facilitating school-to-school support within primary and secondary school phases in order to demonstrate its commitment to the self-improving school system that is establishing itself in England.”