2. Social Mobility
York CVS Voluntary Sector Assembly
Derek Sutherland
Head of Primary School Effectiveness and Achievement
Rob Newton
Social Mobility Project Manager
City of York Council
3. • We are people who have been brought together to tackle
underachievement for disadvantaged children and young people.
• We represent a wide group:
o early years providers, voluntary and private
o schools and colleges
o children’s social services (Local Area Teams & Family Learning)
o health services
o charities and the voluntary sector
o We have formed a Social Mobility Steering Group to promote our
work and improve life chances for our children and young people.
Social Mobility Group
Who are we?
4. • We are talking about economically disadvantaged children and
young people who are eligible for free school meals at any time in
the last six years.
Why?
• In 2017, York’s disadvantaged five-year-olds were further behind
their peers than anywhere else in England.
• Only 40% of disadvantaged 11-year-olds reached the Expected
Standard in reading, writing and mathematics.
• In York 16 year olds had higher levels of persistent absence and
lower attainment among our disadvantaged pupils than Manchester,
the fifth most deprived local authority (LA) in the country.
Social Mobility Group
Who are we talking about?
7. 16th May
More than 10,000 children living in poverty in York, report claims
By Chloe Laversuch @chloelaversuch
Local Democracy Reporter
What
absolute
rubbish!
Yes it is rubbish.
Poverty
sometimes is of
your own
making.
Beggar's belief that
THE PRESSER
reports on fake
news like this!
Done your
own research
have you?
Research by the End Child Poverty coalition says the number of children trapped in poverty in York
has risen by three per cent since 2017 - with rates highest in wards Hull Road, Guildhall and Westfield.
http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/poverty-in-your-area-2019
Comments left by readers:
8. The national picture
The attainment gap is not a
problem found only in schools
assessed by Ofsted as performing
poorly – the gap is as large in
schools rated ‘Outstanding’ as it is
in schools rated ‘Inadequate’.
9. 60 1726 50 4.3 20.9 81
What is the attainment gap in months between children eligible for Free
Schools Meals (FSM) and those who are not eligible at the age of 5 years?
In 2017, how many primary schools in the UK ensured that children who are
eligible for FSM attained above the national average scaled score for all 11
years olds?
In disadvantaged communities, what percentage of children will start school
with Speech, Language and Communication difficulties?
What percentage of young offenders have unidentified speech language and
communication needs?
What percentage of children with social, emotional and behavioural disorders
have undiagnosed speech, language and communication needs?
In York what is the difference in life expectancy between a boy born in Clifton
or Westfield – areas with great challenges in literacy - and a girl born in
Heworth Without – an area with some of the fewest literacy challenges?
10. 60 1726 50 4.3 12 81
What is the attainment gap in months between children eligible for Free
Schools Meals (FSM) and those who are not eligible at the age of 5 years?
In 2017, how many primary schools in the UK ensured that children who are
eligible for FSM attained above the national average scaled score for all 11
years olds?
In disadvantaged communities, what percentage of children will start school
with Speech, Language and Communication difficulties?
What percentage of young offenders have unidentified speech language and
communication needs?
What percentage of children with social, emotional and behavioural disorders
have undiagnosed speech, language and communication needs?
In York what is the difference in life expectancy between a boy born in Clifton
or Westfield – areas with great challenges in literacy - and a girl born in
Heworth Without – an area with some of the fewest literacy challenges?
11. ‘Children’s language
development should be
viewed as a public health
wellbeing indicator, rather
than just as an individual
or ‘clinical’ concern.’
(Early Intervention
Foundation, 2017, ‘Language
as a child wellbeing indicator’)
12. York’s promise to disadvantaged
children and young people
In York we are no longer going to accept poor outcomes for our
disadvantaged children and young people.
We do not believe that children and young people’s educational
outcomes should be determined by the economic circumstances of
their families.
So together we will work to:
• understand and remove barriers
• share and learn about what works
• marshal our collective capacity to make a difference for
disadvantaged children and young people
20. Evidence based approaches to
improving communication and
language outcomes – a small scale
project
• Strategy and commissioning
• Workforce development
• Communication and community
22. What parents do can overcome part of the
income gap in outcomes
A positive early home learning
environment includes:
• Reading to child
• Songs and nursery rhymes
• Praise and answering questions
• Regular bedtimes and mealtimes
• Positive interactions
• Playing with letters and numbers
Kiernan and Mensah
(2011)
Table: Percentage of children achieving a ‘good level of development’ at end of
Reception by parenting quality and family income. Millennium Cohort Study.
25. What can we do?
• Look for opportunities to encourage parents to talk
to their children
• Target volunteering in the right places and to the
right families
• Make sure every volunteer working with families see
and understand the messages in the video ‘feeding-
your-little-one-with-words’
• Learn from research to find solutions to remove
barriers to learning
26. And finally?
• Challenge misconception
• Champion young people and their families
• Reclaim the positive for children and young people!
Editor's Notes
We have common concerns and aims with the York Human Rights
We too have concerns about the number of children and young people’s achievement and life chances
We notice that there is a gap between the outcomes for disadvantaged children and young people compared to their peers
This cannot be acceptable, \
We want to do something about it
We will make a greater difference if we work together
Notice the the difference in life expectancy between a boy born in Westfield or Clifton – an area with great challenges in literacy-
Compared to a girl born in Heworth Without– an area with some of the fewest literacy challenges?
It is easy for you to think that poverty doesn’t exist in York, many people do!
Points to note – That gap in outcomes is already evident from the start of children’s education
And this gap widens through education into adulthood
What is the attainment gap in months between children eligible for Free Schools Meals (FSM) and those who are not eligible at the age of 5 years?
4.3
In 2017, how many primary schools in the UK ensured that children who are eligible for FSM attained above the national average scaled score for all 11 years olds?
1726
In disadvantaged communities, what percentage of children will start school with Speech, Language and Communication difficulties?
50
What percentage of young offenders have unidentified speech language and communication needs?
60
What percentage of children with social, emotional and behavioural disorders have undiagnosed speech, language and communication needs?
81
What is the difference in life expectancy between a boy born in Stockton – an area with great challenges in literacy- and a girl born in Mayfield (Wealdon) – an area with some of the fewest literacy challenges?
20.9
What is the attainment gap in months between children eligible for Free Schools Meals (FSM) and those who are not eligible at the age of 5 years?
4.3
In 2017, how many primary schools in the UK ensured that children who are eligible for FSM attained above the national average scaled score for all 11 years olds?
1726
In disadvantaged communities, what percentage of children will start school with Speech, Language and Communication difficulties?
50
What percentage of young offenders have unidentified speech language and communication needs?
60
What percentage of children with social, emotional and behavioural disorders have undiagnosed speech, language and communication needs?
81
What is the difference in life expectancy between a boy born in Stockton – an area with great challenges in literacy- and a girl born in Mayfield (Wealdon) – an area with some of the fewest literacy challenges?
20.9
This is recommendation one from the referenced report – this would see language being viewed by PHE in the same way as obesity, vaccinations and mental health.
The words below filter this down to what does this mean for settings?
Child language and the role of public health Recommendation 1: Children’s language development should be viewed as a public health wellbeing indicator, rather than just as an individual or ‘clinical’ concern. Child language is similar to obesity and other risk factors (such as mental health and diet) in terms of its impact on children’s overall wellbeing.89 We therefore recommend that child language should fall under the remit of public health services. Specifically, we would encourage local authority public health teams to jointly commission speech, language and communication services with other local authority colleagues and with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). We further recommend that health visitors and other early-years practitioners work together to deliver a consistent set of public health messages designed to increase parents’ awareness about the importance of early language development and to provide them with strategies for supporting children’s language learning at home. Once children enter school, settings should be similarly optimised to support the language learning of all children, including those who have been identified as having additional language needs.
The City of York Education Service has made a promise to our children and young people
Ambition 1 – Close the ‘word gap’ in the early years. Good early years education is the cornerstone of social mobility – and we are making record investment in this area. Children with strong foundations will start school in a position to progress, but too many children still fall behind early, and it is hard to close the gaps that emerge. We need to tackle these development gaps at the earliest opportunity, particularly focused on the key early language and literacy skills, so that all children can begin school ready to thrive.
• Ambition 2 – Close the attainment gap in school while continuing to raise standards for all. Thanks to our reforms, the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers is now closing.6 However, these pupils still remain behind their peers at each key stage at school. And there remain unacceptable differences in outcomes in different areas of the country. We need to build on the many more good school places and the innovation unleashed by recent reforms, and focus on raising standards in the areas of the country where it is now most needed.
• Ambition 3 – High quality post-16 education choices for all young people. We now have more people going to university than ever before, including from disadvantaged backgrounds.7 However, we want to go further in creating opportunity. Our technical education system has yet to fully benefit from our wider determination to drive up standards. This disproportionately affects young people in more challenging areas and from disadvantaged backgrounds.8 We need a skills revolution for them and for British business, and we need to expand access to the best universities for young people from less advantaged backgrounds.
• Ambition 4 – Everyone achieving their full potential in rewarding careers. The proportion of 16- to18-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) has dropped substantially.9 However, young people from lower income backgrounds are less likely to have access to the networks of advice, information and experiences of work to enable them to turn aspiration into reality – it is very hard to aim for an opportunity that you do not know exists. We need to ensure that everyone can build a rewarding career, and provide far better opportunities for adults who want to retrain and upskill.
We know the impact that communication, language and literacy skills have on the ‘whole life’ picture – future academic success, SEND (tracking of children who start with SLCN and then main need is re categorised), link with SEMH, involvement of CSC, potential job prospects, wellbeing etc. (as demonstrated by some of the facts in the previous slide)
The government are conscious of this and are making efforts to improve the current situation – Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling potential which is the DfE’s Social Mobility Action Plan (2017) The first ambition within this plan is
Ambition 1: Close the ‘word gap’ in the early years
Development gap – On average, 40% of the overall gap between disadvantaged 16-year-olds and their peers has already emerged by the age of five.12 And there is significant variation across the country: while 71% of disadvantaged five-year-olds in Lewisham achieve a good level of development, in York it is only 46%. •
‘Word gap’ – These gaps are particularly pronounced in early language and literacy. By the age of three, more disadvantaged children are – on average – already almost a full year and a half behind their more affluent peers in their early language development. And around two fifths of disadvantaged five-year-olds are not meeting the expected literacy standard for their age.
In July 2017, the Rt. Hon Damian Hinds, Secretary of State for Education, set an ambition to halve the proportion of children who do not achieve at least expected levels across all goals in the ‘communication and language’ and ‘literacy’ areas of learning at the end of reception year by 2028
1 Link to Damian Hinds speech of 31 July setting out his vision for boosting social mobility, https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/education-secretary-sets-vision-for-boosting-social-mobility
PHE – recognising the importance of communication and language and the lack of rigour in current systems at accurately identifying CLL challenges and supporting home learning so that these are not as wide by the time children access child care.
Talking about a generation – The Communication Trust, 2017. A ‘must read’ accessible summary for those interested. Reiterates the messages about the
Also reference policies such as 2yo funding.
Ambition 2 – Close the attainment gap in school while continuing to raise standards for all. Thanks to our reforms, the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers is now closing.6 However, these pupils still remain behind their peers at each key stage at school. And there remain unacceptable differences in outcomes in different areas of the country. We need to build on the many more good school places and the innovation unleashed by recent reforms, and focus on raising standards in the areas of the country where it is now most needed.
Ambition 3 – High quality post-16 education choices for all young people. We now have more people going to university than ever before, including from disadvantaged backgrounds.7 However, we want to go further in creating opportunity. Our technical education system has yet to fully benefit from our wider determination to drive up standards. This disproportionately affects young people in more challenging areas and from disadvantaged backgrounds.8 We need a skills revolution for them and for British business, and we need to expand access to the best universities for young people from less advantaged backgrounds.
Ambition 4 – Everyone achieving their full potential in rewarding careers. The proportion of 16- to18-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) has dropped substantially.9 However, young people from lower income backgrounds are less likely to have access to the networks of advice, information and experiences of work to enable them to turn aspiration into reality – it is very hard to aim for an opportunity that you do not know exists. We need to ensure that everyone can build a rewarding career, and provide far better opportunities for adults who want to retrain and upskill.
Size affects ability to access central initiatives e.g. EOF, EY PD fund to raise attainment
The ‘system’ is not set up to cater for the challenges
Still a lack of awareness around the issues that face York
Early years strategy – work happening in silos, needs greater cohesion
Joint commissioning – is a consistent strong recommendation from evidence reviews into what will make a difference is that LAs along with PHE and CCGs should jointly commission speech and language services.
All grounded in evidence
Need to join up thinking and commissioning
Up skill the workforce to identify and respond to communication and language needs
Public Health style messages to the community – evidence suggests that it’s not who your parents are, it’s what they do.
DfE and PHE – health visitor training and development of improved early language assessment tools, SLCN integrated pathway support
EY SEND partnership – Council for Disabled Children
EiF – SLC maturity matrix, EYTA
Elicit ideas about what positive HLE consists of – show 6 elements here
Introduce MCS and explain how cohort studies work
Show table:
Explain definition of poverty
Explain right hand column (income gradient in outcomes)
Explain how parenting index mediates outcomes
Flag that we’ll talk about some of the limitations of this study later
Above table demonstrates that what parents do can overcome part of the disadvantage gap in outcomes: if you look at the raw totals (column to right) there is a clear SES gradient in children’s outcomes at the end of Reception – children in persistent poverty are half as likely to reach a ‘good level of development’ on entry to Year 1. However, where parenting quality is ‘high’ – as defined by positive interactions about learning and routines – children from poorer families outperform higher income families with weaker HLE. This is an association, but it means that it’s a promising area to focus on.
Strong correlational evidence that parental involvement is associated with improved learning outcomes. A larger number of longitudinal cohort studies support this.
EPPSE: Importance of decoding and oral language (interactions, numbers of words heard at home etc.) HLE particularly important to vocabulary. Home learning environment: “Children with a strong early years HLE made greater gains over 4 years of primary school (ES 0.30).” Strong HLE can be seen at age 11, and into secondary school. See Parsons et al.
Kiernan and Mensah (2011) Impact of poverty and parenting practices on educational attainment (EYFS)
Hart and Risley (60s) has been replicated more recently. ‘Meaningful differences’: amount of talk correlated with later outcomes. As is number of interactions, and type of interactions. This is active area of research too: http://www.lucid.ac.uk/what-we-do/research/language-0-5-project/