Fascinating. I know I go on about this, but... I really don't think we're going to improve education outcomes - or health outcomes - unless we focus much more on the economic and social conditions in which people live: for too many that's economic insecurity, deepening poverty and homelessness. - ThreadSky

paulkissack.bsky.social • 129 days ago

Fascinating. I know I go on about this, but...

I really don't think we're going to improve education outcomes - or health outcomes - unless we focus much more on the economic and social conditions in which people live: for too many that's economic insecurity, deepening poverty and homelessness.

Reposted from Sam Freedman

New post just out:

"Dropping Out"

Why improvements to school standards are at serious risk.

(Free to read)

open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/d...

Comments

francjwood.bsky.social•129 days ago

Absolutely. The lack of joined-up investment in the most deprived communities, incl pressure on VCSE orgs, is such a missed opportunity: "The closure of youth clubs in the 2010s led to increased offending and worse
GSCE results.

Teenagers entitled to free school meals were most affected....

francjwood.bsky.social•129 days ago

Teenagers entitled to free school meals were most affected.

Read @carmenvillaecon’s briefing: https://buff.ly/4fIiRK7 Read the working paper: https://buff.ly/3APnHq6

paulkissack.bsky.social•129 days ago

Here's the reality for staff in primary schools and GP surgeries at the front line against hardship. It's hard to improve educational attainment when you're spending time running food banks. (More on the links between poverty and school absence soon).

https://www.jrf.org.uk/news/public-services-staggering-under-the-weight-of-hardship

paulkissack.bsky.social•129 days ago

DWP and MHCLG - leading social security and housing - are central to the Government's missions on education and health (and indeed growth). And Whitehall's approach to social policy needs to be much broader than 'public service reform'.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/news/2023/oct/lives-less-ordinary-why-government-should-embrace-human-complexity

stephenevans.bsky.social•129 days ago

I think this applies more broadly too. Increasingly my policy conclusions are ‘reform capitalism & reduce poverty’. But that doesn’t always make the best policy pamphlet, so reform the apprenticeship levy it is! (Which we need to do too, but may not solve it all…)

janeharbison.bsky.social•129 days ago

Totally agree.There’s too much focus on sending ‘super heads’ MATs into schools in disadvantaged areas and not enough on focusing on the social deprivation causing children to underachieve.

eduwork.bsky.social•129 days ago

Some of the stories we've come across in our research are frightening - and schools are having to plug the gaps as well as meet tough educational targets.

edholloway.net•129 days ago

100%

If you're hungry, and don't have a safe place to live or a stable family life, even the best school in the world can only have a limited impact

amydalrymple.bsky.social•128 days ago

Aye. Or democratic outcomes. Which makes us less likely to be tackling economic insecurity, deepening poverty and homelessness...

beccadove2.bsky.social•129 days ago

Couldn't agree more, Paul. Year after year, the number one issue for families in early help in our borough is housing. The economic and social conditions are weighing heavy on everything else.

drsuegrey.bsky.social•129 days ago

Critical wicked problems - but they are not amenable to mediatised soundbite politics so it's easier for policy makers to bang on about 'standards', 'accountability' etc, all served up in easy to digest league table format, more often than not.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply