Introduction
This literature review looked into the attainment gap and how pupil premium funding may help close it. When discussing the research question, we looked at the attainment gap and its measurement over the last few years. The foundation for this attainment gap has primarily been brought about by the socio-economic status of various pupils and their families (Rodriguez-Hernandez et al., 2020). Based on relevant literature, poverty has been identified as a significant factor contributing to the attainment gap among pupils in UK schools (Ratcliff et al., 2020). It is imperative to note that high poverty levels impede the efforts of learners from low socio-economic backgrounds towards access to educational resources and services vis-à-vis the learners from stable socio-economic backgrounds (Ferguson et al., 2007). Therefore, the disparity explains the causes of variances in learners’ academic achievement from both divides; hence, premium funding is instrumental in decreasing the attainment gap.
The measurement of the attainment gap that has been effective over the last few years has been pointed out as comparing the educational outcomes of pupils from diverse groups in terms of their level of achievement of the established standards. By assessing the educational outcomes of children based on their social and economic status, the attainment gap is well measured. It has, however, been discovered that the attainment gap has been registering a reasonably steady trend over the past years (Jenkins, 2020). The UK’s education system, alongside other entities, is said to have been working at the forefront to ensure that the attainment gap is reduced as much as possible (Wilson, 2014). However, the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the educational performance of pupils from poor backgrounds has been immense, taking into consideration the increased implementation of online learning, which requires more learning resources to be acquired. The emergence of this pandemic can be a significant factor that has led to an increase in the attainment gap.
Parklands Primary school and how they spend their funding
When discussing the second research question, we researched pupil premium funding and how schools may use their funding to support disadvantaged pupils. In this literature review, we looked at a case study that showed how they use their funding. Parklands primary school is among the schools with the highest number of learners who qualify for Pupil Premium funding in Leeds. The school is currently allocated approximately £256,010 of these funds (Parklands Primary School, 2021). Parklands primary school has found several barriers that hinder its achievement of reducing the attainment gap and thus identified how the school spends its funding to address these barriers and reduce the attainment gap. One of the significant barriers to achievement that has been identified in the school is the high number of children (45%) who are eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) compared to the 22% of students in Leeds primary schools and 18% state-funded primary schools in the UK (Parklands Primary School, 2021). Parklands primary school also has 35% learners with special needs. The number is higher than Leeds primary schools, which account for 16%, and the primary school funded by the state in the UK accounts for 14%. In addition, another barrier to achievement is the fact that many children in the school (72%) reside in places classified as being 10% of England’s most deprived. Other barriers include low parental involvement and aspiration and low attainment of entry (Parklands Primary School, 2021).
Barriers to learning
There are also many barriers to learning identified in Parklands primary school in their 2020/2021 Pupil Premium. Among the significant obstacles to learning is that many children have poor language and communication abilities when they enter Reception. It is said that approximately 90% of the disadvantaged children work in the low 30-50/22-36-month age range, with 43% of these individuals working severely below in the 16-26/22-36-month age band (Parklands Primary School, 2021). It is argued that children from a poor socio-economic background are highly likely to have a lesser variety of language, knowledge, and skills than the average Reception student. Another barrier to earning that has been identified is based on the idea that since PP students tend to have more behavioural issues, they are more likely to be placed on Response Evaluation and Decision. This is an issue that significantly influences children’s academic development (Parklands Primary School, 2021). On the other hand, existing interventions have also been found to significantly influence children’s behaviour. 24% of the disadvantaged children are also said to be affected by significant SEND/learning issues, with three children being said to have extra medical and intimate care needs (Parklands Primary School, 2021).
How Parklands primary school has spent funding to address barriers to learning
Pupil premium funding is a means to support the disadvantaged pupils, hence closing the attainment gap in school. There is often a need for pupil premium funding to be used for the proper purposes that will help ensure that the disadvantaged pupils, and in most cases, the pupils with an unstable socio-economic background, get to equal attainment levels as their peers. Parklands primary school has used its pupil premium funding to close the attainment gap between the two categories of children. To start with, the school has provided teachers with training services where all teachers get the opportunity to be trained on floppy phonics.
As Darling-Hammond (2014) suggests, teacher training is a significant undertaking that can significantly contribute to closing the attainment gaps. Teacher training/teacher education has many benefits, such as helping teachers better express themselves and keeping their current knowledge in pedagogical trends. Teachers can acquire effective teaching and class management skills through teacher training, thus applying the same in their teaching strategy. Being up-to-date with the newest pedagogical approaches gives teachers insights into the best practices for a classroom setting and allows them to promote high standards of work by the pupils (Orlich et al., 2012). Teachers will thus be able to identify the various needs of individual pupils based on their socio-economic backgrounds and thus promote a learning approach that allows for equality among all students hence closing the attainment gap.
Working with the Maths Hub and English Hubs to ensure that all progress scores for the disadvantaged pupils are in the positive range at the end of KS2 in Reading, Writing, and Maths is also a significant way in which Parklands primary school has spent their pupil premium funding to address the attainment gaps. With this approach, the school’s Senior Leadership Team works with consistency and determination to ensure that all disadvantaged pupils make a step forward towards academic progress in Foundation subjects. Through this, they can monitor all disadvantaged children individually to help them excel academically.
Pupils’ speech and language are often barriers to closing attainment gaps. Parklands primary school addresses this barrier by having a speech and language therapist (SALT) whose work is to help in supporting pupils’ speech and language. Pennington et al. (2004) advocate for SALT by arguing that they play a critical role in helping children improve their communication skills with their peers and adults. Therefore, speech and language therapists in Parklands primary school effectively support and care for disadvantaged children who have difficulties with communication (NHS, 2021).
How schools can use the funding to effectively narrow the gap
While Parklands primary school has shown efforts to use its premium pupil funding to narrow the attainment gap, there is a need for all schools to embrace the same and go for more effective strategies in which they can use the funding to effectively close this gap. As evident in Parklands primary school, teacher training is a significant way in which schools can use their premium funding to effectively narrow the attainment gap (Gov.UK, 2021). Many researchers have carried out different studies to determine the effectiveness of teacher training in influencing pupils’ academic progress. It is evident that this is an effective measure to undertake. By allocating a portion of the funding to teachers’ training, teachers will get an opportunity for professional development and become updated on the newest teaching methods. This training will enable teachers to gain insights into handling disadvantaged children. In the long run, this will help the disadvantaged children progress well in school, thus narrowing the attainment gaps.
Parental engagement is another major way schools can use their funding to effectively narrow the attainment gap (Goodall, 2017). In this case, parental engagement refers to the participation of parents in supporting the learning process of their children (Axford et al., 2019). Through past research on school improvement and effectiveness, parental engagement has been pointed out as one of the critical factors that secure higher achievement among children (Ellison-Lee & Coates, 2019). More specifically, children whose parents are more involved in their education tend to record higher performance in school. The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE) asserts the necessity of parental involvement in boosting the learners’ academic achievement irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds. Parental involvement guarantees regular school attendance, manifests desirable social skills and demonstrates behavioural improvement as well as apt adaptation to the school learning environment (Brooks, 2019). Therefore, it is clear that parental engagement is highly effective in narrowing attainment gaps in schools.
Using pupil premium funding to promote collaborative learning is another major way in which schools can effectively narrow the attainment gap in the UK. According to Promethean (2019), collaborative learning is an effective way in which pupils can develop the soft skills that are being looked for by employers. By allowing for collaborative learning where all pupils – with different learning styles and different levels of comprehension – work together, this will create an opportunity for each pupil to learn from his or her peers, hence in the long run, introducing all pupils and making them aware of alternative ways of thinking and solving the problems they encounter in the learning process. In this case, the disadvantaged children, not only through their socio-economic status but also through other factors such as health and comprehension levels, may have different approaches to learning. If these pupils are engaged in the learning process to work collaboratively, they will gain a better understanding of different learning styles, hence being able to learn from different dimensions. This approach will, as a result, play a significant role in reducing the attainment gap in UK schools.
Challenges when implementing these strategies
The implementation of these strategies is likely to be faced by some challenges. A major challenge that may arise is the unavailability of parents to engage themselves with their children and participate in the learning process. While parental engagement in the learning process of their children is linked with higher educational outcomes, parents might be unavailable or fail to participate in their child’s education due to various reasons such as work or personal duties. Also, Finders and Lewis (1994) state that another major reason why some parents fail to engage themselves in the learning process of their children and a majority of school relations is that their voices are rarely heard due to being from the marginalised or minority groups. According to Finders and Lewis (1994), these parents feel that they are categorised in the group of “Those other parents”. As a result, this might hinder the implementation of the parental engagement strategy, as parents will not be available to support their children in the learning process. As Odongo (2018) states, this is a challenge that is commonly experienced in the learning process of disadvantaged children, hence making it difficult to narrow down the attainment gap.
Another major challenge that may face the implementation of the mentioned strategies to narrow down the attainment gap is mismanagement and inappropriate use of funds. It is clear that for the attainment gap to be closed, pupil premium funds need to be used in the right way and appropriately to make sure that disadvantaged children benefit from the funds (Main, 2022). However, in some cases, the school’s management may be poor and thus fail to use these funds in the right way. This implies that these funds will in no way help the disadvantaged children to allow them to be productive and attain better grades in school. In Ofsted’s survey aimed at identifying the usage of pupil premium funds, it was found out more than half of the 262 schools that were surveyed were making “little or no difference” in how they were managing and operating their funds (Davies, 2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth saying that based on the findings of the relevant literature, pupil premium funding plays a significant role in helping to close the attainment gap in the UK. This report has explored more the attainment gaps in schools as well as how pupil premium funding is used in closing these gaps. Pupil premium funding was introduced in the UK education sector to promote equal educational experiences for all children and thus help in reducing the attainment gaps. A case study of Parklands primary school has been used in this report to identify the level of attainment gaps in the school, the barriers that hinder the school from closing these gaps, and the main factors that contribute to these attainment gaps. This report has identified pupils’ socio-economic status as a significant factor that leads to attainment gaps in UK schools. Children from poor backgrounds cannot often afford necessary and relevant educational services and resources compared to their peers from stable backgrounds, hence increasing the gap in academic achievements between the two parties. The attainment gap is measured by comparing the educational outcomes of both pupils from stable and unstable social and economic states. The attainment gap has been registering a reasonably steady trend in the UK over the past years. This can largely be contributed by the country’s education system, alongside other entities working consistently to ensure that the attainment gap is narrowed.
Pupil premium funding can be of significant importance to schools in the UK to close the attainment gap, which can be achieved in different ways. In Parklands primary school, pupil premium funding is used to close the attainment gap through various methods such as offering training services and education to teachers, working in collaboration with Maths Hub and English Hubs in the school to ensure that all progress scores for the disadvantaged pupils are in the positive range, and having speech and language therapists who help in supporting pupils’ speech and language. Other than these approaches that have been applied by Parklands primary school, it has been proposed in this report that parental engagement is also a significant way in which schools can use their funding to narrow the attainment gap. Through parental engagement, parents get involved in children’s learning process and provide them with support and advice on how children’s achievements in school can be increased. With the findings of this report, a significant recommendation for future practise as a professional is to continue educating myself and others on how the disadvantaged pupils and their families can be supported, thus allowing them to perform equally as their peers from stable backgrounds. As a future professional, I wish to provide learning accessible for all pupils regardless of the circumstances and engage parents in their children’s learning process. Through this, it will be possible to narrow down and even close the attainment gap in the UK.
Reference
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