Poorest pupils face postcode lottery over exam results
SCOTLAND is experiencing an education postcode lottery with some pupils twice as likely to secure good grades as others with similar deprived backgrounds.
According to a three-year analysis of results by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation 60 per cent of pupils from poor neighbourhoods in East Dunbartonshire achieved five or more National 5 qualifications between 2014 and 2017.
Other councils where the poorest pupils performed particularly well include East Renfrewshire, Moray, South Ayrshire, West Lothian and West Dunbartonshire.
At the other end of the scale only one-quarter of pupils from the most disadvantaged communities in the Scottish Borders achieved five or more National 5 qualifications.
Pupils from disadvantaged areas in Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Clackmannanshire and the Highlands also achieved significantly lower levels of results.
Jim Mccormick, associate director for the foundation in Scotland, said the table highlighted the significant impact schools could have on the fortunes of pupils from disadvantaged areas.
He said: “Looking at attainment for children living in the most deprived neighbourhoods across Scotland shows a highly variable picture.
“While the number and characteristics of deprived areas varies across local authorities, this comparison suggests that attainment varies substantially within deprived areas.
“The reasons for this are not fully understood, but we can speculate that these are likely to include school leadership, the use of data to inform practice, improvements in teaching and targeted resourcing. Relationships with families and communities are also crucial.”
Mr Mccormick also warned that some poor pupils in rural areas or more mixed communities could be “slipping through the net” because they were in a minority.
Jacqui Macdonald, East Dunbartonshire’s chief education officer, said the councils was focused on closing the attainment gap.
She said: “We track the progress of every pupil from an early stage and support them throughout.
“We also carry out rigorous analysis of the attainment information we get on qualifications and encourage the sharing of good practice across all our schools to support continuous improvement.”
The analysis on exam results is contained in a written submission to the Scottish Parliament’s education committee, which is looking at the significant impact poverty has on attainment.
In a separate submission, Kevin Lowden, research officer for the Robert Owen Centre for Educational Change at Glasgow University, said one of the initiatives which had the greatest impact on closing the attainment gap was collaboration between schools.
He said: “The evidence suggests that federations involving higher and lower attaining schools significantly outperform non-federated counterparts, although this takes two to four years.”
Last year, ministers were accused of ditching a flagship scheme to drive up standards by twinning schools. In 2013 the Scottish Government announced an initiative to partner underperforming schools with those punching above their weight, but
funding was provided for only three years.
Mr Lowden went on to highlight some of the risks of direct funding of schools in the wake of the government’s Pupil Equity Fund, which gives money to headteachers in schools serving poorer areas.
He said: “Schools are eager to demonstrate an impact on learning outcomes quickly and can be tempted to buy in a solution by adopting an intervention that is seen to work elsewhere without framing it within their own context.”