Children’s Zones…Children’s Communities

post by LIZ TODD
Professor of Educational Inclusion at Newcastle University

We must reduce the educational attainment ‘gap’! I agree – 21% of the poorest fifth managing to gain five good GCSEs compared to 75% of the top quintile is unacceptable. Recent government strategy has been to provide schools with a ‘pupil premium’, money for each child receiving free school meals, for the school to use on interventions that raise attainment. I know from our DfE funded research that this is extremely valuable for many schools, although for others it does not come near making up for the fall in funding. Not all children on free school meals underachieve and schools have been wise in the targeting of support to those who need it. But we need a different solution to really make a difference.

Education policymakers’ understanding of young people

post by RACHEL BROOKS
University of Surrey

Introduction
A critical interrogation of policy texts suggest that the way in which education policymakers understand young people’s lives is often problematic – tending to value them largely for their future contribution to society, and stressing the importance of duty rather than more questioning, critical and creative contributions that young people may make. In this short article, I suggest that, in the run-up to the 2015 election, politicians need to be pushed to articulate their understanding of ‘youth’ more clearly and encouraged to place more value on the diversity of contributions young people can make – in the here and now – to wider society.