The attainment gap in education

The Scottish curriculum was stripped and reformed with the aim of helping every learner develop knowledge, skills and attributes for learning, life and work. At its core was the Getting it Right for Every Child approach which would ensure that interventions would be swiftly put in place for any child in need.

Here is what Learning and Teaching Scotland had to say about the stripped down, reformulated, Curriculum for Excellence:

It`s preparing young people for a changing future.

It`s recognising the primacy of learning.

It`s ensuring that young people have the building blocks they need in terms of skills, concepts and knowledge.

It`s having an education that supports a sustainable prosperous future.

It`s addressing the achievement gap.

http://www.sateal.org.uk/resources/SATEAL%20version%203.pdf

Well not according to an inquiry which is going to look into whether enough is being done to cut the gap in educational attainment between Scotland`s poorest and richest pupils.. "The Scottish Parliament's cross-party education committee will hear the views of teachers, parents and others as part of its year-long investigation. It comes amid concerns that too many children from poorer families leave school early without qualifications."

Recent figures suggested a large difference between the average attainment of pupils in the most and least deprived areas, with 28% of children from poorer families performing well in numeracy, compared with 56% of those from advantaged backgrounds.

The committee's inquiry will include reviewing:
The implications of bringing in the recommendations of the Wood report on improving vocational educationWhy should the committee look at improving vocational education at this point? One of the recommendations coming out of the Wood report is that there should be enhanced careers education in primary schools. It is difficult to see how this could possibly address the educational attainment gap but it looks like the gap is going to be used again as justification to further deplete the school curriculum. It is also significant that numeracy is used to illustrate the difference in attainment between rich and poor, and not the more pressing problem of the reading gap.

A report commissioned by the Sutton Trust found that bright Scottish boys from the poorest families lagged nearly three years behind in reading from their high-achieving male classmates from the richest backgrounds. This is a disgraceful record and one that could so easily be addressed with the appropriate teaching methods. Nothing disadvantages a pupil more than a lack of fluency in reading. Unfortunately giving responsibility to all teachers for literacy who are engaged in active learning, discussions and project work in Curriculum for Excellence is unlikely to be the answer.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/education/3-year-reading-gap-between-rich-and-poor-pupils-1-2998847

The answer has been well documented: teach children to read phonetically in the first year of primary school and intensify the teaching as soon as gaps appear. Thereafter children require a knowledge base in order to improve their comprehension.

There`s a simple exposition of the difference between phonetic and whole word reading schemes on the website Improve-Education.org and questions about why educators would promote whole word reading in the face of massive reading failures. (Note educators are the professors in universities who tell teachers what to do in the classroom.)

http://www.improve-education.org/id46.html 

Then here is Jeannie George, 3D Research Group, and a reminder that this trend to downgrade education is global:

There’s been a shift in education. The goal has changed from ‘gaining knowledge’ to ‘getting a job’. That goal has caused the deliberate dumb-down; the steady deterioration of every academic subject taught in school. Thus, students (human resources) are being trained to be career ready. 

 

http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/educating-future-workforce.html