Professor Sonia Blandford

9th December 2011

Achievement for All is a whole school improvement framework which raises the attainment of the 20% vulnerable, special educational needs and disabled learners, in partnership with schools.

By focussing on outcomes rather than processes, Achievement for All builds on current school systems and further develops the good practice that many schools already model.

In practice Achievement for All is implemented through 4 elements

• Element 1: Leadership of Achievement for All- to ensure schools maintain a sharp focus on the achievement, access and aspirations of the 20% of vulnerable, special educational needs and disabled learners.

• Element 2: High quality teaching and learning- leading to improved progress for all pupils (assessment and target setting).

• Element 3: Structured conversations with parents/carers – to improve parents’/carers’ engagement with school and their involvement in their child’s learning and achievement.

• Element 4: Wider outcomes – to support the participation, enjoyment and achievement of children in all elements of school life.

Aims

• Increase progress of children in schools with SEND• Improve engagement of their parents with the

school• Improve wider outcomes of children with SEND

Achievement for All:Not just another initiative

Resounding success of pilot (2009-2011) in 454 primary, secondary and special schools and pupil referral units across 10 local authorities in England (DfE, 2011-Manchester University Evaluation)

Leadership of SEN and inclusion

• Leadership central to Achievement for All –pilot focussed on 4 key areas of inclusive leadership identified by National College-vision, commitment, collaboration and communication (NCSL, 2010)

• Research shows importance of head teacher in developing an inclusive school (Kugelmass, 2003)

• New Ofsted Framework for Inspection 2012-inspection will evaluate extent to which leaders and managers at all levels ‘demonstrate an ambitious vision for the school’

Key Findings(National Evaluation, DfE, Nov 2011)

• Achievement for All had a significant impact on progress in English and mathematics for pupils with SEND.

• There were significant decreases in persistent absenteeism.• Schools reported clear improvement in pupils’ behaviour,

along with reductions in bullying • There was increased parental engagement in their child’s

learning, including among hard-to-reach parents. • Schools liked using the Achievement for All frame work and

found it provided a sustainable programme owned by the school leadership and adapted to their needs and priorities.

National Evaluation: other relevant findings (DfE, Nov 2011)

• Many schools reported an increased awareness of and focus on SEND and inclusion issues

• Many schools reported a greater emphasis on understanding and addressing pupils’ wider needs.

• In many schools teachers began to take a more active role in the assessment and monitoring of pupils with SEND in their classrooms.

• In many schools, continuing professional development (CPD) associated with Achievement for All, particularly around the structured conversations were applied more widely in day to‐ ‐day interactions with staff and non Achievement for All ‐parents.

Policy: the positive impact of Achievement for All

• Special educational needs code of practice (DfES,2001) does not clearly define SEN leaving much open to interpretation at school level (Gibson and Blandford, 2005).

• Lack of definition of SEN could attribute to the variation in the proportion of pupils identified with SEN in mainstream schools across England (DCSF, 2010)

• Lamb Inquiry: Special educational needs and parental confidence (DCSF, 2009)- recommended, amongst other issues, more inclusive approach, accountability of head teachers (embedded in leadership) and increased parental voice

• Green Paper (Consultation document)-Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disabilities (DfE, 2011) reflects the move away from ‘over identification’ of children and young people with SEN.

Achievement for All-a framework for practice

Central to the challenge of narrowing the achievement gap for children and young people with SEND is changing the aspirations and expectations held by the professionals who work with them.

Raising Aspirations

• To raise aspirations there needs to be a focus on attitudes, confidence, parental aspiration, motivation and school and teacher aspiration.

• Help children to believe in themselves-reflected in a ‘can do’ mentality displayed when a child decides to meet challenges and gain access to learning

• Pupils with low aspirations do not always hold their future in high regard and may not have a vision for further education or extra-curricular activities.

(source: adapted from Blandford et al. 2011)

Changing school and teacher attitudes

"It’s about saying, is this progress as good as it should be? And if it isn’t, why isn’t it? And what are we doing about it?" (NS Regional Advisor)

Focus on raising attainment=learning + attainment in the classroom

In practice:

• Rigorous assessment and tracking of pupil progress

• Set challenging targets for pupils• Interventions-where appropriate• Improve literacy and numeracy

Changing teacher attitudes- a model for practice

• Schools question their monitoring, tracking and intervention for children

• Teacher assessments of children’s attainment in English and Maths-an opportunity to consider how the data is collected, its accuracy and reliability, and how it is used to set appropriate targets for children that can be supported by intervention in the classroom.

Identifying SEND- how accurate?

By end of pilot- 5.6% of pupils in the target cohort were no longer considered to have SEND by their schools (the majority were previously at School Action)

(Source: DfE, 2011)

Possible reasons for change: a systematic approach? (adapted from DfE, 2011)

1. Achievement for All Provided

schools with the opportunity

to reflect on how SEND is defined and understood

2. This enabled schools to

target provision more

effectively and efficiently for

their most vulnerable learners.

3. Teachers’ classroom practice

became more inclusive in

meeting the needs of all pupils in the classroom.

4. Thus, what was required to meet

the needs of certain pupils was

no longer considered to be ‘different and/or additional’, as it

had become embedded in

everyday practice.

Case Study- Caludon Castle School, Coventry

• Caludon Castle is a Business and Enterprise school with 1,525 11-18 year olds on role.

• The assistant head of inclusion was chosen to lead Achievement for All.

• She worked closely with an English teacher to support development of wider outcomes.

Key challenges

The English teacher had a year 7 class in which two Achievement for All pupils with social difficulties were identified as needing to become more independent learners. Neither pupil was involved with extra-curricular activities. Pupil A was extremely shy and reluctant to attend school. Pupil B was sociable, but lacked confidence and self-awareness.

Approach

• The teacher initiated a faculty ambassador programme, starting with English.

• She recruited for it generally but personally invited the two Achievement for All pupils to volunteer.

• The group of eight volunteers met with the teacher every two weeks for approximately half an hour to practise a range of social skills related to specific roles they would be undertaking.

• The skills sessions were run by the teacher with occasional involvement from other staff. The teacher was provided with a small budget to purchase badges for ambassadors to wear when in role. Examples of work developed by pupils and photographs were shown.

Specific roles undertaken by pupils

• Meeting and greeting visitors and new pupils• Contributing to curriculum development• Carrying out observations of English lessons to

provide feedback• Supporting transition for incoming year 6

pupils, including supporting a drama performance involving new parents and pupils.

Planned outcomes for pupils

• Increasing pupil voice • Raise their enjoyment of school both in and

out of lessons• Boost independent learning.

General Outcomes

• All ambassadors made vital contributions to changes and there was an increase in requests for group work and peer assessment from pupils.

• Pupil A and pupil B were provided with opportunities to interact with a wider variety of adults and other pupils enabling them to improve their social and communication skills.

And:

One teacher wrote:

“Subject teachers have noticed an increase in confidence in lessons and report that both are more independent learners. The ambassadors are now involved in coaching other pupils from another local school who are just introducing the initiative.”

Outcomes for Pupil A• He is willing to be in class and spends less time being taught in

isolation.

• He is less dependent on the support of a teaching assistant and is managing distractions better.

• His performance in drama has improved significantly and other pupils have noticed this.

• As a result he has more enthusiasm for attending school and his enjoyment of learning has increased.

• He has a sense of purpose thanks to his role as ambassador.

And, he confidently reports:

‘At the start of the year I had no reason to come to school. I didn’t like it. But then once I was asked to come into the English ambassadors I got more confident and was coming nearly every day’.

Outcomes for Pupil B

Pupil B has become more aware of herself in social situations. From September to July she exceeded her target grades in English and has since become more reflective as a learner. She feels a sense of pride and responsibility drawn from her position as a faculty ambassador, noting that it makes her feel important as she represents the whole year group in English.

Key learning points

• Start with a small group and include the Achievement for All focus pupils amongst them to develop inclusion and detract from the SEND stigma.

• Try to use ambassadors of a previous cohort to support new ones.

• Share the successes of the pupils with other members of staff and parents.

Staff say Achievement for All is not just another initiative

‘this one we can tailor very specifically, so we’re looking at it in a very different light. And for once we actually felt this is something we can see will make a difference with the children and we’re not doing it just because we are told this is what we have to do’ (School 11, LA F)

Other key findings from the national evaluation: Progress in English and Maths (DfE,Nov 2011)

• 37% of SEND pupils in Achievement for All pilot schools achieved or exceeded expected levels of progress in English compared to ALL pupils nationally.

• ALL pupils with SEND in Achievement for All pilot schools made significantly better progress in English than pupils with SEND nationally.

• 41.5% of SEND pupils in the Achievement for All schools achieved or exceeded expected levels of progress in Maths compared to all pupils nationally.

• ALL pupils with SEND in Achievement for All pilot schools made significantly better progress in Maths than pupils with SEND nationally.

• All SEND pupils in the programme made significantly better progress in reading, writing and maths than pupils with SEND nationally

Achievement for All-building communities of practice

‘What we were seeing last year was a pattern, children who were socially excluded or getting in trouble frequently at lunchtime, were on and off the special needs register and it was often that they just didn’t have the right skills to be in the playground…so we are trying to make sure that they are having a fun time, not excluded’. (AfA Lead)

Outcome: Behaviour and Attendance

• Teachers reported clear improvements in positive relationships with students and reductions in behaviour problems.

• There was a 10% drop in persistent absenteeism.• Schools had an increase in positive relationships.• Teachers reported reductions in teacher-reported bullying

of pupils with SEND.

• Example: School B saw exclusions for pupils with SEND fall from 101 incidents in 2008/9 to 25 incidents in 2010/11

Wider outcomes

• "It’s about giving pupils opportunities to shine in other ways and develop their strengths in other things, but also providing activities that will develop confidence I think that’s a big ‐thing". (AfA Lead, School 18, LA I)

Outcome: Empowers, engages and includes parents

• The number of Achievement for All schools reporting that they now have excellent relationships with parents increased by 36% during the pilot.

• Achievement for All schools reporting poor relationships dropped from 11% of schools to 1.5%.

• Achievement for All has changed the relationships with parents, more than 90% of participating schools are to continue with structured conversations

• Structured conversations involved parents in reviewing learning targets.

What the parents say

• ‘... as the weeks progressed we became more involved, more of a family’ (parent of year 9 child)

• ‘I can know how (her) work is progressing, that we can take action – how we could help her, how we could help her engagement. It’s important.’ parent of year 11 child (school action plus School C)

And:

• “I know exactly what type of support my son is receiving and what his targets are so that I can help him more too” (Year 5 parent, May 2010)

• “I feel listened to and really valued in the structured conversations” (Year 5 parent, January 2010)

• “My son is now more confident, he interacts better, he is learning more and he feels better about himself. He used to really struggle and was so clingy with me” (Year 1 parent, March 2010)

Outcome: Leadership

• School leadership (head teacher) involvement helped drive Achievement for All forward.

• Achievement for All shines a light on [critical] areas.• The principles of Achievement for All are embedded

in school practice.• 100% of schools were involved in evaluating the

impact of Achievement for All.• 90.2% of head teachers placed Achievement for All

within their school improvement plan.

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Where are we now?: looking to the future

• Extending to all schools in England – national roll out

• Policy impact – Green Paper / DoH / Trusts / Schools

• Quality Mark and Quality Lead Status – OFSTED

• National College – Leadership modules• National Charity – a good partner