Brief No: 423
May 2003
ISBN 1 84185 990 7
RAISING ATTAINMENT IN SCHOOLS IN
FORMER COALFIELDS AREAS
Professor Alma Harris, Daniel Muijs and Christopher Chapman, University of Warwick
Professor Louise Stoll and Jen Russ, University of Bath
Background
The Department for Education and Skills commissioned this research project with a view to learning more about
factors that have led to school improvement in these areas. This study follows on from The DfES commissioned
study ‘Patterns of Educational Attainment in the British Coalfields’ (Gore & Smith, 2001), which identified that
low educational attainment in many schools in the former coalfield areas was related to the multiple social
deprivation that exists in many former coal mining communities, and similar areas of industrial decline.
Eight schools in former coalfield areas that had shown sustained improvement in attainment over the past five
years were selected for this study.
Key Findings:

A number of external conditions can help schools improve:
- The dominant factors affecting school performance in the former coalfield areas are those associated
with extreme social disadvantage. These negative external factors are compounded in certain coalfield
areas and present a significant challenge to schools in raising levels of achievement.
- Additional resource and support through external interventions or projects such as EAZs etc; changes in
the social mix of the pupil population and having a specialist status designated to the school were found
to be positive external factors.

Internal conditions which led to school improvement were found to be as follows:
- Leadership of the Head was a significant factor in all the schools studied. Leadership values were
primarily moral (dedicated to pupil and staff welfare). The prevailing form of leadership in the schools
was distributed for example shared within departments, rather than top-down.
- Schools made strenuous efforts to address the culture of low expectations that was often present.
Common strategies to raise expectations included speech days, award ceremonies, celebratory events
and reward schemes.
- Staff in these schools worked together as a learning community and focused on building relationships
with the external community.

Five key strategies, all focused on teaching and learning, were used to raise attainment:
- Improving literacy and numeracy through additional support and time for these subjects.
- The establishment of special groupings (i.e. express groups).
- Use of data to inform decision making.
- Use of learning mentors.
- Securing forms of professional support and development that impact directly upon classroom practice.
Methods

This small-scale research project had two main
elements: a literature review and an empirical study.

The literature review interrogated the international
research evidence relating to improving schools in
former coalfield areas, in other disadvantaged areas,
and in less disadvantaged contexts. The latter set of
evidence was necessitated by a lack of studies
focusing on schools in the former coalfield areas and
by a limited research base on improving schools in
disadvantaged areas. Material was selected only if
there was a clear focus on improving schools in
disadvantaged area and clear evidence for claims made.
The empirical study consisted of in depth case study
data collection in eight schools (two primary, six
secondary) in the former coalfield areas. Contextual,
performance and inspection data were collected. Semistructured interviews with Headteachers, middle
managers and classroom teachers and groups of pupils
were conducted at each school.
The sample of schools was selected on the basis that
they all possessed an upward trajectory of attainment
that has been sustained over time. Only schools that
had improved attainment and sustained improvement
over a five year period, as measured by A-C at GCSE,
were included. Every attempt was made to ensure that
the final sample of schools were located in a range of
former coalfield areas and represented a range of
contexts.
The Literature Review
The literature review revealed a number of common
elements to improving and effective schools in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. In order of
supporting research evidence, these are:



A focus on teaching and learning. Where school
improvement
has
been
successful,
either
introducing new teaching methods or improving the
effectiveness of existing teaching methods has
been a key component;
Involving parents and the community in the life of
the school. This is potentially a key lever to school
improvement, but is often difficult to achieve in
schools in disadvantaged areas;
Schools becoming learning communities. This is
characterised by shared values and vision,
collective responsibility for pupils learning,
reflective professional inquiry, collaboration, and
the promotion of group as well as individual
learning;




A strong emphasis on high quality and innovative
continuing professional development;
Effective instructional leadership. The evidence does
not point to one particular leadership style as being
the most effective, but does suggest that distributed
and participatory leadership can be more effective
than the traditional ‘strong Head’ model;
Creating an information rich environment, using data
to inform decision-making;
Creating a positive school climate and high
expectations. A blame-free, risk-taking culture and
open communication are important parts of a positive
school culture. Producing success stories can help
teachers divest themselves of negative beliefs about
pupils, as can the setting (and achieving) of ambitious
targets for pupil achievement in the school;
Using external support to make school improvement
more effective. An effective way of generating
external support is through the creation of networks
of schools that can support one another. Local
education authorities and institutions of higher
education have also provided the support that led to
improvement in many schools;
Adequate resourcing for school improvement is
important, but not all schools have the capacity to
make best use of additional resources.
An important issue is that of sustaining improvement. This
area is clearly under researched, nevertheless, some
common findings do emerge from the few studies that
have looked at this issue. Changes in the social context,
such as middle class families moving in, help schools
sustain improvement, while high staff turnover impedes it.
Schools in which improvement is sustained have clearly
articulated shared values, focus on teaching and learning,
are data rich and emphasise continuing professional
development. No leadership style appears to be most
effective, but leadership support for improvement was
present where improvements had been sustained.
Findings: External
Improvement
Changes
Leading
to
School
It was generally acknowledged by the schools in this
study that they serve an area of disadvantage and that
the prevailing socio-economic conditions remain an
important factor in their potential to improve. While the
schools do not embrace this as an excuse they all accept
that the disadvantage faced by the pupils who attend
their school inevitably affects their performance.
Changes in the external environment did influence the
schools’ performance both positively or negatively. In a
number of cases changes in employment opportunities or
the provision of better housing had literally changed the
social mix of parents in the locality of the school. The net
result of this was to introduce into the school pupils
with higher expectations and middle class aspirations.
and study days the message that achievement was
possible for all and was expected was communicated.
In some of the schools, deliberate efforts had been
made to regain the confidence of parents and to
improve the reputation of the school in the local
community through securing a specialist status or in
being identified as a faith school.
Relationship building
Some government initiatives, such as Educational
Action Zones (EAZ) were felt to have made a positive
impact. It was felt that additional resource and
external support had allowed the schools to focus
more strategically upon raising attainment.
Findings: Internal
Improvement
Conditions Leading
to
School
Leadership
In all the schools in this study, the quality of the
leadership of the Headteacher was a significant factor
in the school’s success in raising attainment. While
personalities varied quite considerably it was quite
clear that in all cases the Head’s vision and practices
reflected a number of core personal values concerning
the modelling and promotion of respect (for
individuals), fairness and equality, integrity and
honesty and caring for the well being and whole
development of students and staff.
Heads’ leadership values and visions were primarily
moral (ie, dedicated to the welfare of staff and pupils,
with the latter at the centre) rather than primarily
instrumental (for economic reasons) or non-educative
(for custodial reasons). In the secondary schools it
was noticeable that leadership was shared within
departments and that this was perceived to be an
important way of generating collaboration within the
school.
Setting high expectations
All the Heads recognised that the only way to address
low expectations often present in these areas was to
generate a belief in a culture of improvement. The
first steps in achieving this were to set clear
expectations with pupils and staff, to share a vision of
improvement, particularly with pupils and to re-affirm
this on a regular basis. Common strategies to raise
expectations included speech days, award ceremonies,
celebratory events and reward schemes.
Teachers in these schools put in huge amounts of time
and effort to work with students outside the formal
teaching day. Through extra curricular activities, clubs
A distinctive feature of schools that are improving was
how far they work together as a learning community.
Within schools in this study, a climate of collaboration
existed among staff and there was a commitment to work
together.
This
climate
had
been
deliberately
orchestrated through lengthy discussion, development and
dialogue amongst those working within and outside the
school.
The Heads in this study invested a great deal of time in
creating opportunities for more positive relationships to
be developed. For staff, opportunities were provided to
work together, to work across teams and within teams,
social events were organised and staff development
activities included the expertise and involvement of those
within the school. For pupils, staff–student committees
were set up, student councils were established, lunch time
and after hour clubs were put in place and trips were
organised. For parents, there were evening classes and
‘drop in’ sessions, parents’ evenings included a social
component and there were more opportunities created to
give parents positive feedback and to invite them into the
school.
Findings: Strategies for Raising Attainment
Improving literacy and numeracy
In both the primary and secondary schools a significant
amount of time was allocated to literacy and numeracy
development. In the primary schools, the National
Literacy Strategy was considered to have made a
considerable contribution to securing higher attainment.
In both the primary and secondary schools, attention was
given to raising levels of numeracy and literacy through
additional time and extra support, particularly from
learning mentors. Close links with the primary schools
have assisted the secondary schools in developing literacy
programmes to meet the needs of particular groups of
pupils, particularly in Key Stage 3.
Focusing on teaching and learning
Across all the schools in this study there was consistent
and relentless attention to improving the quality of
teaching and learning. This was identified as the most
important factor in raising achievement. In all the
schools, teachers felt that the focus or re-focussing on
teaching and learning had been the turning point for the
school as it provided the impetus for classroom related
change and development.
It was evident that teachers had engaged in
professional development activities aimed at extending
their teaching repertoires. Training days were used to
explore different teaching and learning issues and to
engage teachers in a dialogue about teaching.
Using data, tracking and target setting
All of the schools engaged in comprehensive data
collection about pupil performance, progress and
potential. This data richness allowed schools to use
target setting effectively and to employ tracking as a
means of improving learning outcomes. Through the
provision of sophisticated tracking systems, individual
pupils were followed closely and their progress was
carefully monitored. This allowed each school to
identify potential underachievement and to address
issues of inadequate progression on an individual pupil
basis.
Establishing special groups
To assist motivation to achieve targets within a
number of the schools, selective or special groups
were established. For example in one school, pupils who
had high target grades were invited into an ‘express
group’ with the prime purpose of creating a group
dynamic of achievement and hard work. The prime
purpose of the express group was to encourage pupils
to work hard to achieve and deliberately to segregate
pupils from peers whom teachers suggested would pull
them down.
Professional development
Professional development proved to be a particularly
powerful lever in securing improved classroom
teaching. Schools in this study had moved away from
traditional INSET as the dominant form of
professional
development
towards
alternative
approaches to professional development such as
mentoring, coaching and peer review. In over half of
the schools, new peer observation systems had been
set up to allow teachers to share good practice and to
systematically
reflect
upon
their
teaching.
Improvements were achieved through investing in
forms of professional development and collaboration
that raised teachers’ knowledge base and skills.
Commentary: Building Capacity, Opportunities and
Challenges
School improvement is a complex undertaking for any
school, but for schools in extremely disadvantaged
areas, it presents extra challenges. In particular,
improvement can be extremely fragile and changes do not
always last over time. Increasingly, sustainability is seen
as critically important to all improvement efforts and, to
achieve this, capacity building is key. What is noticeable
about most of these schools in this study is that they
managed to maintain an upward trajectory of results.
While the changing nature of their intake may play some
role in this, the core message about raising attainment in
schools in former coalfield areas is one of building
capacity through empowering, involving and developing
teachers to deliver high quality teaching and through
providing systems of learning support, guidance and
assistance to that ensure learning is maximised.
Additional Information
Copies of the full report (RR423) - priced £4.95 - are
available by writing to DfES Publications, PO Box 5050,
Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ.
Cheques should be made payable to “DfES Priced
Publications”.
Copies of this Research Brief (RB423) are available free
of charge from the above address (tel: 0845 60 222 60).
Research Briefs and Research Reports can also be
accessed at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/
Further information about this research can be obtained
from Susanna Greenwood, Room N611, DfES, Moorfoot,
Sheffield S1 4PQ.
Email: [email protected]