Research School Network: What helps our delegates to make the difference for disadvantaged pupils? Some key messages for making an impact in your school

by Katie Wills, Research Lead

At Sandringham Research School, we have been delivering a course on ​‘Making the Difference for Disadvantaged Pupils’ since 2019. In this time, we have reached 128 delegates and 91 schools, presenting them with evidence-based practices as best bets for supporting pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding.

Like all good practitioners, we have adapted our provision each time we have delivered the course to make sure we are providing the most effective training to school leaders in our area. The recommendation points outlined below show how we have made our training bespoke to respond to the needs of our delegates and deliver key messages to those who want to have an impact on disadvantaged pupils in their schools.

1. Unconscious bias will prevent us from understanding socioeconomic disadvantage

Schools and teachers broadly understand effective pupil premium strategies and the different actions a school can take to support disadvantaged pupils. However, they can underestimate the impact of socioeconomic disadvantage because, in most cases, many teachers have not faced these challenges themselves. Even when teachers and leaders have been in receipt of Pupil Premium in the past, the diverse nature of the challenges that different pupils face means our approach can still be biased. Humans often naturally assume that our lived experience is broadly the same as others, so it is extremely difficult to fully put ourselves in another person’s shoes.

The normalisation of our unconscious bias conceals how and where our schools are magnifying the attainment gap between pupils. We must be aware that we are influenced by the norms of our school, especially if we have been in that context for a long time. Consequently, schools must ask students about the challenges they are facing and work sensitively to train staff. Making our implicit bias more explicit allows teachers to understand how a range of factors can inhibit pupils’ ability to learn, and how best to overcome these. Simply knowing that a student is labelled ​‘disadvantaged’ does not give teachers enough information and therefore contextual knowledge and relationships are hugely important in minimising the unconscious bias pupils face.

2. Best intentions do not mean best impact

Schools are amazing places that are filled with people who want to help children succeed. All schools want to close the disadvantaged gap and most schools are utilising effective strategies that could close this gap. However, exam data shows us that in a lot of schools the impact of these strategies is minimal.

Even in high performing schools, who often use evidence in their practice, and in schools who have a very detailed understanding of how best to support pupils in receipt of Pupil Premium there can still be a distinct disadvantage gap, as the implementation of the guidance is not used consistently across the school.

This is why the EEF’s Guidance Report – A School’s Guide to Implementation is so important. It cannot be overstated that implementing a strategy effectively is very difficult, and schools need to give a lot more attention to how we make sure a strategy is working effectively. We encourage schools to be critical about the impact of their practice and to be confident admitting that their work is not having an impact. If we can be comfortable being critical then a more analytical approach can be applied to our everyday practice, and we are more likely to create positive change.

3. Evidence and data must inform our priorities

Schools are very fast-paced, and decisions need to be made on a vast range of topics on a daily basis. This often results in decisions being made based on assumptions about what might be effective, as opposed to what the data shows is effective. There is not always time in schools to gather data from a broad range of sources. However, we would argue that in the case of Pupil Premium, not gathering data can mean a large amount of work, effort, time, and money can be wasted. By slowing down the decision making, we can observe lessons, speak to teachers, pupils, and parents, and examine behaviour, attendance and attainment data. Triangulating this data allows us to make a more credible and informed decision that will target our work. Working with a number of schools has shown us that narrowing down priorities can also be a significant challenge. The data can sometimes indicate numerous weaknesses and as leaders we want to improve all these areas at once. However, we should use our data to identify one specific priority and focus solely on this if we want to truly create change.

4. Everything takes longer than you think

When starting to work with us it is common for delegates to ask how long they should focus on one priority. They often plan to identify and implement change on their priority in one term so they can move on to other weaknesses and make as many changes as possible throughout the year. The misconception is more change is better when, in reality, change will not happen if it is not given time. Day-to-day life at school contains hundreds of tasks and the process of change will only cause this to increase. Gathering data, creating strategies, trialling strategies, training others is just the beginning if we want our implementation to be successful, so consequently everything takes longer than you think. If schools want change in provision to be well embedded, then they need to accept that years and not months is a more appropriate timescale to see impact. This may be frustrating to those who want to make a difference quickly, but it is important to remember that an impact that takes a long time is better than no impact at all.

Sandringham Research School Podcast Episode 1 – Pupil Premium with Marc Rowland 

Webinar – Effective Use of Pupil Premium, Sandringham Research School, 10 November 2020

Blog – Making the Difference for Disadvantaged Pupils, for Sandringham Research School, 3 March, 2020

Blog – Evaluating your Pupil Premium Strategy, Marc Rowland for Durrington Research School, 13 June 2022