: Beyond the Strategy Document: Closing the Disadvantage Gap An interview with Dawn Ashbolt, Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at Tudor Grange Academies Trust

What does effective leadership of disadvantage look like in practice? In our first blog of the year, we’re exploring this question with two key resources:

First is the new online Pupil Premium guidance from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), an essential tool for school leaders.

We also have practical insights from Dawn Ashbolt, who has experience observing the successful implementation of strategies in schools nationwide. 

Here is a selection of excerpts from our conversation:

What examples of positive practical strategies can you share from your experience that have been the most impactful in closing the disadvantage gap?

“High-quality teaching benefits every pupil, but especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. When teaching is consistently strong, it helps to close attainment gaps and gives every child the opportunity to progress. Great teachers know that, and they also know that there is always more to learn.”

The Fundamentals

“What makes the difference? It’s a tough question. Whilst the research around Pupil Premium points us toward a range of specific strategies that can help, my experience shows me that those strategies all must build on some key fundamentals:

• creating a culture where every pupil feels they can succeed, both in the classroom and in the wider school;
  
• building strong, trusting relationships;
  
• ensuring leaders and staff are always looking for research-informed innovation;
  
• and, most importantly, prioritising full engagement in lessons.”

High-Quality, Whole-Class Teaching

“The practical approaches I have seen used most effectively all build on those key fundamentals:

• Get to know the pupils in your class; what works best for them and what might be barriers to their learning. Adjust your planning to account for their differing needs.
• Plan which pupils you need to check on first and most frequently (for support or to provide extra challenge).
• Prepare your explanations, examples and activities to overcome the difficulties you’ve identified.
• Circulate the classroom during activities (and even explanations) so you can touch base with key pupils more easily and unobtrusively.
• Keep checking that your class has understood the point of the activities, the instructions you have given and what you have explained or shown them.
• Try a hands down approach to questioning. This keeps pupils alert and you can choose who gets to speak.
• Don’t accept ​‘I don’t know’ responses; give prompts, give thinking time, come back to them.
• Praise pupils’ answers. Be specific about the reason for your praise (“I like the way you explained/​thought about/​focused on/​tried to…”).
• Don’t just lecture, plan opportunities for pupils to talk, explore and share ideas, think and collaborate.”

What are the most effective ways to embed strategies like these into a school’s culture?

Embedding Practice Through Professional Development

“In my experience, one of the most effective ways to drive improvement in teaching and learning is through spending meaningful time in classrooms observing practice, recognising excellence, and facilitating connections between staff. It is also essential to translate what you are seeing directly into your planning for professional development.”

​“A great example of this is how we’re using insights guided by quality assurance processes to shape our Trust INSET programme. We’ve landed on the theme of ​‘checking for understanding’. For the first session we’ve invited as our keynote speaker David Didau, a well-known educational consultant and author. We’ve collaborated to video him leading and demonstrating checking for understanding in both a primary and a secondary English lesson at one of our academies for us to watch and reflect on together during the INSET.

“Beyond our INSETs we link colleagues with strengths in these areas to those seeking development to foster peer-to-peer support rooted in professional trust. These collaborations help to build a culture of shared growth and continuous improvement. We use an online platform for staff to base their collaborations around with a library of accessible, high-quality research-led strategies examples and articles.”

Conclusion

A huge thank you to Dawn for sharing her invaluable experience with us. Her insights provide a clear and powerful message for school leaders: closing the disadvantage gap begins not with a series of separate interventions, but with an unwavering commitment to improving the quality of whole-class teaching for every pupil day-in, day-out.

Dawn’s advice highlights a two-fold approach. First, establishing the fundamentals of great teaching — rooted in strong relationships and a culture of success. Second, embedding these practices through a thoughtful, evidence-informed professional development model that values observation, expert modelling, and peer collaboration.