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Education

University lowers entry grades for disadvantaged

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

graduation at Bristol

A leading university is to increase its intake of disadvantaged students by offering places with reduced grades.

The University of Bristol is to accept lower exam grades from disadvantaged local pupils and applicants from schools with poor A-level results.

Vice-chancellor Hugh Brady said this would be a “step change” in admissions.

The project is launched as admissions service figures show young people from poorer families are much less likely to apply to university.

The Bristol project, to be launched by Education Secretary Justine Greening, is an attempt by the university to drive social mobility and attract a wider range of students.

‘Potential’ not exam grades

The university, which gets eight applications for every place, will make offers two grades lower than the standard offer for applicants who have been at schools in the lowest-achieving 40% for A-level results.

For every local school, there will be five places for disadvantaged pupils, based on head teachers’ assessments of “potential” rather than exam grades.

The university says it wants a more diverse intake of students – as Ucas figures show that youngsters from wealthy backgrounds are almost four times more likely to apply to university than their poorer counterparts.

Despite campaigns to widen access to university, the Ucas figures show that groups such as working class white boys are still far behind in university entry rates.

Many universities, including Bristol, take into account whether students have had to overcome barriers in their education.

But the pilot schemes in Bristol will see some places directly awarded on the basis of the background of applicants.

‘Bold measures’

It will encourage applications from disadvantaged students such as those who have been in care, eligible for free school meals or those who will be the first in their family to go to university.

The Bristol Scholars project will be launched at St Bede’s Catholic College in Bristol.

A student at the college, Marbel Chawatama, will take up a place in Bristol this autumn, as part of a pilot year for the scholarship scheme.

“I know a lot of people want to go to the University of Bristol but don’t get the opportunity. I felt really blessed,” said the 18 year old, who will begin a law degree.

Prof Brady said: “We want to recruit the most able students, regardless of their background.

“These are bold measures designed to address a problem that is seen across the education sector,” said Prof Brady.

The university has spent £18m trying to recruit students from poorer backgrounds – and he says this more direct approach will represent a “step change”.

“We’re confident that, in time, we will achieve a more diverse student community at the University of Bristol; this will be a change which will benefit everyone, and something we hope other universities will consider replicating.”

Mayor’s backing

The Mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, backed the project as helping to create a “fairer city”.

“We must reach a place where opportunities in life are not defined by your background or economic circumstances.”

Les Ebdon, director of Fair Access to Higher Education, backed such “innovative” approaches to recruitment.

“But there is still a long way to go before everyone who has the potential to go to university has equal chance to do so,” said Prof Ebdon.

“I would like to see more universities thinking creatively about how they support talented young people.”

[Source:- BBC]

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Education

Tory MP claims boys are disadvantaged by ‘over-feminised’ school system

by Rajdeep
written by Rajdeep

karl-mccartney.png

Boys are becoming increasingly disadvantaged in school due to the system becoming “over-feminised”, a Tory MP has claimed.

Karl McCartney, Conservative MP for Lincoln, has suggested the gap in attainment between boys and girls in schools is being ignored by the government in a way that would not be tolerated if the situation was reversed.

The reason boys fall behind is partly down to a lack of male role models in a society which makes it “fashionable to advance the cause of the female gender”, he said.

His comments follow a debate over the issue in parliament this week, after A-Level and GCSE results fell across the board with boys particularly affected by lower grades.

Grade outcomes for all candidates last month showed a decline in the number of A*-C grades by as much as 2.1 percentage points on last year – the biggest ever drop since the exams were introduced more than 25 years ago.

Girls continue to outperform their male peers, increasing the gender gap on previous years.

Speaking to i, Mr McCartney called on the government to do more to tackle the growing academic divide.

He said: “If equality means anything, it’s equality for all.”

 Speaking in the House of Commons, he said he wanted to close “the gap between the educational performance of boys and girls, but not at the cost of reducing girls’ performance”.

“If it was the other way around, there is no way that status quo would have been allowed to continue,” he said.

Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh responded that the issue lay not with gender, but rather the “white working-class”.

When pressed on why the gender education gap was not being addressed, McCartney later said: “You don’t have to go too far back to when the playing field was certainly slanted towards boys and the male gender rather than the female one… that had to change and rightly so.”

He continued: “It’s been fashionable to advance the cause of the female gender for quite a long time, and rightly so – I’m not denigrating anybody who does that.”

But, he said, the tables had since reversed and the issue needed to be addressed.

Quoting Office for National Statistics figures, Mr McCartney said on average men in full-time or part-time work under 29 years of age were paid less per hour on average than women.

This, he said, flew in the face of the “shrill equal pay brigade, who while proclaiming the need for equality seem quietly to gloss over that fact when shouting from the rooftops with regard to equal pay”.

The MP went on to suggest there could be many factors behind the gender education gap, including boys developing at a slower rate than girls, the “over-feminisation” of the education system and a lack of male teachers at school.

Boys could also be affected by not having a male role model at home to impart “the importance of education”, he said. “Boys need outlets for their creativity, energy and natural instincts. They need to know it is okay to be masculine, and that masculinity is the equal of femininity.”

Mr McCartney said the traditional masculine roles needed to be celebrated as they were what “males were born to do”.

Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister, responded: “Tackling the inequality driven by socio-economic background is a key priority for the Government, as is tackling the inequality driven by gender.”

Responding to Mr McCartney’s comments in parliament, Anne Heavey, an education policy adviser at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said he was right to debate the issue, but that his comments were “unhelpful”.

“The biggest question is why the system isn’t working for so many children, both girls and boys, and whether we should be opening up vocational opportunities for all pupils,” she said.

“I think when we’re talking about gender and diversity, entrenching very stereotypical gender norms is unhelpful. We have moved on, and I don’t think we want to go back to the time when the girls did the needlework and the boys did the woodwork.”

Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said she shared McCartney’s “justified concerns” about boys falling behind in education, particularly those from working class backgrounds, but said government cuts were jeopardising all pupils’ access to a “good quality, free education”.

“We should be encouraging children to see beyond traditional gender stereotypes and work towards all children succeeding regardless of their race, gender and class background,” she said.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want Britain to be a country that works not just for a privileged few, but for every one of us, regardless of background.

“We are seeing record university application rates among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, however too many are still missing out. We know that white working class boys particularly lag behind, and we must now focus on extending opportunity for all.

“The Prime Minister has been clear that this Government won’t be looking to entrench advantage among the fortunate – we will look to help everybody reach their potential‎.”

[Source:- independent]

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Education

Disadvantaged pupils learning watered-down curriculum, says Ofsted

by Loknath Das
written by Loknath Das

Parents have told Ofsted that preparing for exams was eating into their children’s learning time. Photograph: Eye Ubiquitous/Alamy

Disadvantaged children are being shut out from learning a rich range of knowledge, as schools restrict low-attaining pupils to “badges and stickers” rather than history or geography, the chief inspector of schools in England has said.

Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, said social mobility could be at risk if some pupils were given restricted options and schools watered down their curriculum to concentrate on exam results.

“Low-attaining pupils need basic skills, as all pupils do, but they shouldn’t as a consequence be shut out of parts of the essential body of knowledge for any pupil,” Spielman said in a commentary published by Ofsted.

Her comments were based on initial results from research carried out by Ofsted, involving visits to 40 schools, discussions with headteachers and other data such as inspection reports and parent surveys.

“In a few of the schools visited, lower-attaining pupils did not have any opportunity to study a language or some arts subjects, as the school directed them on to a pathway that excluded the subject as an option, in some cases from the age of 12,” Spielman said.

“It is a risk to social mobility if pupils miss out on opportunities to study subjects and gain knowledge that could be valuable in subsequent stages of education or in later life.”

Spielman said the results showed a worrying trend of children from poorer backgrounds or more challenging circumstances being offered fewer choices at GCSE level than their better-off peers.

Restricted subject choice for low-attaining pupils “disproportionately affects pupils from low-income backgrounds”, she argued. “The focus here should be on what these pupils should be learning and what they need to do to progress. It should not focus solely on the qualification they are taking.

“This leads us back to school leaders mistaking ‘badges and stickers’ for learning and substance. It should also not be taken as read that higher scores for the school always means a better deal for pupils.

“If a pupil gains valuable knowledge, for instance in history, but does not get a grade four [C], they will still be better educated for having studied it.”

The research also found schools opting to start pupils studying for GCSEs a year early, curtailing key stage three by a year in order to improve exam results.

“This inevitably means that a considerable number of pupils will be experiencing only two years of study before dropping, for example, history or geography or a language, possibly never to study these subjects again,” Spielman said.

“And for most children, the end of key stage three is the last time they will take art, music, drama or design and technology.”

The Ofsted research also confirmed that some primary schools have been discarding the national curriculum in favour of more test preparation in key stage two.

Parents told Ofsted that preparing for tests was cutting into their children’s learning time. One school told Ofsted its pupils sat mock tests every week in years five and six, in the run-up to standardised tests at the end of year six.

Spielman said: “Testing in school clearly has value. This kind of test is intended to measure the child’s ability to comprehend. However, the regular taking of test papers does little to increase a child’s ability to comprehend. A much better use of time is to teach and help children to read and read more.”

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said pressure from the government meant schools in England would be determined to improve their performance in tests and exams.

“If Ofsted wants them to focus less on these assessments, we would suggest it lobbies the government for a change to the accountability system rather than criticising schools,” he said.

Spielman’s comments come as Justine Greening, the education secretary, announced the first details of “T-levels” – technical and vocational qualifications for sixth-formers.

The first subjects, including childcare and construction, will be introduced from 2020 with a full range of subjects including hair and beauty, catering and business, starting from 2022.

“As part of making sure that the technical education ladder reaches every bit as high as the academic one, I want to see T-levels that are as rigorous and respected as A-levels,” Greening said.

[“Source-theguardian”]

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