SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Supplementary Schooling
in the Lambeth
Education Action Zone
A Report By
Dr John Bastiani
on behalf of the Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR),
commissioned by CfBT/Lambeth EAZ
September 2000
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank all those who found the time to talk to him and answer his persistent
questioning! Special thanks to the staff, parents and pupils of the Abeng Tuition Centre, Family
Friends (Strand Centre) and the Marcus Garvey Saturday School, for sharing their enthusiasm and
commitment.
About the author
Dr John Bastiani (JB Associates) is a freelance consultant on all aspects of family-school matters
whose work and publications are both nationally and internationally recognised. He has run training
and INSET sessions all over the UK for LEAs, headteachers, teachers, nursery nurses, parents and
governors, and has evaluated numerous parent involvement programmes including the SHARE Key
Stage I Project for CEDC, and the AMBER Project - a Parent Education Support Worker Scheme - for
the Nottingham Black Alliance/ New College, in Nottingham. He was the director of the ‘Parents in a
Learning Society’ project for RSA and is currently involved in the RSA’s ‘Redefining the Curriculum’
project. John is a Visiting Professor at Nottingham Trent University and co-ordinator of the National
Home-School Development Group.
Address: 67, Musters Road, Ruddington, Nottingham NG11 6JB. Tel/Fax: 0115 9143135
Contents
- Introduction
- The wider picture
- Carrying out the study: approach and methods.
- Supplementary Schooling: some current forms of provision in the
CfBT/Lambeth EAZ
- The Views of Providers, Parents and Pupils
(i) Providers: EAZ, Mainstream School and Saturday School Staff.
(ii) The Views of Saturday Schools Parents
(iii) A Pupil’s Eye View
- Supplementary schools: a summary of positive features
- Some practical proposals for consideration
- References
- Appendices.
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Introduction
This report stems from a small-scale, independent study, commissioned from the
Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR) by the CfBT/Lambeth Education Action
Zone, which is based upon a series of discussions and visits that took place during
March 2000.
Taking its cue from a brief drawn up by a local Steering Group, the study gives
emphasis to two major themes, within an approach that seeks to suggest positive
ideas for the development of more effective practice.
- by outlining some of the key features of Supplementary Schools, (or
Saturday Schools as they are more popularly known, especially amongst
parents) - within the EAZ , suggesting how they might relate to mainstream
schools.
- by identifying ways in which both supplementary schools and mainstream
providers, statutory and voluntary, can involve parents, families and the
community and strengthen their support for the progress of children for
whom they share responsibility.
The study acknowledges some of the tensions, difficulties and problems that
characterise the relationships between the different providers and is also sensitive to
the needs of hard-pressed families, often living in difficult circumstances. It sets out,
however, to reveal a picture - mainly through the words of staff, parents and
children themselves - of a largely neglected area of educational life and activity that
contains considerable potential to strengthen a community’s efforts to educate its
children in the context of the challenging conditions of inner city life.
It is a cumulative and convincing pattern of overwhelmingly positive benefits and
effects that, whilst clear to parents and children themselves, are often unrecognised
and unacknowledged by schools and others who are concerned with children's
progress and development.
Like other educational evaluations, too, the study begins to throw light upon, and
ask questions of, broader issues and processes, such as the conditions within which
children, of all ages, learn best and to suggest some of the educative dimensions of
family and neighbourhood life.
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The Wider Picture
This small-scale study is located against a wider background, which contains a great
deal of cumulative research, evidence about effective practice and positive outcomes
and a wide range of government initiatives in key areas.
These include
Evidence and experience about so called ‘effective schools’ and ways of raising
achievement in general; strategies for raising standards in inner city schools and
with cultural minorities.
Evidence and experience about the importance of strong home-school links and the
importance of parental and family support for children's progress and development.
A growing realisation, reflected in recent cross-departmental government
initiatives, of the importance of extending and developing a wider range of
opportunities, (as part of a social inclusion agenda,) for young people’s learning and
development, within the context of lifelong learning for individuals and their
communities.
(i) School Effectiveness
In spite of the criticisms that can, and should, be made of it, it remains the case that a
great deal is known about 'effective schools’. This has progressively needed to
include a range of features of both school and family background and circumstances;
(the most recent of which is pupil mobility:)
Within this wider picture, there is a continuing concern, reinforced by cumulative
evidence, of the significant underachievement of pupils from specific minority ethnic
backgrounds. Although this is a much more complex picture than is often suggested
or claimed, it continues to be an area of concern and, increasingly, of government
policy and action (See Gillborn and Gipps 1996)
Interestingly, too, the more precise patterns of educational disadvantage and pupil
underachievement have been identified partly through the re-analysis of OFSTED
inspection data, which originally was often used to de-emphasise the significance of
background factors. (This process will soon be massively augmented by evidence
made available through the re-introduction of ethnic monitoring of pupil
achievement by the DfEE).
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Within this picture, an effective school approach to the raising of achievement
amongst minority ethnic pupils would incorporate the following:
‘ Our starting point is an analysis, backed by OFSTED findings, of what truly
makes a difference in raising the achievement of ethnic minorities’.
- high expectations of all pupils;
- an ethos supportive of all pupils with a strong commitment to equal
opportunities;
- recognition of the importance of each pupil’s first language;
- a multi-cultural school curriculum in which there is a celebration of
different cultures;
- an emphasis on building pupils’ self-esteem through the presence of
good role models;
- maximum involvement of parents.
Extract from an article by Anthea Millett (TTA) called ‘Race to the fore’ TES 10.7.98
(ii) Parental Involvement and Pupil Progress
There is now an extensive and convincing body of evidence which underlines the
crucial importance of parental involvement and family support to children's
progress and development. (See Wolfendale and Bastiani 2000).
Although difficult to disentangle in the everyday world, there seem to be three,
overlapping elements, each of which has important implications
- Parents are1, and continue to be, the most important influence on children's
attitudes, behaviour and achievement - by far!
- When schools and families can learn to work productively together,
children's benefit in tangible and lasting ways.
- Being a parent of school aged children can be both a catalyst of, and
platform for, parents’ own education and development.
1
Parents is used here as a crude form of shorthand for all the diverse arrangements for looking after
and bringing up children and young people in contemporary Britain.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Whilst these statements have wide application to schools in all kinds of settings and
circumstances, they have special resonance and potential for inner city schools,
where there is significant disadvantage, disaffection and underachievement.
‘ We are convinced that the vast majority of parents, regardless of their social
class, ethnic or cultural origin, want their children to do well at school. We do
not perceive any major divergences of interest at this fundamental level. But
we do perceive a range of practical problems which can prevent active
partnership developing’.
From DES (1989) Discipline in Schools. The Elton Report
‘ The government’s aim for Section 11 funding in education is that it should
be used to remove barriers to true equality of educational opportunities for
ethnic minority groups where mainstream programmes alone are not sufficient
to remove these barriers. The education service needs to equip ethnic minority
groups with the knowledge, skills and understanding they require to
participate fully in British life while maintaining their own cultural identity’.
Home Office quoted by Bagley, C. (1992) in Back to the Future. Slough NFER
Within the wider picture, home-school work in urban Britain is characterised by a
number of important contradictions. For example, the evidence of a positive strong
correlation between parental encouragement and support, reinforced by government
rhetoric, continues to pile up. The reality in schools, however, is that the pressures
on headteachers and staff to go on delivering a range of government initiatives is deprioritising and downgrading home-school work and moving it further towards the
margins of the professional mindset and everyday concerns.
Ironically, these same tensions can be seen, (reflected in the enclosed quotations
from key sources,) in the recent history of Section 11, (now EMAG,) funding, which
has seen progressive government redefinitions away from whole school antiracist
and multicultural approaches to rather narrow definitions of language support for
bilingual pupils in mainstream classes.
This has, rather predictably, been accompanied by a corresponding shift away from
both a widespread professional responsibility and specialist provision in the home-
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
school liaison field. It has also weakened the view that distinctive strategies2,
practical arrangements and separate treatment are necessary and strengthened a
more universalist approach to working with parents in particular and raising
standards in general.
Strategies for Working with Black Parents: a school based approach
- Staff training and development;
- Induction Programmes for NQTs
- Making extra time for contact with individual parents;
- Behaviour management policy;
- Targeting pupils at risk of exclusion;
- LEA Adviser as mediator;
- Monitoring the academic performance of black pupils;
- After school homework club: supplementary school;
- Developing a relevant curriculum;
- Safe environment.
Adapted from:CROOKS, B. (1997) Chapter 5. Minimising Obstacles, Maximising Opportunities :
Teachers and Black Parents. (In). Bastiani, J. (Ed.) Home -School Work in Multicultural Settings.
London. David Fulton.
2A
very rich repertoire of (mainly Section 11 funded,) effective practice had, until recently, existed in
British LEAs and schools. (See Bastiani, J. (1997) Home-School Work in Multicultural Settings)
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
(iii) Extending Educational Opportunities
‘ The government has set challenging targets for raising standards in schools.
If these are to be met, it is vital that there are effective learning opportunities
outside school hours - involving schools and other agencies- to complement
and support the work of teachers in the classrooms. Study
support.............................The many activities which make up study support
have in common the aim of creating well motivated, independent young
people who will become lifelong learners...........’
David Blunkett 1996 (See Refs.)
Apart from the overriding primacy of its commitment to raising standards of
achievement in all schools, within an overwhelmingly school focussed approach, the
government has been increasingly obliged to recognise the challenging and complex
nature of the task.. This has led to the introduction of a number of new, modified
and additionally funded initiatives, such as EAZs, SRB projects, Excellence in Cities
and A New Deal for Communities.
At the time of writing, ( July 2000), recent developments have appeared, which have
special significance for this report. The Social Exclusion Unit has recently been part
of an interdepartmental effort to establish a National Strategy For Neighbourhood
Renewal, through the auspices of the Cabinet Office, to propose a consistent, coordinated and cost effective policy and approach in this area.
Many of the reports from the 18 Policy Action Teams (PATs) that have been set up to
tackle key themes and topics, have important implications for the educational
agenda in general and for raising standards of pupil achievement in particular. One,
the 'Schools Plus’ report tackles many of the areas examined in this study and,
indeed, seems to pre-empt the work being tackled by EAZs in this area and make
their longer term developmental role more problematic.
(See illustration).
Schools Plus
This examined ways to extend use of schools for children and the wider community breakfast clubs, homework centres and summer community activities. It set a target
of three hours of extracurricular activities a week; extended hours at some schools to
allow study support; and one-stop family support centres to serve pupils and their
families. Stronger links were recommended between schools and communities with
'schools plus' teams to help parental and community involvement. Cash to promote
supplementary and mother tongue schools. Young people to have more input,
including through a youth consultation website’.
Guardian 1/4/00 (extract)
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'Schools Plus:’ Some Interesting Quotes
Schools Plus activities can only complement and reinforce good teaching and management
in schools Ð they cannot be a substitute for it............ They can also make a real difference to
the lives of pupils and others in the community.’ P.1
‘49. Both schools and the community can gain considerably from encouraging schoolcommunity links and wider use of school premises. Support from parents and local
community organisations can be a crucial factor in combating social exclusion and in
improving pupils’ attainment, motivation and expectations.’ P.36
‘56. It is important that schools are places where black culture and identity is recognised,
validated and reflected both in the ethos of the school and in curriculum content. The Team
was impressed by the work undertaken by many Supplementary and Mother Tongue Schools
(SMTS). Working with mainstream schools and supporting
activity in the classroom,
while maintaining their distinctive contribution, effective and
well run SMTS can do much to
improve learning and cultural opportunities for ethnic minority communities. The Team believes
that SMTS should be encouraged
and recognised more explicitly for the work that they do.
They are an important community
resource and should be helped to flourish. P.38
Recommendation - The DfEE, working with others, should ensure that funding is
available to promote Supplementary and Mother Tongue Schools to assist them in
providing a quality experience for young people from ethnic minority communities which
supports learning at school. Government should also ensure that SMTS are eligible to bid for
all relevant funding from other Government sources and monitor activity to ensure that a
reasonable proportion of bids are successful.
Action: DfEE, LEAs, SMTS to consider how this recommendation can best be
resourced and evaluated. Target: Funding of SMTS from April 2001.’ P.42
.......... schools should be offered the direct additional support of individuals Ð who are
experienced and successful in raising the attainment of ethnic minority pupils’... P.50
35. What we do know from case studies and research is that study support activity can, as
part of a wider strategy, help raise attainment, particularly for those in disadvantaged
areas ..... However, much effort is ad hoc and not currently integrated into school life or
not part of an overall strategy. P.62
Carrying Out The Study: approach and method.
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In accordance with the conditions of the contract, the collection of data was carried
out during the last three weeks in March. Data was collected through a mixture of
semi formal and informal discussions with individuals and groups, using a specially
drawn up framework for providers, staff and parents respectively.
People interviewed included
- The managers/ co-ordinators of three supplementary (Saturday) schools
within the EAZ.
- A cross section of parents, from the same three schools, and a meeting with
staff and children. (See amended section (iii) ‘A Pupil’s eye View’.)
- The appropriate mainstream staff link with two primary and one
secondary schools: the secondary school Headteacher.
- EAZ Director
- Out of School Learning Manager
- Family Education Co-ordinator
- EMAG Co-ordinator (Primary).
These discussions were supported, where possible, by documentary, background
material, of different kinds. These included programmes of activities, information
for parents and, in one case, examples of children's work. Though it is only an
impression, the overall amount of available paperwork of any kind - compared to
mainstream schools - seems to be relatively small.
A visit was also made to the DfEE funded Resource Unit for Supplementary and
Mother Tongue Schools, where a discussion with the Director was held and a range
of publications and teaching resources were examined. The author of this study also
conducted a conventional literature search, at the University of London Institute of
Education Library and a number of website searches using ‘supplementary
schooling’, ‘out of school learning and activity’ and ‘alternative approaches to
education’ as search topics.
It is worth making the point, however, from the vantage point of a former tutor in a
university school of education that, whilst there is a steadily growing literature in
the general area of ethnicity and education, there is very little literature and no hard
evidence (especially systematic and comparative data) on the topic of
supplementary schools as such. There is, maybe, a lesson here about wider
audiences both for a suitably illustrated version of a report such as this and for
future accounts, particularly those which attempt to portray what has been done and
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evaluate what has been achieved and learned.
In addition, two further points need to be made about the approach used and the
methods that were chosen. These are based on a grounded approach, which has a
particular appeal to practitioner research, as it is based upon the examination of a bit
of the real world as it is, rather than trying to fit it into some preconceived ‘armchair’
theory.
It also draws upon ‘stakeholder’ research., in the belief that educational
development can be brought about by collecting and attending to the views and
experience of the main participants in educational situations and processes and
using these as the basis for identifying tensions and differences, as well as
identifying areas for action.
Both the approach to data collection and the methods of analysis tend to emphasise
similarities between the Saturday Schools and amongst parents. Differences between
them and amongst parents do, of course, exist and would be revealed by further and
more detailed investigation. (For example, the use of individual, rather than group
parent interviews. Both have their part to play, both in research and in the
development of practice; each has its own characteristic strengths and limitations.)
Neither has there been any attempt to use, or suggest, models with which to
examine and compare the very different philosophies and organisational approaches
to the provision of both independent and part LEA supported Saturday Schools, (as
was suggested by one centre director.) This would simply be another, and different,
study.
How do we know it’s working?
It is notoriously difficult to evaluate the relationships between educational provision
and its outcomes. For learning is such a messy and complicated business. The same
experiences can affect different children in different ways; many important
influences are hidden or beyond reasonable control; important outcomes are longer
term, rather than immediate. And so on!
There are several aspects of this wider problem that are relevant here. Firstly, the
need - often government driven - to demonstrate overall gains and progress in pupil
achievement, through aggregated scores, is perfectly understandable. It is, of course,
particularly crude and limiting in an educational strategy - like the Lambeth EAZ which is trying to bring in new elements alongside existing provision in ways that
are mutually reinforcing and beneficial.
More concretely, educational benefits need to be examined in relation to the combined
effects of different kinds of educational provision and experience. in and out of
school, and their differential impact upon children with very different needs, existing
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
capabilities and circumstances. Also different degrees and kinds of parental
involvement and support, especially within a home setting are particularly difficult to
ascertain with any accuracy. (The present author has produced two recent accounts
identifying a range of practical strategies, describing, with growing confidence, what
can and cannot be done in this area. Bastiani 1998: 2000).
Ultimately, however, the most useful material for practitioners is likely to be
incorporated in case study materials of good practice, both of agencies, types of
provision and particularly, of a selected range of individual pupils.
Supplementary Schooling; some current forms of provision in the
CfBT/Lambeth EAZ.
As befits a society in which, probably for the first time ever, education is at the top of
the government’s explicit agenda, a great deal of attention is being given to the
nature and effectiveness of different forms of provision, statutory and voluntary,
formal and informal; different styles of teaching and learning and conditions for
successful learning; special educational needs, both of individuals and groups;
personal, family, intergenerational, community and lifelong learning .
In this context, and given that, increasingly, roles are blurred, responsibilities shared
and boundaries crossed, it is hardly surprising that different terms are used
interchangeably or the same terms used in different ways, not only by families with
little knowledge of their children's schools, but by staff themselves. This is further
complicated, in this study, by the fact that many of those who run, work in, or
support Saturday Schools - on either a paid or voluntary basis - are also involved in
other forms of supplementary education, which are attached to, or are extensions of,
mainstream schools, such as booster classes, homework or after school clubs and
activities, and other study support schemes.
In this study ‘supplementary education’ is taken to be a broad, inclusive term that
covers a range of styles and forms of educational provision, of which Saturday
Schools are only one form. In the next section, an attempt is made to classify a
number of these, not on the basis of some abstract principle, but in terms of actual
provision within the Borough.
Like many others in inner cities, CfBT/ Lambeth EAZ schools have increasingly
recognised the need for supplementary learning provision and activity as a
necessary ingredient in their overall plans for tackling underachievement and
improving their results.
These include:
(a) Booster classes: run (mainly, but not exclusively, ) by and in, schools, for
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targeted pupils in Year 6 (Primary) and Year 11 (Secondary ), to improve the school’s
aggregated KS2 and GCSE scores respectively. These are invariably based on literacy
and maths attainment.
(b) Study support schemes: a generic term that includes
- Independent learning, study skills, revision techniques for older pupils.
- Homework clubs, with a variety of providers and locations.
(c) After School Clubs (called Play Centres locally) that provide a mix of care and
structured learning activities for primary aged pupils. A mixture of funding
arrangements (including self funding) and often a mix of paid and voluntary staffing
are typical.
(d) Extension and Enrichment Activities 3. Not always easy to differentiate!
Extension activities tend to reproduce and develop interests and activities (see
examples) that have all but disappeared with the increasingly narrow contents of the
National Curriculum and its corresponding objective, measurable outcomes.
Activities popular with Lambeth include sports, recreational activities and drama.
Enrichment activities, by contrast, are often focussed on the need for additional
provision to stimulate more able pupils, through advanced or more specialised
opportunities that are impossible to provide in mainstream classes.
(e) Tutoring and Mentoring Schemes, that include a variety of both informal and
timetabled support from peers, from older pupils, from parent volunteers and adult
volunteers, from local employers or from community organisations.
Mentoring purpose and style may range from structured remedial support to
motivational encouragement and positive role modelling. Although systematic
mentoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of these strategies has only recently
been seen as an integral part of current provision, there is growing evidence of their
effectiveness both on their own and in combination with other forms of learning
support.
Such a portrayal provides, almost unwittingly, a typology for looking at the work of
Saturday Schools, in terms of the three pillars of organised, semi formal schooling curriculum, organisation and relationships. For Saturday Schools provide, through a
3An
interesting model is provided by the Birmingham LEA. The Primary Guarantee offers a range of
learning opportunities for all children in city schools, which includes a period of residential
experience. Its University of the First Age - or Children's University as it is more popularly known provides a range of advanced, specialised, extension experiences in a range of weekend and holiday
sessions.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
distinctive mix of teaching and learning activities, each of the strands of provision
that also exist separately within the zone’s schools.
There are two other areas of additionally provided and separately funded activity
that should be mentioned. Family Literacy Initiatives provide a mixture of separate
and joint learning, where the adult learning is accredited in one form or another.
(See 'Family Learning - a review of progress’. Lambeth EAZ March 2000).
Finally, there is continuing provision for English as an additional language and
mother tongue teaching. This is diverse and can contain a mixture of children's,
adult and community elements. Provision for the Portuguese community in
Stockwell would make an interesting and instructive case study here.
(f) Saturday Schools. At the end of March/early April 2000, the author of this report
visited three established Saturday Schools within the EAZ. Whilst the organisations
which run them are markedly different in their overall philosophy, structure and
approach, they have a combined total of nearly fifty years experience of voluntary
sector working with the black communities in the Borough.
The Saturday Schools are run by voluntary sector organisations , two of which also
run a wide range of activities within the Borough for children and their families,
many of which have been pioneering and ground breaking in nature. They are
variously funded, through a mixture of public, voluntary sector and self funding
and have extensive links with community organisations and life.
They are staffed by a mixture of qualified and experienced teachers and volunteers
from the community; their work is supported by parent volunteers and, in some
cases, by mentoring schemes, (including a funded initiative in which high achieving
secondary school students work with individual children and small groups). There
is, in all three centres, considerable overlap of staffing with after school activities
such as homework clubs, after school clubs and play centres4 which are held actually
in the centre, in the school in which it is located, or in other zone schools in the area.
There is not, however, a corresponding overlap of pupils in different forms of
supplementary provision. (Even though some children seem to attend everything
that is on offer!)
Booster classes, after school and homework clubs are obviously more likely to be
attended by children who live locally. Saturday Schools, summer programmes and
residential schemes, on the other hand, are attended by children from across the
Borough and, in a few individual cases, from much further afield. (The lack of
common membership of Saturday and mainstream schools has, of course, significant
implications for a study which is looking at relationships between the two,
particularly as it concerns possible links with individual schools).
4
Modelled on Kids Club Network provision
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Saturday Schools draw their pupils mainly from the primary age range. One of the
centres gives particular emphasis both to children with special educational needs
which are not satisfactorily met in mainstream classes and to preparing children for
their forthcoming transfer to secondary schools.
Because of the numbers generally attending each centre, (about 30), there are usually
elements of vertical grouping and much one-to- one and small group work. The use
of regular mentoring is also important here. Saturday School pupils appear to be
recruited from across a wide range of the family backgrounds, educational
capabilities and personal needs that are represented in mainstream, maintained
inner city schools.
The author met, for example, very able children who would almost certainly
progress to higher education; children with formal statements of special educational
need and with officially recognised behaviour problems. (One of the centres also
runs a weekday school for excluded and disaffected older pupils). He also met a
Spanish speaking father and his young son, who have only very recently come to
England. Children come from a fairly typical range of family backgrounds and
childcare situations - from nuclear, extended and single parent families, from
separated parents and stepfamilies, and from foster homes.
Each of the three centres appeared to expect - and get - the regular involvement and
support of the parents and other primary carers. (The fieldwork included a short
discussion with a foster parent. See Pages 28-29)
This seemed to take three main forms
- Material support for the school in terms of organising activities, helping
with visits and raising funds.
- Involvement in the school through its management committee (typically
made up of 50% parents and 50% staff) and as parent volunteers in the ‘day to
day’ running of the school.
- Above all, through providing regular encouragement and practical help
with homework and the activities (such as individual projects,) related to
their children's work in the school. This is supported by regular, mainly
informal contact regarding children's work and progress in the centre. This is,
however, augmented by regular written reports and, where appropriate,
other kinds of record and evidence of achievement.
Parents seemed as diverse and varied in terms of their personalities, backgrounds
and previous educational experience as their children. The common factor that
overrides these differences, however, is the fundamental importance that they attach
to positive learning in their children's future lives and development.
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The Views of Providers, Parents and Pupils
(i) Providers
The role and achievements of the EAZ: some different perceptions.
Throughout this report, a number of examples of good practice and positive
achievement are identified that the Zone might encourage, sponsor and support,
together with a number of areas for future co-operation and development.
In this section, however, the report take a brief look at the other side of the coin, in
terms of the attitudes and expectations of both EAZ staff, Zone schools and
voluntary organisations who work with them.
Whilst there is, inevitably, a degree of disappointment and frustration about what
has been achieved so far, there are also deeper, longer term, structural differences,
due to differences of role and responsibility, perspective and experience.
So, for example, schools may see EAZ’s as too bureaucratic or too tied to
government targets and criteria for success; voluntary agencies, on the other hand,
may see them as too mainly school focussed, or unwilling to take reasonable risks.
Action zones themselves, for their part, may see schools as simply looking for extra
material support, or a relatively painless way of plugging gaps in provision, or
funding experiences that they no longer have the resources, the time or the energy to
provide. Such differences of viewpoint and experience seem to be typical of
relationships between schools and Education Action Zones generally.
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The EAZ and Supplementary Schools
If you look back over last year’s work, we haven’t done much - except the after
school stuff - outside mainstream schools. And that’s really on the fringes of
the zone’s work........... So in a way we really kept supplementary schools at the
margins of what we were doing.............. Our only real rationale can be that
strategies that support schools that support supplementary schools do better
for our children.........’
........ If supplementary schools have lessons - if partnerships between
supplementary schools and mainstream schools make life better for pupils and,
and mainstream schools can learn lessons about ways of managing using their
time better - all those things - then that’s really worthwhile.’
EAZ Project Director
.......................................... the supplementary programmes shouldn’t really be
supplementary to what is supposed to be going on in the classroom, they should
be enriching, expanding and developing the children...........................................
................it’s only by systematically understanding how that curriculum should
work for our children and making sure that it does work for them, we can really
use supplementary schools for master classes, cognitive thinking, accelerated
learning, teaching the children how to learn. And I really think that’s where the
emphasis should be. ‘
Secondary Headteacher
The action zone isn’t hopeless. It’s funded the after school stuff, the links with
S................... It’s not all negative......A lot depends on whether the schools see
the Action Zone as doing different things. I don’t think that they do, from
where I’m standing. They see it as giving them some money for something that
they want to do ........... What real power has the action zone got? In Lambeth.....
it’s just perceived as another layer, another bureaucratic thing, which gives a
little money here, a little money there.....What would happen if it had no money
to give. People would just ignore it........
.....................It’s doing a good job, but it doesn’t have any teeth. If you set up
something which is high profile, it’s got to have some teeth.’
Supplementary Education Director
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Relationships between supplementary and mainstream schools : the views of
EAZ staff
Relationships here, as elsewhere in the country, are refracted through a prism of
history which has often been rooted in mutual mistrust and negative experience.
Schools are often wary of the purposes, the skill and the lack of ‘professionalism’ of
voluntary initiatives; supplementary schools, for their part, see schools’ responses as
jealously guarding their territory and a mixture of professional arrogance and
insecurity.
‘.............. The whole history of the relationships between supplementary schools
and schools.....there’s a big gap between them and no matter how much both of
them say they want to work together, there’s a lot of history that’s getting in
the way.’
‘ .....................................I think there’s a perception by the supplementary schools
that mainstream schools don’t want to know them and don’t value them and don’t
think very highly of their methods..................................... I don’t know whether
schools feel threatened by them; I don’t know whether it’s because teachers
have a very high sense of status about their work and so on. And perhaps the
history of how supplementary schools came about as a reaction to mainstream
schools. So it’s quite a complicated relationship................................But a part of
that is that supplementary schools don’t believe that mainstream schools are
interested in them.’
‘.........More importantly, the supplementary school doesn’t feel recognised or
supported by the school. They don’t have many kids going from there. The
school should be actively promoting their work: they don’t seem to make use of
the testing and so on that they do in the supplementary schools. And they feel
very frustrated - quite rightly - by this..........................
................. I think the school’s view would be ‘We’ve got enough to do already.
We do value it, but we haven’t got time to think about it or do any more work to
support them................ I think some of the schools might be concerned that the
way some of the supplementary schools teach might undermine what they do.
They’re not sure that they’re teaching the same - e.g. strategies for literacy
and numerically. They’re not quite sure what’s going on and whether it conflicts
with what they’re doing. But that’s just a broad brush really. There are
examples of things where there’s a lot of trust and a lot of
support.............................And schools that are more open and open their doors and
realise that they can’t do everything with these kids. You know, there’s a limit
to what they can do and other people can come in and help.’
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EAZ Projects Manager
The Views of Supplementary School Directors
The enormous experience of those who set up, and run, the Saturday Schools that
were visited as part of this study, includes a range of problems, over the years, in
relationships with both the LEA, and with mainstream schools in the Borough. The
problems here, as elsewhere, have, in the main, stemmed from differences of
ideology, personality and approach, aggravated by funding, staffing and
accommodation difficulties.
Their survival and success clearly owes a great deal to several qualities in managers
and their organisations which are highly pronounced.
- a principled pragmatism and a flexibility of approach in relation to the setting up
and running of centres, in working through the frustrations of funding,
accommodation and staffing, and
- an ability to spot the potential of new ideas and practices, a willingness to try
things out and learn from early experience in a range of areas such as the
organisation of teaching and learning, mentoring schemes and community
participation.
These qualities should, on the face of it, enable Saturday Schools to work in schemes
mediated through the Action Zone. Such qualities also suggest grounds for cautious
optimism, in terms of building new, and more effective relationships and identifying
new ways of working, with mainstream schools and staff.
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Role of Supplementary Schools : quotations from Supplementary School
Directors
‘I don’t know whether supplementary schools are special. I think they’re
essential. ‘
‘They need to be seen in the context of the English educational system. They
don’t just stand alone........... we were set up to enable minority children to access
whatever mainstream schools had to offer. And there is a recognition that
there has been a cultural difference in the way that some of our children learn.
Learning styles differ.’
‘We don’t want to replace schools. We just want to work better with them. In
partnership.’
‘............... We’re constantly looking at what’s happening to young people. And
looking to see where we can make the difference............. Where! We know we
can make a difference.’
‘Maybe three years ago we saw them (Supplementary schools) as an
infrastructure that could be developed and that could provide an alternative to
mainstream school.........cos’ mainstream’s got to be all things to all people and it’s
obviously failing..............’
‘Schools give the impression that there’s only one way to do things, to achieve
things. That’s nonsense!’
Director Saturday School
‘If supplementary schools are the flavour of the month, because of a Labour
government, then give them something so they get to the stage now where they
can develop something effective.......... or they become an annexe to a school and
they will lose their original perspective’.
‘Our observations, again, of community projects that become assimilated in, like,
NHS hospitals, is that they take on a different complexion. And I think the
same thing will happen with Saturday School, if it becomes part of a mainstream
school run by the teachers there....... When it’s run by the community, staff sit
down with parents as equals.......’
‘Everyone is a potential educator if you give them the opportunity and they’re
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
empowered. People who are involved in supplementary education come from the
grass roots. You’ve got parents. They’ve been through the system. they’ve got
their own experiences and they want to do something. The only thing is no one
bloody listens to them!’
Their approach
‘ This is not a playgroup. Not just somewhere where your children can hang out
on Saturdays. We don’t run a Saturday School where there’s a lot of messing
around. We do concentrate on what the children are learning. We also work at
building confidence and concentration’.
‘ Parents said (to me) that kids get a fresh approach, a lot of personal attention
and extra help with school work. But there’s an extra special ingredient....Two
things. The first was having black teachers. And the second was having a shared
cultural background and experience. A black perspective and black
experience...............
............ Our vision is about.....you think about the teaching relationship and try to
build in a whole system that’s very positive. That, one, is about understanding
the individual pupil. Two, is about understanding what their particular situation
and circumstances are..... Then it’s about understanding their strengths. Part of
this is about speaking to parents, but also about speaking to young people as
well. And then try to deliver something of quality, that starts from where the
person is. And where the parents (carers) are. And then set some very clear
targets.’
‘....We have established a (mentoring) scheme with some of the young ones who
go around and help. And that works well. It gives them confidence as well. They
will help children who are slow.’
‘........What I wanted S.......... (......) School to do was to get Year 10 and 11 to come
out into the supplementary schools and help.....Because that would help build
their confidence.’
‘We have a long standing relationship with the school. And if we have a problem
with a child - or they do - we are supportive.....I enjoy working with them.......We
talk about difficulties with children.’
‘And we do a report for every child based on the work that we teach them. And
parents are asked to compare it with the (mainstream) school report. We say to
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the parents ‘You go to the school if there are any problems. You talk to them’.
‘We meet and we go to the schools and reviews and we talk about what we’ve
achieved with the child.....I cannot be overtly critical of the schools that we
work with. The schools that we work with, we work well with.’
‘It’s all needed, but it’s about how you fit everything in ...It’s how all the
provision fits together. I try to initiate things, as well as getting parents and
young people to initiate things.’
The Significance of Parents
Because of the way they are set up, staffed and run, Saturday Schools see parental
involvement and support as an integral part of their efforts and a vital ingredient of
their success. They also have a good nose for empty rhetoric!
‘.....Parents have to be aware. They are essential to their children's education.
And I don’t think the government policy is clear about parents. And I don’t think
schools care that much about parents. I think that’s also lip service’.
‘....As a parent I have had to be proactive to make sure my children get what’s
due to them.’
‘The way we see it (here) and from my own personal experience and others, if
parents are not sufficiently empowered, the impact of what school and other
places do with their children, is not maximised.....That’s from observation. It’s
not a scientific statement. But we know that where this happens, children do
much better.... .........And so, empowering a parent is also empowering a child.’
.......... we know from history......that parents need to empower themselves in
order to be able to help their children....... So we set up a volunteers programme,
where we train them in-house’.
(ii) The Views of Saturday Schools Parents 5
In this section, the views of parents and carers are given considerable prominence
and parental perspectives and experience are presented, as far a possible, in their
5
'Parents' is a loose term here. This sample includes an aunt, a foster mother and a grandfather, who
are regularly involved, in children's care generally and in the life and work of their Saturday School.
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own words.
There are several significant reasons for this:
- Parents are, and continue to be, extremely important influences on their
children's attitudes to learning and on their educational behaviour and
achievements;
- Parents have a unique commitment to their children's welfare and
development; because of this they know their children better than anyone else
can, and will;
- Parents (and other family members) are a vital source of evidence about
their children's progress and development; they observe the realities and the
effects of educational provision and experience on a daily basis. {A major
literacy study, for example, found that typical parents of five year olds were
as reliable in diagnosing their children's early reading difficulties as any
standardised tests that are available - ( 1995 ‘Difficulties with Basic Skills’) };
- In this study, the evidence of parents is crucial. For they are the only
participants who can see the effects and benefits of children's learning in both
mainstream and supplementary school settings, and the way in which they
relate to each other, (apart from children themselves, of course! See next
section).
There is no way of knowing whether the parents of children attending the three
black Saturday Schools are typical or untypical of parents of school age children as a
whole- across the Borough or throughout Britain! They are, by their own admission,
more likely to be ‘proactive’ than others. But they are not parents who are otherwise
or already involved in their children's mainstream schools, and, indeed, are often
looking to find things that are missing from their experience of such schools.
What’s special about Saturday Schools?
‘Coming here gives my daughter more confidence, and confidence to tackle
things on her own. Her confidence is boosted a lot and she’s only been here a
little while.....’
‘......... For example, he was embarrassed at not being able to read as well as the
other children. And now, he’s a lot more confident. It’s a huge, huge help having
this place...’
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‘Well, I send my children here to get extra help with their basics. I find they
also like learning history - black history - as well. They don’t usually get that. Or
they just skip over it. Here they go into it in more depth.’
‘ The kind of thing he (15 year old) was getting from here that he wasn’t getting
from mainstream school was much more awareness about himself and who he
was - in terms of historically and, even more, culturally - where he was coming
from.’
‘Coming here she gets added time and (Pause) - it’s more of a community. You
come here and you talk to people, you talk to the teachers. They tell you what
she’s doing and not doing...’
‘With the mainstream I have to push him. But with the Saturday, it’s more
relaxed and he’s really into things, because they’re new.’
‘With T......, at school, if he doesn’t understand, he wouldn’t say he didn’t
understand. But here he can ask questions, He feels more comfortable, it’s more
like being at home.’
‘.........I think that people who bring their sons and daughters to Saturday School
are more proactive in their education.’
‘There are clear educational benefits for children attending supplementary
school. We’re not working in competition with the mainstream school. We are
effectively all working towards the same end - educated, more rounded, more
independent, more aware children........’
‘The (mainstream schools) can see the contribution of supplementary schools
and parents after they’ve started there. There’s a big turnaround in their
ability, in their willingness to concentrate on tasks...... But mainstream teachers
do not seem willing to accept that these changes are due to supplementary
school.....’
‘......................... it’s because we all have the same interest in the children here.
We’re working with the children; the system is working for the children. It’s
the other way round in mainstream schools.......the children are working for the
system......They need to work more for the children .’
‘It’s the setting- the environment. The teachers are here because they want to
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be here.’
‘....At the supplementary schools they’re doing it for the love of the children. I
think that’s the whole difference....’
Relationships with Mainstream schools
‘In those days they weren’t very much for supplementary education. I think
teachers are more accepting now,’cos it helps them. It helps them and takes the
pressure off really.’
Parent
‘....At the school my son goes to, they don’t actually encourage Saturday school
. When I’ve brought it up at my son’s parents’ evening ( he’s been coming here
for maybe 3/4 years), it’s never been an issue. I’ve tried to discuss it a few
times with his class teacher. And it’s been a case of ‘Well, you know......’ They try
to minimise it. They don’t really encourage it. And I think J.....has improved 112%
since coming here.....Just the way he comes across, his improvement in Maths
and English, which is very much focussed on here.....so, I’m really happy.’
‘.....I don’t think supplementary schools are part of the mainstream schools’
action list. They don’t get any brownie points for liasing with us....... They maybe
see us as threatening their jobs or whatever. By clarifying the relationship it
would make them stronger.’
‘I’d like to see mainstream schools become more child-centred.............. I’d like to
see more fighting on behalf of our children's needs............. and mainstream
schools thinking more creatively, rather than simply label and exclude black
children. Let’s bring in some of the supplementary school staff and parents to
help us maintain this child in the school.’
‘.....At the end of the day, the child’s first learning institution is the home, so
the real teachers are the child’s parents.’
‘There’s more of a feel of partnership here. When I come here I know the
teachers are accessible. I can just approach them and know that I’m not just
going to be ‘fobbed off’ or ‘Come back when I’ve got the time!’ They’re usually
there and available and that sense of partnership and working together in the
interests of the child is very much something that’s around. Whereas when I go
to the mainstream school it’s very much more structured and formal and I have
to arrange it in my diary. And even when I do get time, it’s only 5 or 10 minutes,
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which is inadequate.’
‘I’ve not been here long (1 month) but, like the others, I’ve picked up a genuine
partnership feeling....... It’s not just because it’s small groups, it’s just more
approachable. It’s easy to approach one another........’
‘We have parents’ meetings where these project plans are discussed..... because
of the informality and the accessibility of (Saturday School) staff, you don’t
really need a lot of written stuff (information) about your child.’
‘.....The teachers are more like friends.’
‘If teachers met up on a regular basis, to swap notes and just liaise, it would
make a tremendous amount of difference.’
‘In my daughter’s primary school they did have leaflets for all of the Saturday
schools’.’
‘There should be more liaison - both ways - between mainstream and
supplementary school teachers. There is a clear willingness from supplementary
schools teachers to meet mainstream school staff.’
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Closely Observed Children
‘.....Since he’s been coming here he’s become more confident, his work’s
improved.....When he came here in September he managed to do 4 lines in 2
hours. Last week he did 3 pages! I’ve spoken to his teacher, who says he’s doing
more work; he’s talking to his friends..... He’s thinking more, he’s using his brain,
I suppose, more confidently. And it has made a big difference
...........he’s more able (in doing homework) to sit down and think things through
and actually work on his own, whereas before I had to sit with him to get him to
do his work.... Once we’ve planned out what he’s got to do, he can actually get on
with it, which he wasn’t able to do before.’
‘By the time A....went (to the secondary school) he was bored.......He was in the
top of the year so he couldn’t go any further. They wouldn’t move him from Year
11 to Year 12 anyway, which is something that they can do. But they wouldn’t set
them aside (there were 3 of them) and give them extra work..........It was ‘This is
how the school system says we have to do it, so this is it. If he finds the work
easy and if you don’t give him something harder, he tends to mess around.’
‘I find this with H.......... In the evenings it’s a chore to get her to do her
ordinary homework. But when she comes home on Saturdays its like’ Oh Mum, we
can’t go here, because I’ve got to go in and rehearse what I’ve got to do for
next Saturday! So, I says, ‘You can do it Saturday evening or Sunday’ and she
says ‘Oh no,no,no,no,! I have to do it now!’................. So on Saturdays, I have to
do what I have to do between 10.30 and 1.00 pm because after that H........
takes control of my life. Because she actually enjoys coming to Saturday school.’
‘J.....brought his project home and it was just great. And he sat down and he was
so into it. he went to the library...it was a Martin Luther King project. ...........It
was just the way he put it all together and it was the excitement of it.’
‘Sometimes, when he comes home (from Saturday School) he’s buzzing! In the
morning he often says 'Do I have to go?' But once he’s been and he comes home,
he’s really buzzing!’
‘She wants the wedding (her dad’s remarriage) to take place after Saturday
school so she can actually go there first!...... She so enjoys being there.’
Interview with experienced short term foster parent : some quotes
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‘Saturday School is special because its got that individual interaction, whereas
at their everyday school they feel a little bit intimidated. This is the feedback
that I’ve had from the children I’ve fostered......................... By coming here on a
Saturday morning, they’re able to express the frustrations that they’re feeling
with certain subjects and they get a little bit of one to one in a friendly
environment - unpressurized I suppose. So, they’re able to say. ‘Well, I don’t
understand this’. And then they show them how to do it in different ways.
They’ve got the time and patience to go with them.
The daytime school has noticed the difference. Cos’ when I got to the (case)
conference and they was saying how, since I’ve been looking after the children,
how much they’ve improved.. And they’ve found they take an interest in their
work and so forth. I said ‘Yeah, I take them to F....F.....’.
.............. It’s obviously easier for parents to sleep all day Saturday than to come
here, but the kids want to come. So you get up and get going............. The Centre
has been running for about 20 years and I’ve seen the improvement that it’s
made on a lot of children's lives - and parents - in the community. Cos’ it’s a
centre where people tend to drop in, perhaps for advice. They’ve reached the
point with their children where they’re a little bit confused or they’re not
around......Asking for the right advice..................When they come here it’s nice
for them to see lots of positive images (of black teachers) and see other black
children that are keen and want to do the same things. So they need to have
that kind of role model from experienced black people.....................................
There could be more liaison and sharing of information (between supplementary
and mainstream schools). If they come to Saturday School with the work they’d
been given at school they know that they’ll be coming here to get some form of
help and feedback . Even just by (work) diaries. There might be other things you
could cover in a work diary too.
This centre’s been a godsend to a lot of children. Like I say, parents have
written back to thank the centre for what they’ve done for them...................A lot
of the older kids come and give support to the younger ones. And they do it
voluntarily - without being pressurised. They’ve come to put something back into
the Centre, which is very nice.’
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Saturday School Parents: some common views
- Parents can see the need for children to develop good work attitudes and
skills and value their learning highly.
- Many parents first approach Saturday Schools on the basis of perceiving
particular things in their children that need tackling remedially. Or they need
confidence and self-esteem building. This initial focussed concern often
broadens.
- Saturday School parents are enormously positive about the range of
benefits their children receive and the positive outcomes. They are very
appreciative of staff efforts and regard it an important investment.
- Many parents have the view - often sharply articulated - that mainstream
schools have become too narrow, too impersonal, and too dominated by tests:
that children have become fodder for government targets (Some teachers feel
this too!)
- Saturday School parents would like, and can increasingly see the point of,
more effective communication and contact between mainstream schools and
Saturday Schools.
- The encouragement and support of parents and families seems to be a key
value in supplementary schools. It is not so much a question of more contact
and involvement actually taking place, although this is probably true6. It’s
more a matter of parents having access to staff as and when they need it and
that such discussions more often than not lead to useful and productive
outcomes.
6
Although given a high place in educational rhetoric a school's work with parents is not often the
subject of systematic collection of evidence, review of experience, policy making or INSET. The
OFSTED Inspection regime also promises much and delivers less in this respect.
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(iii) A Pupil’s Eye View
{Special Note. The information on which this section is based was carried out in
two stages. In March, I met a large and very diverse group in terms of their age,
personality and background, with their teachers, at one of the Saturday Schools.
In order to strengthen and extend this part of the study, I returned in mid June
and met small groups of Year 2/3 and Year 8 pupils and small numbers of pupils
from an after school club and another Saturday School respectively.
Because the kinds and degrees of support that pupils receive is also a feature of
many accounts, I also took advantage of the opportunity of talking with the coordinator of a new mentoring scheme, which is available to a wide range of young
people using one of the centres.}
There is growing support for the view that children, of all ages, have a right to speak
and be listened to, on matters that impinge on their lives. There is also a growing
body of experience that illustrates how children's perceptions of their life
experiences contain vital suggestions for its development. Indeed, children can be
their own sternest critics!
The children that I met were very varied in age, personality and background. They
obviously enjoyed their time at the school and were comfortable there. (This is
reinforced by parental comments.) Some of the children led very busy lives; many
attended after school and homework clubs, church and Sunday school and took part
in recreational and sporting activities, as well as in community initiatives for young
people!
Children attending Saturday School do so for a variety of reasons and motivations,
as the following chart suggests. Most, however, make some reference to the
educational benefits that are involved
Reasons For Attending Saturday School
- To get extra, or special, help in key curriculum areas;
- To do more of, and develop, things that I’m good at. eg. maths, ICT;
- To get special encouragement and attention
(in building competence and confidence);
- ‘Cos my friends are here; because it’s fun!;
- Something useful to do with my time;
- ‘Cos my parents want me too! because they think it’s good for me.
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There are a number of issues for wider discussion which stem from listening to
young people. Firstly, a number of them can be said to see the point of going to
Saturday School not so much in terms of personal deficiencies or lack of progress, but
from weaknesses in mainstream provision. For example, the lack of a regular,
specialist maths teacher, (in secondary school,) and the disorderly nature of some
classrooms (in primary and secondary schools,) were both mentioned several times.
Saturday Schools often see their success, understandably, in terms of remedial
support and achievement, in ‘catching up’ and in compensating for a lack of
progress in mainstream schools. Follow-up visits gave emphasis to a considerable
role in extending the knowledge and skills of confident children who are already
doing well in mainstream classrooms, but whose needs are not being adequately met
there.
If this is a trend that is growing and spreading, it needs to be taken into account in
developing the complementary nature of Saturday and mainstream school provision
and approach. It may also relate to a stage in the wider history of the education of
Black children in Britain.7
Probably the strongest theme running throughout individual and group accounts in
this study, both explicit and implicit, is a recognition of the vital contribution of the
nature and extent of arrangements - formal and informal - to give pupils both
attention and support.
7See,
for example, the emergence of organisations like the national 'African-Caribbean Network for
Science and Technology', and the rapid growth of Ishango Clubs (Appendix iv)
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Whilst mainstream schools are currently providing, (through EAZ and NOF
funding, for example), opportunities for supplementary, out-of-school learning and
support, Saturday Schools seem to have a special chemistry, which derives from its
grass roots approach, semi voluntary effort and community links.
At its best, such an approach is
-
extensively tailored to individual needs and circumstances;
responsive to personal needs, as well as academic ones;
a mix of formal and informal elements, in a non-institutional setting;
redolent of family strategies and relationships within a shared culture.
Some Pupil Views
‘ .......My teacher only recently found out that I come to Saturday School. ‘Cos
she said ‘How come you know all this?’ So I had to tell her. She knows now!’.
(13 year old pupil)
‘I prefer maths here. At school I’m in the top set..... Most of the people in my
class mess about and you don’t get to work.’
(13 year old boy)
‘Cos I’m in the Set 1 maths here we know how to do the work. If you’re good at
maths at school they just let you get on with it!’(
13 year old boy)
‘.......I can bring my work from school to Saturday School to get help with that,
if I don’t understand it.’
(12 year old girl)
‘I go to Saturday School, which is quite good and quite educating! And I go to
church and Sunday school with my brother’.
(6 year old girl)
‘Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Especially maths. I get every single answer right’.
(7 year old boy)
‘.......At Saturday School the teachers don’t pressure you to this amount of work.
And, like, even if you do get Maths and English at the same time, it’s not a lot of
pressure, ‘cos it don’t take as long as, like...coursework’.
(13 year old girl)
‘It’s (Saturday School) fun. And the work’s not too hard or too easy.......And I’m
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not afraid to ask for help.....If all the other children (in the mainstream class)
understand the work and I don’t, I get shy........Because there’s less children (at
Saturday School) I put my hand up.’
(10 year old girl)
‘....On certain days when you go to (mainstream) school you don’t enjoy it. But
when you go to Saturday School, you always enjoy the day’.
(13 year old girl)
‘.....It’s to do with your friends and that. A Saturday School you only see them
once a week, so it’s just better. You can’t wait to see them again’.
(13 year old girl)
‘One reason is my friend N..... comes here saying it was good and that. And most
of the time at the weekends I don’t want to do much, so my dad picks me up.
It’s something my dad wanted..... But I do like it anyway.’ (13 year old boy)
‘I like it. And we leave earlier!’.
(7 year old boy)
Children's Progress: three striking examples
‘I enrolled her(aged 13 years) because I was not satisfied with the education
and standards she was getting in mainstream for her capabilities....I’m still not
happy, but I’m trying to deal with it......She enrolled here and on the first day
her tutor (C....... ) gave her some tests to complete. They found out she’s at
GCSE level.........Because of her involvement in a supplementary school they (her
school) were willing to give her extra tuition and enter her for GCSEs two and a
half years early.8‘
Parent
‘I’ve got six kids and I feel let down by the mainstream school, especially with
the eldest who’s got special needs. When she came here she started to improve.
She’s even doing equations! She couldn’t do that before. It was quite a business
to get her statemented................................ I’ve had lots of support from the staff
here. I can’t read properly and they’ve always supported me. If I needed any
help with the kids, with reading or anything, issues at school, any problems.....
.................Without the support of supplementary school I doubt she would have
achieved so much.’
Parent
‘I’ve heard from one of the parents about her daughter who didn’t like science
at school. She’s become passionate about it here’.
Saturday School
8Interestingly,
one of the centres, (Abeng), has just become a registered GCSE
Examination Centre.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Director
‘When I first came, I used to assist a teacher. Now I have my own group.
.....The youngest child (aged 6) is ahead of the other two at maths. But they’re
ahead of her at English, so it varies...........I hear them read and help them with
work that the teacher asks them to do. And anything that they don’t finish,
they take home and do as homework. And the teacher marks this every week.
..... because I want to work in nurseries, I’ve got an advantage in work
experience,’cos I work with children already............I don’t know exactly what I
want to do, but this is helping me to decide.
I think the children are a lot happier here (than in mainstream school). Their
parents want them to come but they also come because they want to. They’re
not being forced to be here. And although we have set structures to do our
work, we can have fun.’
Student Mentor
The significance of black teachers and cultural learning.
Whilst it is not at all surprising that this should be raised as an issue, the author was
struck by the frequency that this, and related, issues were raised by all contributors Saturday School staff, parents and pupils alike - and the significance that was
attached to it, both through direct comments and implicit in what was said more
generally.
This is also undoubtedly sharpened by the focus of the study and the contrast
between children's weekday experience in mainstream schools where black and
bilingual staff are still hugely underepresented. Many of the children that I spoke to
had no black teachers and their Saturday Schools are run entirely by black staff and
volunteers.
‘The school my daughter goes to is predominantly white. I think there’s one
Asian female and a black female, who works in the kitchen! There’s no black man.
No black man! So that issue....... So when children can see people who reflect
themselves and these adults are positive role models ..... For my daughter to
come here and see black men and women, in these roles, teaching and caring,
explaining something. It affects their aspirations and their motivations.
Psychologically.....my daughter’s now expressing an interest in teaching. And
that’s very important.
Father
.....He, (son) has a black teacher on a Thursday. They have a separate little
group and its a black teacher who takes him. Since having him I find that
T.....has really changed. His whole attitude towards school has changed. Science
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
is now his favourite subject because he gets on with the teacher at
school........................... ....................................... because we went away, he missed out
on a year of school. That’s why I have now put him into Saturday school, so he
can get the extra help. And having David, (the black teacher), on the Thursday,
which gives him that little bit extra and coming here, it’s actually built his
confidence somewhat....
Mother
The salience of this issue is clear to everyone. Closer attention to what is said
suggests that there are three connecting strands. First, there are the benefits of
insider insight, experience and understanding in matters of language9, culture and
identity. There is, especially, the significance which derives from shared first hand
experience of racism in schools and in the neighbourhoods.
Secondly, Saturday Schools provide - overtly and covertly - positive role models of
successful learners and learning. (There is also a gender issue here about boys and
primary schools generally.)
Thirdly, black teachers have a special purchase on black history and black culture,
an area which is increasingly under pressure within the National Curriculum
Framework and often fudged for this and other reasons.
Clearly , all three Saturday Schools have a great deal of knowledge and experience in
this area, which is needed by mainstream schools and could be productively tapped
in a number of ways (See Practical Approaches) Interestingly, there are several
examples of schools within the Zone approaching centres, with a view to doing this.
9A
particular version of this applies to Mother Tongue schools and for provision for children and
families who speak little English.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Teaching and learning in supplementary schools
It was never intended that this study should be concerned with issues relating to the
quality and effectiveness of Saturday School teaching and learning, (although there
is a debate to be had10). Instead, priority was given to seeking the views of
stakeholders, rather than observing classes. In spite of this, there were plenty of
unsolicited and overwhelmingly positive comments from providers, parents and
pupils and a number of interesting themes emerged.
Ironically, Black Saturday Schools, which for a long time had a reputation - whether
justified or not - for over reliance on ‘traditional’, didactic teaching methods, now
appear to have more flexible pedagogies than many mainstream classes which are
obliged to pursue narrow, government imposed targets, through unremitting
singlemindedness and whole class teaching.
‘ There seems to a push towards more traditional methods of
teaching. The supplementary schools that I’ve seen are actually a
bit more flexible, because of the needs of the group’.
EAZ Manager
This is not a criticism of hard pressed teachers and schools, working in difficult
circumstances, with a large number of children, with widely differing needs and
abilities, chasing narrow, and often increasingly elusive targets.
The issue is raised, by a Zone teacher in a primary school, trying to work out why
booster classes should be so more productive than daytime classes in the same
school.
‘The volume and the quality of the work done in one hour of the Booster Class
was often more than they could do in a whole day- or even two! That was a
measure of their level of motivation. It’s not easy to say exactly what it was. It
might be sitting with different children....or being with different teachers. It
might be the provision of food and drink......Somehow the atmosphere was
different. The intensity of support was crucial too. (1-5 Teacher/pupil ratio). If
you put your hand up, someone was there!’
studies.
Primary Deputy Head: co-ordinator of supplementary
10Establishing
the links between 'Teaching Styles and Pupil Progress'. (remembering Neville
Bennett's study!), is notoriously difficult to do and produces limited, flawed and deeply
disappointing findings,
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
A telling insight, too, is provided by a parental remark, which was echoed round the
group, who said
‘........ here, we’re working with the children: the system (here) is working for
the children............. In mainstream schools it’s the other way round. The
children are working for the system. They need to work more for the children’.
Parent
This was put more bluntly - and politically - by another parent who said
‘I’d like to see mainstream schools become more child-centred. We pay our
taxes; our taxes pay to provide an education for our children and I’d like to see
more fighting on behalf of our children's needs and less pandering to central
government’s targets and numbers games.......’
Parent
Strong stuff indeed! And it is certainly the case that Saturday Schools appear to
tailor their efforts to the very different needs of individual children to an extent that
is currently unusual, (except, perhaps, in provision in special schools and for some
statemented pupils in mainstream schools).
This is strengthened by
- extensive use of a ‘professionalized’ approach which includes baseline
assessment on entry, and regular review of progress towards agreed targets
etc;
- considerable support through the use of a range of mentoring strategies
and the use of homework;
- regular reporting to parents and inviting their practical involvement and
help with children's work.
Here, too, there is considerable potential for sharing ideas and information with
mainstream schools and teachers, about the progress of individual pupils. At the
moment, this happens on a small scale and in an ad hoc way.
‘A place to hang out - !’: myths in the making
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
A number of concerns have been expressed by education professionals of all kinds
that say, or more often imply indirectly, that Saturday Schools are, or might be used
as a custodial service, or dumping ground for hard pressed parents.
Such, mainly professionally derived criticisms, (often heard in relation to pre-school
playgroups and after school care clubs too,) hint at both an improper use of public
funding, (although a significant proportion of Saturday School costs are met by
parental contributions,) and the subversion of ‘educational’ purposes.
There is also an accompanying myth. In this, unreasonable parents are actually
forcing their children to attend Supplementary Schools against their wishes! There
is, in this study, not only no evidence of this, but plenty of counter evidence. For
many, especially non-local, families, attendance at Saturday School on a regular
basis requires considerable committed effort and organisation. More importantly,
however, the obvious enthusiasm of children, supported by their parents, is evident
in their own words and in observations of their positive behaviour.
‘I don’t know why these people go on forcing their children to go to Saturday
Schools’.
Teacher
‘ .......... because we’ve got booster classes, the parents are sick and tired of
things by the time it gets to Saturday. And so its not always likely that the
children in this school will be going (to the Saturday school, ) unless they have a
particular interest....’
Headteacher
‘A lot of my friends say ‘Don’t you think you’re being horrible! She goes to school
Monday to Friday. Give her a break!’.........She wants the wedding (her dad’s
remarriage) to take place after Saturday school so she can actually go there
first!...... She so enjoys being there. Parent
‘I went to college on Saturdays, while they came to Saturday school. So,
everyone was out gaining their education on Saturday mornings! (Laughter), It
works because everyone gets up and they’re not forced into it. And we’re at
home at roughly the same time and can chill out after that’.
Parent
Supplementary Schools: a summary of positive features
Supplementary Schools within the CfBT/Lambeth EAZ, as elsewhere, have their
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
origins in the negative experience and consistent underachievement of black
children in mainstream schools. They have also experienced - sometimes on a
regular basis - difficulties of funding and support, of sustaining viable numbers and
maintaining adequate premises and resources.
Yet they remain, or have become - especially the two centres with long and varied
histories - confident about their role, upbeat about their achievements and distinctly
optimistic about their futures. (In the case of the third centre, there are clearly issues
of role and relationship with the school in which it is located, that need to be openly
acknowledged and tackled.)
For whatever reasons - the non-compulsory nature of the enterprise, the mixture of
paid and voluntary effort or the enormous underlying commitment and enthusiasm
that enables them to survive - the Saturday Schools that were visited exude a sense
of community and purpose.
- Saturday Schools embody many of the features of ‘Effective’ mainstream
schools, identified by major researches. They have
clear vision and leadership;
a clear and consistent emphasis upon learning;
regular reviews of individual progress;
parental involvement and support.
- They have adopted a number of features in the management of children's
learning from mainstream schools and adapted them to suit their own
circumstances. These include
baseline assessment (on entry);
different kinds of homework and follow-up activity;
regular reporting of progress to parents.
- Because of their ethos and because they are small, supplementary schools
seem to avoid some of the negative, more institutional features of formal
schooling, within a highly centralised monolithic system.
They appear to provide
a more relaxed, informal , though purposeful atmosphere;
a great deal of individual attention and support, (from peers,
mentoring and volunteer schemes);
non-hierarchical relationships within a co-operative rather than a
competitive culture;
family involvement and support.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
- Supplementary (and Mother Tongue) Schools operate from a base of shared
identity and common experience, which emphasizes
positive (black) role modelling;
the importance of building positive attitudes and confidence;
an inside understanding of the daily experience of black children in
inner city schools;
a sense of shared identity and heritage.
- Saturday Schools seem to exhibit a number of the features of partnership,
which are a frequent part of educational rhetoric, but less frequently found in
practice! Relationships between staff, parents and children seem relatively
informal and relaxed (although ‘no nonsense!’); staff, volunteers and parents
‘get stuck in’ to the jobs that need doing, whether it’s preparing refreshments,
helping kids or fundraising for the centre. Above all the author was forcibly
struck by the use of the pronoun ‘we’ and the adjective ‘our’ to refer, by
parents, to their relationships to their Saturday Schools.
- Because of the nature of their sponsoring organisations, two of the three
Saturday Schools that were visited have strong community links that reflect
their wider interests and activities. This allows them to utilise their
longstanding, grassroots knowledge of the local scene, of local needs and
circumstances and of local resources, human and material, as a part of their
organisation and effort.
Such a summary, which obviously portrays Saturday Schools in a very positive light,
also incorporates the twin dangers of overclaiming their virtues, whilst at the same
time being overly, or unreasonably, critical of the efforts of mainstream schools
working in less than perfect circumstances.
There is also an issue of scale. Supplementary and mother tongue schools, as they
currently exist, only work with a small proportion of their school populations!
Whilst there is no way of demonstrating whether or not they are typical of their
communities as a whole, or of the wider population, one suspects that they are not,
(a suspicion voiced earlier by Saturday School parents themselves).
So there are here, as in mainstream schools, issues of opportunity, access and
fairness. The active involvement of parents and carers and their consequent
empowerment can be seen as both a strategy for tackling educational inequalities
and a means of sustaining, or even widening, it. Both can happen!
There is no doubt, however, that the Saturday Schools which have been visited
are respected and popular amongst those who are involved;
have their own distinct identities and ethos;
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
meet widely differing needs and deliver a wide range of very different
benefits;
have much to offer as an additional, or supplementary, extension
which enhances the educational experiences of children elsewhere.
It is not an issue about whether they are more - or less- effective than mainstream
schools or teachers in what they do. Such a claim would be unexaminable,
unsustainable and, above all, based on phoney premises - in fact, pointless!
It is, however, to acknowledge the need to discuss how mainstream and
supplementary schools and the families of the children for whom they share
responsibility, can best work together, in the common interest of children's learning
and development.
It is also about the kinds of conditions and support and ways of working that are
required for such partnerships and joint efforts to get off the ground, flourish and
develop, without the loss of independence or the special identity that many
Saturday Schools have worked so hard, and for so long, to maintain.
Some Practical Proposals for Consideration
This small scale study shows some of the advantages and the potential of regarding
its supplementary schools as an integral, though distinct, part of the educational
provision available to Lambeth children - initially within the EAZ, but subsequently
across the Borough.
This immediately raises several issues. Firstly, although the main focus of this report
is upon the educational benefits of supplementary schools, as seen by a cross section of
those involved, it raises a number of important and long standing problems about
funding, resources and support, which need to be reconsidered.
Secondly, the provision and development of effective supplementary schools raises
issues of availability, access and fairness. How can the positive and beneficial
experiences that they provide be made available - in one form or another - to more
Lambeth children.
The following proposals are not meant to be comprehensive, but to provide a
framework for discussion and planning, that emphasise ways in which mainstream
and supplementary schools can work more productively together, tapping into each
other’s special strengths and experience.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
n Using this report as a starting point the EAZ should sponsor, monitor and
support an additionally funded, time limited, (18 months?), joint initiative
involving several mainstream and supplementary schools within the Zone.
This would
- identify, implement, monitor, review and evaluate a number of practical
initiatives;
- model the principles of practical co-operation and joint effort;
- emphasise the lessons that can be learned from this experience.
As a practical strategy, the initiative could draw upon three different styles of
innovation and development. Action research uses available information and
evidence that has been collected to shape subsequent planning and development;
‘demonstration programmes’ (e.g. Basic Skills Agency family literacy approaches,)
provide opportunities for the wider application and further development of ‘what
works’/’good practice’ approaches; pilot programmes emphasise the importance of
trying out new ideas and adapting them in the light of early experience.
Some Practical Objectives.
4 Sharing and distributing a range of information about each other’s work and
activities.
4 Identifying some possibilities for agreed approaches and complementary activities
in teaching and learning; sharing resources and materials.
4 Sharing information about the progress and development of individual pupils.
4 Tapping each other’s skills and experience in relation to topics of special interest
and concern e.g. use of drama to explore experience of racism, ethnic music and
cultural studies etc...
4 Identifying an agreed approach to the arrangements for recording, assessing and
reporting pupil progress.
4 Working together to strengthen the co-operation and involvement of black parents
in their children's education.
4 Making more effective use of INSET, training and development activities in areas
of shared concern e.g. literacy development, strengthening anti-racist work etc...
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
n The EAZ should encourage the LEA to use this study as a catalyst for a wider
review of supplementary schools across the Borough. This would need to consider
issues of funding , management, accommodation and resources;
educational programmes and activities;
links with mainstream schools: joint and dual use etc...
It could include a survey which asks schools to review their existing links with
supplementary schools in terms of
references to connections in appropriate policies e.g. literacy, equal
opportunities, anti-racism etc...
staff responsibilities and links;
practical arrangements for sharing information;
membership of working groups;
co-opting governors/representation on management and planning
groups.
n During the last year efforts have been made to identify the job description for
the possible appointment of a (part-time) Supplementary Schools Development
Worker.
In the light of this study, the merits of such a post are obvious. The report, hopefully,
will provide something of a context, a framework and a process for such proposals
to be re-examined and for broadly based discussions to be renewed.
n The crucial impact of parental involvement in, and support of, children's
learning is now both widely recognised and rooted in a growing body of reliable
evidence. Working with parents and families 11 is now also a significant element in
most areas of the government’s social and educational policies and in both the core
and additional funding. (e.g. Sure Start, Family Literacy, Education Action Zones,
Social Exclusion Fund, SRB Initiatives and a New Deal For Communities).
11As
a strategic response to this, a number of (mainly urban) authorities e.g. Leicester and
Southampton, have made a key appointment to ensure that both policy and practice are planned, coordinated and evaluated at the local authority level.
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
Given the author’s wider experience in this area throughout the UK, home-school
links in the EAZ and across the Borough, appear to be both understated and
underdeveloped. The LEA should initiate and support a cross-borough audit of
school-family links in its schools. (As has been done in a number of LEAs
throughout Britain). The general purpose of this would be to raise the profile of this
work, re-assess its significance and encourage its development.
At least two further themes have been uncovered in this study
Giving parents - and supplementary school parents - a greater say in
their children's education, at both LEA and school levels;
Identifying ways of sharing practical ideas and experience on the
vitally important theme of ‘How parents can help their children's learning....’.
n The first years of the EAZ have inevitably been concerned with setting up a
range of provision for the twenty nine Zone schools, which includes a range of
supplementary and complementary activities.
It is now important to look at the interaction of these different activities and attempt
to unravel some of the individual and combined effects - both for schools and for
pupils with different needs and capabilities This is a challenging task, which
requires the systematic collection and analysis of a wide range of data, including
individual pupil case studies and the views of staff, parents and pupils as well as
obvious - and less obvious - quantitative data.
n There are, around the country, a large number of schemes - variously validated
and funded, (e.g. OCN, NVQ) where the central theme is working with
children/children's learning and development which offer a range of opportunities
for getting experience, accredited training and support, A number of initiatives
appear to exist already, but on an ad hoc basis. There needs to be a
co-ordinated approach which
examines the suitability of current provision (both in statutory and the
voluntary sector) in the light of the current, and anticipated needs of parents12 and
12
Some LEAs, e.g. Coventry, have a 'Training Our Own' strategy which deliberately gives priority to
parents of children already in the school when recruiting and training classroom and bilingual
assistants
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SUPPLEMENTARY SCHOOLING IN THE LAMBETH EDUCATION ACTION ZONE JB/dw May 2000
community volunteers and mentors who work in, and with, schools. This should
include volunteers in supplementary schools and other community based
educational activities (e.g. summer schemes);
gives special attention to issues of continuity, progression and
development.
A Range of Pupil Achievement
There is a major contradiction at the heart of the government’s educational strategy,
which action zones encounter head on. This concerns
- an increasing focus of energy and effort on activities geared to meeting the
government’s declared and narrow targets of school success, exemplified in
SAT and GCSE scores.
- a corresponding need for additional arrangements and activities, both to
compensate for this and to provide opportunities for the broader and fuller
growth of attitudes, skills and capabilities, amongst pupils of all ages.
This applies both to pupils in mainstream schools, of all kinds, as a whole and also
to particular groups and their differing needs. It is certainly an area in which pupils
could benefit enormously from wider discussions involving all those who have a
contribution to make to children's learning and development - particularly parents,
staff, governors, employers, community groups and, of course, pupils themselves.
Such discussions would have, at their heart, the task of making explicit the range of
knowledge, attitudes and skills that pupils should be developing in order to grow
up as rounded human beings and effective citizens in the new millennium. They
would therefore emphasise and illustrate the range of possible achievements that
need to be recognised in children's education, both formal and informal.
They would also identify practical forms through which these can be recognised
and shared in the everyday life and work of both mainstream and supplementary
schools and through the ways the various achievements of children and young
people are recorded, reported and assessed.
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