Tackling educational inequality - CentreForum

Tackling educational inequality
associated with the child’s attainment. 11 A study by Feinstein and
Symons found that active parental involvement was the most powerful
predictor of achievement at 16 years of age. 12 This does not suggest
that parents’ interest in their child’s education is determined by their
SES; rather that the quality of parental involvement is higher amongst
parents with higher levels of education. 13
Finally, well educated parents are better able to ‘work the system’ – visit
schools, ask the right questions, interact with teachers, prepare children
for tests, help with homework and so on. This makes it more likely that
such parents will choose, and gain access to, the best schools, and in
turn ensure that their children will prosper once there.
Location and concentrated poverty
Location also plays a part in educational disadvantage. When a lack
of employment opportunities combines with other demographic and
neighbourhood factors, the consequences for children’s educational
prospects can be devastating. Unemployment ‘black spots’ still remain
heavily concentrated in industrial cities in the North and the midlands. 14
Post industrial economic changes have not just been felt in terms of the
loss of income, with its detrimental effect on educational attainment,
but also in terms of aspiration and educational culture. For generations,
people from ’blue collar’ backgrounds had reliable employment opportunities
in the manufacturing and mining industries. This meant that
educational attainment was not critical to employment prospects – a
perspective which is sometimes difficult to reverse. 15
Figure 17: Secondary schools under special measures,
by Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) decile at Local
Authority level, 2006
35
30
25
20
%
15
10
5
0
Poorest
decile
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Richest
decile
Source: Ofsted, July 2006; DCLG, IMD 2006
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