Alan Steer: How can we improve schools? It’s simple. Leave it to teachers

The English school system is not underachieving. Among its 23,000 schools are examples of excellence to compare with any in the world – and standards today are incomparably higher than 40 years ago. A far wider section of society now benefits from a good education than would have been true in the immediate postwar period. As acknowledged in the 2014 report from the chief inspector of schools, there is much to applaud.

Unfortunately the success of the majority is not the complete picture. If most children succeed in realising their potential, some do not. If most schools continue to improve, a minority appear stuck in mediocrity. What is especially worrying is that the underperformance of children has a tendency to affect specific groups, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Explanations offered for this rarely survive close examination.

“Where”, asked Sir Michael Wilshaw in 2013, “do you think is the worst place in England to be a child from a poor family, in terms of educational opportunity? Is it inner London, Liverpool, Leeds or Manchester? Not at all. The evidence suggests that it’s west Berkshire.” Disadvantaged children in this lovely, affluent part of south-east England, he pointed out, last year had the worst attainment in the country at primary school; the second worst at secondary school and were in one of the bottom three local authorities for qualifications at age 19.

Such children, denied access to a good quality education, are often also being denied the opportunity to become fulfilled citizens. The link between educational standards and subsequent earning capacity is clear and well known, but the damage is not only to individuals. At a national level extreme inequality can affect economic growth. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development calculated that increasing income inequality since 1985 in the UK had reduced growth in the 1990s by 9%. Over a longer period it claims that British GDP would have grown by 7% had income inequality been at the same level as in France.

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Strategies for change should concentrate on what we know works. International studies over many years show that the quality of teaching makes the most difference. In September 2014 the Sutton Trust published a report, based on research carried out by Stanford University and the London School of Economics, which showed that if our education system raised the performance of the lowest functioning 10% of teachers, the boost to attainment levels would place the UK in the top five countries worldwide in a decade.

The report also confirms the impact of consistent good teaching on the progress of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The importance of good quality teaching may seem obvious, but the obvious often fails to be valued.

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