Government to tackle education underperformance in poor areas

The measures, which aim to improve attainment in struggling schools, include the creation of a National Teaching Service (NTS) that according to ministers will place "outstanding" teachers and leaders in underperforming primary and secondary schools in deprived areas, such as coastal towns, for up to three years.

Teachers who take part in the scheme will be offered a higher salary and promotion opportunities as an incentive.

A pilot of the initiative has been launched in the North West to recruit up to 100 teachers and leaders to start working in schools next year, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan announced in a speech today at think-tank Policy Exchange.

The area has been chosen after the government flagged up concerns about low pupil attainment in Knowsley, Salford and Rochdale.

Morgan said: "By 2020, NTS will have deployed 1,500 outstanding teachers to underperforming schools.

"These outstanding teachers will not only be expected to bring outstanding teaching into the classroom, but also to improve the quality of teaching and leadership right throughout the school.

"That programme will launch next September in the North West of England, targeting teachers and middle leaders to areas like Knowsley which doesn’t have a single 'outstanding' secondary school."

Other measures include awarding grants totalling just under £5m to five academy sponsors tasked with improving standards across the north of England.

Morgan added: "The evidence shows that excellent sponsors are making a real difference in some of our most challenging schools.

"We now need those strong sponsors everywhere, not just limited to the South East and London. It’s a sad truth that when you look at many of the underperforming local authorities in our country, a significant proportion are located in the north of England."

Morgan also announced plans for the proportion of pupils entering and achieving the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) to become a core measure for Ofsted to use to hold schools to account.

Teachers' leaders welcomed the government's commitment to helping struggling schools in deprived areas.

However, Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, warned that "parachuting" in teachers and leaders "is not the solution".

Kevin Courtney deputy general secretary of National Union of Teachers added: “To attract the best teachers into the most challenging schools, government needs to stop the punitive accountability measures imposed on schools.

“While poverty is no excuse for lack of achievement it is a plain fact that schools with larger proportions of children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds face different challenges than schools with middle class children.  

“Widening life chances and opportunities for disadvantaged youngsters needs a holistic approach across government. It requires investment in jobs, in working tax credits and in anti-poverty measures as much as innovative school strategies on raising aspirations and flexible curricular approaches.”

Debbie Barnes, Chair of the ADCS Educational Achievement Policy Committee, said:
 
“Our members are determined in their commitment to ensure that all children receive high quality education that improves their outcomes and enables them to go on to achieve success in later life.

"But tests alone will not help improve the quality of children and young people’s learning or raise standards across schools; a supply of good quality teachers will.

"The shortage of teachers is well known and it is unclear as yet how 1,500 teachers will be recruited for the National Teaching Service. There are around 25,000 schools across the country, so to drive improvement and increase pupil achievement for every child and young person there needs to be a greater focus on ensuring the supply of high-quality teachers in all schools.”