Turning the vision into reality

Turning the vision into reality The role of Out-of-School-Hours Learning and Community Focused Schools in raising standards Contents Introduction 2 The background of Out-of- Schools-Hours Learning and Community Focused Schools 3 The impact of OSHL and CFS on standards – a growing evidence base 5 OSHL – the missing ingredient in raising standards? 6 OSHL and CFS – working together to raise standards and improve well-being 7 The wider policy context for OSHL and CFS 8 Questions for key audiences 9 Conclusion 10 Useful websites and resources 10 ‘Achieving at least a minimum level of educational attainment is critical to the happiness, success and well-being of individuals. Access to appropriate and effective learning provision is crucial for children and young people. The objectives are that all children and young people should engage in full-time education; have any barriers to learning identified early and removed; reach their full potential; continue in purposeful formal and informal education training or employment to age 19; and achieve social and economic well-being.’ Shared Planning for Better Outcomes, WAG, 2007 2 Acknowledgements This briefing paper was written by Ian Fordham on behalf of ContinYou Cymru. It was edited by Carolyn Sugden and designed by The Drawing Room. It was translated by Eleri Jones. Copyright © ContinYou 2008 Published by ContinYou Cymru ContinYou Cymru, Anchor Court, First Floor, Keen Road, Cardiff CF24 5JW Tel: 029 2047 8929 Fax: 029 2047 8930 Email: info.cardiff@continyou.org.uk Website: www.continyou.org.uk/wales Registered charity no: 1097596 Company limited by guarantee Registered in England and Wales: 4652378 Introduction Education policy across the UK is increasingly moving its attention away from the twenty per cent of time that pupils spend in school, to the crucial time that children and young people spend learning outside the classroom. There is a growing recognition within government, local authorities and schools that the cumulative effect of a range of social factors such as poverty, family life and peer influence have a greater impact on young people’s achievements than ‘within school’ factors such as teaching and learning. Both factors are beginning to transform the debate about the role that policies such as Out-of-School-Hours Learning (OSHL) and the Community Focused Schools (CFS) agenda can have in raising standards in schools and improving outcomes for children and young people. This guide explains how schools, local authorities and partners can enable Out-of-School-Hours Learning and Community Focused Schools to make as much impact as possible, by ensuring that they contribute to raising standards, and that they form an intrinsic part of broader education and local authority priorities such as health, regeneration and the Children and Young People’s Plans currently being developed. Wales has a long and rich history of pupils learning outside school hours, both within the school and in the community. Chapels, yr Urdd and Young Farmers’ Clubs, as well as a whole range of independent providers, have contributed greatly to the promotion of artistic, sporting and cultural activities and other interests of all kinds. In recent years, understanding has grown that OSHL has a crucial role to play in improving the wellbeing and confidence of children and young people. Indeed, the commitment to OSHL at national level has been present for many years – for example, within the Welsh Assembly Government’s vision for The Learning Country, which states that every child is to ‘receive a full prospectus of out-of-school-hours activities combining volunteering, enterprise, cultural, sporting and outdoor activities by 2010’. In parallel to this, the Community Focused Schools (CFS) agenda, launched in 2003, builds on a long tradition of community education in Wales, but places a greater emphasis on a broader range of services and activities, often provided beyond the school day to help meet the needs of its pupils, their families and the wider community. There is a recognition within national guidance that many schools across Wales already provide some community services, including adult education, study support, ICT facilities and community sports programmes. But as in other countries in the UK, CFS has brought all these elements, and others, together under one banner and has become a key strategy for improving a series of broader outcomes for children and young people. In the context of Wales, these are the seven core aims of the Rights to Action framework (WAG, 2004) and the ten entitlements of the Extending Entitlement framework (WAG, 2002) for young people aged 11 to 25. In England, OSHL and extended schools are directly interrelated, as the ‘varied menu of study support activities’ (the terminology usually used in England for OSHL) is one of four defined areas of the ‘core offer’ of extended services that all schools are expected to deliver by 2010. The term ‘study support’ was first coined in 1998 and is defined, in the recently revised publication Study Support: a National Framework for Extending Learning Opportunities, as: ‘learning activity outside normal lessons which young people take part in voluntarily. Study Support is, accordingly, an inclusive term, embracing many activities – with many names and guises. Its purpose is to improve young people’s motivation, build their self-esteem and help them become more effective learners. Above all it aims to raise achievement.’ Within the framework, study support is identified as a major contributor to the wider education agenda in England, and is referred to explicitly within a range of current government policies such as Every Child Matters (ECM), personalised learning, PE and school sport, healthy schools and sustainable schools. More recently, the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto provided a further boost to study support, aligning it with a drive to increase the ‘use of places other than the classroom for teaching and learning’. ‘Extended services’ is the preferred terminology for the extended schools agenda, which has its roots in 2001 and a series of Policy Action Team reports from the Social Exclusion Unit, which outlined the need for a more joined-up approach to tackling disadvantage in education. Originally, extended schools were developed through 150 full-service extended schools (FSES), but this evolved into the current extended services agenda, which emphasises the provision of access to a range of core services across clusters of schools and in partnership with a range of external agencies. A critical driver of the continued expansion and profile of extended services has been the major reorganisation of local authorities into children’s services departments, as a result of the Children Act 2004 and the Every Child Matters agenda. 3 The background of Out-of-School-Hours Learning and Community Focused Schools In Northern Ireland, Out-of-School-Hours Learning is defined in similar terms to study support in England and builds on well-established elements of educational practice in the country: • the programme of extra-curricular activities traditionally promoted by schools; • affirmation of community education’s basic principles – that is: educational opportunity for all, the involvement of community learning partners and the promotion of lifelong learning; • new approaches to learning – for example, helping pupils to become more effective, independent learners. Many schools use after-school sessions to help pupils become more aware of their preferred learning styles. In 2005, Northern Ireland launched the extended schools agenda. This is seen as making a major contribution locally to supporting neighbourhood renewal and nationally to the five high-level outcomes outlined within the government’s ten year strategy for children and young people. There are close parallels between this and the way in which, in England, extended schools are seen as supporting the desired outcomes of Every Child Matters. In 2006 guidance, the Department for Education in Northern Ireland also identified extended schools as a key mechanism for school improvement. In Scotland, OSHL and study support are linked directly to major policy agendas, including the five national priorities for education and the vision for Scotland’s children and young people, as shown in the diagram alongside. In the recent Scottish Executive report, More than 9 to 4: Out-of-School-Hours Learning in Scottish Education, there is specific reference to a national commitment to developing more out-of-school-hours opportunities across a wide range of activities, to help young people develop their skills and confidence. This commitment is reinforced by an understanding that almost all secondary schools and over three-quarters of primary schools in Scotland currently provide OSHL in some form. The Integrated Community Schools (ICS) movement in Scotland predates the development of extended schools in England and Northern Ireland and CFS in Wales. Indeed, it was the model (alongside full-service schools in the US) that most influenced the development of the policy across the UK. Since its launch as a separate policy agenda in 1999, under the name ‘New Community Schools’, ICS has been piloted, launched and evaluated. A major roll-out to all schools by 2007 was planned. Since that time, an evolution of thinking has taken place – away from seeing ICS as a separate agenda, to seeing schools as part of the wider integration agenda. As the Scottish Executive says: ‘It no longer makes sense to think of schools separately from other agencies. We would now say that: “by 2007 every school in Scotland will participate in delivering integrated children’s services.” ’ 4 National priorities Achievement and attainment Framework for learning Inclusion and equality Values and citizenship Learning for life OSHL helps ambitious, excellent schools deliver greater choice and opportunity Vision for children and young people In order to become confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners and responsible citizens, all Scotland’s children need to be: safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active, included, respected and responsible The impact of OSHL and CFS on standards – a growing evidence base ‘. . . the Narrowing the Gap Task Group recognised the impact of the community dimension in raising standards . . . Bringing communities together through engagement in learning raises the collective self-esteem of the whole community. Higher aspirations and a greater determination to progress from school to further education or training and employment have a direct impact on pupils’ attainment. The follow-up work of the Narrowing the Gap Task Group on the performance of primary schools also endorsed this finding.’ Transforming Schools: a Discussion Paper, Estyn, 2007 There is significant evidence from across the UK and internationally to show that children and young people who take part in Out-of- School-Hours Learning programmes and who attend Community Focused Schools have greater self-esteem; show a more positive attitude towards learning; attend school more regularly; behave better; have opportunities to develop relationships with pupils and adults beyond their usual circle; and have higher levels of achievement. Seen alongside research into the range of factors that influence children and young people’s achievements at school, this represents a growing and compelling evidence base to demonstrate the importance of these two agendas in the education landscape of the 21st century. A summary of the key evidence is given on this page and the next. Key evidence ● Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools Project: Phase II Primary Schools ‘Successful schools have excellent relationships with their communities. Engagement with the community raises the status of learning and has a positive impact in terms of raising standards of attainment, while providing an important resource for communities, particularly in disadvantaged areas.’ (Welsh Assembly Government, 2005) ● Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools ‘The focus on community provision has the potential to bring multiple benefits for learners, schools and their communities . . . encouraging adults back into learning was seen as way of changing the culture by raising the profile of learning.’ (DfTE Information Document No 029-02, National Assembly for Wales, 2002) ● National evaluation of full-service extended schools in England The third and final national evaluation of full-service extended schools found that the increase in pupil attainment in such schools was around double the rate of the national average between 2005 and 2006. At Key Stage 4, the number of pupils achieving five A*–C at GCSE increased by just over five percentage points, compared to a 2.5 percentage point increase in the national average over the same period. (Dyson et al, 2007) ● The impact of education relationships outside school A recent Joseph Rowntree report finds that, from their participation in out-of-school activities, young people gain a more sophisticated knowledge of themselves as learners through understanding that learning is active. They also come to understand the importance of rules and roles in learning; realise that skills and knowledge can be transferred across different contexts of learning; and see the benefits of greater self-control and confidence. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2007) ● Evaluation of the Study Support Programme and Out-of-School-Hours Learning in Scotland Evaluation evidence shows that the range of activities included under OSHL can ‘positively influence pupils’ attainment, self-confidence, study skills, motivation to learn, and well-being’. (Lowden et al, 2005) 5 6 ● The Impact of Parental Involvement, Parental Support and Family Education on Pupil Achievements and Adjustment In a landmark research report for the DfES, Charles Desforges and Alberto Abouchaar conclude: ‘What parents do with their children at home through the age range is much more significant than any other factor open to educational influence.’ (Desforges and Abouchaar, 2003) ● School effectiveness and broader social factors Silins and Mulford reviewed an extensive range of literature and research on school effectiveness and improvement and found that ‘most school effectiveness studies show that 80% or more of student achievement can be explained by student background rather than schools’. (Silins and Mulford, 2002, p561) ● The Impact of Study Support A three-year study undertaken by the Quality in Education Centre at the University of Strathclyde looked at the impact of participating in Out-of-School- Hours Learning (study support). Eight thousand pupils, from 52 schools (44 in England, six in Wales and two in Scotland) were tracked from Year 9 to GCSEs. A smaller cohort from Year 7 were tracked to their Key Stage 3 SATs. The findings of the report were that pupils who participate in Out-of-School-Hours Learning do better than would have been expected from baseline measures in academic attainment, attitudes to school and attendance at school. (MacBeath et al, 2001) OSHL – the missing ingredient in raising standards? While the rationale and benefits of OSHL will be familiar to many schools, local authorities, partner organisations and policy makers, it is an agenda that many equate with enrichment or skills development rather than seeing it as an integral part of the core business of the school – that is, teaching and learning, and raising standards. Although it is recognised that OSHL is a means of enriching the school curriculum, and that, for some young people, it is an essential ‘release valve’ from the realities of school, there is a significant danger of missing the potential of OSHL and its ability to be a major catalyst for school improvement. OSHL is arguably the ‘missing ingredient’ in the drive to raise standards. The clearest evidence of this emerging thinking of a ‘new role for OSHL’ is the work taking place in England on personalised learning, which focuses on the range of highly structured and responsive strategies that schools apply to each child’s and young person’s learning, to enable all children to progress, achieve and participate. In particular, it identifies the way the link can be strengthened between learning and teaching of pupils – and their parents – as partners in learning. While many schools will already tailor learning to individual pupils’ needs and involve parents (for example, in family learning), this new approach identifies a far more systematic way of linking learning outside the classroom with learning and standards within the school. Interestingly, many schools have interpreted the personalised learning agenda in terms of increasing the range and breadth of strategies within the ‘inner core’ – focusing, for example, on learning styles, assessment for learning and new ways of structuring the curriculum (that is, on the twenty per cent of time spent in the school). But they have not yet realised the potential of the 80 per cent of time pupils spend outside the classroom – and research now suggests that this is the strongest determinant of achievement. OSHL and CFS are seen as complementary agendas throughout the UK. In Wales, OSHL forms part of the range of community focused services that the school provides and, as shown in the diagram above, provides a link to raising standards. An alternative conception is not to see OSHL as part of the Community Focused School – but instead to see both as working together as key delivery mechanisms for raising standards. In the new model, OSHL becomes part of a ‘logical chain’ of activities and services that raise standards and contribute to broader outcomes for children, young people and their families. As shown in the diagram below, schools are now seen as contributing directly to the Children and Young People’s Plan and to the integration of children’s services, which are both important elements of the changing local authority landscape in Wales. 7 The five components of personalised learning OSHL and CFS – working together to raise standards and improve well-being Assessment for learning Effective teaching and learning Curriculum entitlement and choice Personalising the school experience Organising the school Beyond the classroom OSHL offers the potential to bridge the gap between the learning that takes place within the school and what happens outside the school day, when learning and other social factors have their greatest influence. OSHL provides the space and time to personalise the way in which learning is provided and in which young people have access to it, in order to meet their needs within their broader social context. It also provides a means of making direct links between standards and well-being, which both work together to raise young people’s achievements in school and beyond. 20% of time learning inside school 80% of time learning outside school Community Focused School Raising standards Integrating services Core purpose: outcomes and well-being of communities Feed into CYPP Community focused services Core purpose: outcomes and well-being of children, young people and families Feed into CYPP Out-of-School- Hours Learning Core purpose: standards and well-being of children and young people Feed into CYPP Personalised learning Core purpose: standards Feed into CYPP School/learning community Multi-agency work Community access Family learning OSHL 8 New developments in schools Community Focused Schools These provide a range of activities and services to support children, families and communities. Primary and Secondary Capital programme This involves improving the infrastructure for teaching and learning and for the provision of wider services. Extending Entitlement This offers a wider curriculum for young people aged 14 to 19, including a greater variety of courses, activities and providers. Flying Start/Early years/Foundation Phase This covers learning, development and care from birth to 7. PE and school sport strategy The target of the Physical Education and School Sport Action Plan is to provide ‘at least two hours of curriculum time for physical education each week at all key stages for all young people’. In addition, the aim of the ‘5x60’ programme of Sports Council Wales is for 90 per cent of secondary pupils to achieve 60 minutes of physical activity five times a week by 2020. Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) Through ESDGC, pupils learn about the impacts of the decisions they make, how needs and rights are not always equal throughout the world, and how climate change is affecting us all. Clusters/federations This involves schools working together to share skills. Estyn’s inspection framework and self-evaluation A key part of Estyn’s framework for inspection is the delivery of out-of-school-hours and community focused activities/services. Children Act 2004 All schools and governing bodies have a duty to promote the well-being of pupils. Healthy Schools programme Schools work in partnership with health services to improve the well-being of staff, pupils and families. Free breakfast scheme Free breakfasts are provided for all primary school pupils. Gifted and talented programme This programme caters for the needs of more able pupils. Supporting infrastructure Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) This is a single, strategic, overarching multi-agency plan for all services within a local authority that affect children and young people. Third-sector involvement There is support for community and voluntary organisations to provide services and activities in communities. Integrated children’s centres This involves providing integrated services for children aged 0 to 5, and their families, often on school sites. Common Assessment Framework (CAF) This offers a standardised approach to conducting an assessment of a child’s additional needs. Multi-agency teams These bring together a range of practitioners from health, social care, community and other sectors to ensure more co-ordinated support for children and families. Youth services These co-ordinate the delivery of information, advice and support for young people. Initiatives and strategies to complement the work of schools Local strategies and plans The main local strategies and plans that link with OSHL and CFS are: the Community Strategy, the Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy and the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Strategy. Health initiatives Health initiatives include those for tackling obesity, improving community health, and providing integrated early intervention support to children and young people, particularly the most disadvantaged. Basic Skills Strategy This is a strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills. Play strategy The Big Lottery Fund provides £155m to support free play provision, with open access in areas of greatest need. Teenage Pregnancy Strategy This is a co-ordinated attempt to tackle both the causes and the consequences of teenage pregnancy. Parenting support services Local authorities are developing new parenting support strategies and services, including specialised, targeted support for families at risk. The wider policy context for OSHL and CFS 9 For local authorities, schools and statutory and voluntary sector partners, there is a series of strategic questions that need to be considered to ensure that the potential of OSHL and CFS is being realised, that they are related to raising standards and that they support wider educational and local authority priorities. The list provided here is not designed to be exhaustive, but is offered as a starting point for local discussions about joining up OSHL/CFS and school improvement. Local authorities • What is the current strategic approach to linking OSHL/CFS to raising standards within the local authority? • What baseline measures and systems are in place to support schools and their partners in linking standards and OSHL/CFS? • Has the local authority considered piloting school improvement projects which focus on measuring the impact of OSHL/CFS on standards? • How are school improvement teams and advisers involved in meeting OSHL/CFS targets and priorities, and how are OSHL/ CFS co-ordinators involved in meeting school improvement targets? • How are schools being supported to build an evidence base for OSHL/CFS that can support planning for inspection and school improvement? • How are parents, the community and young people involved in supporting school improvement targets and priorities? • How are other agencies such as those in the fields of health, social care, regeneration and the voluntary sector involved in supporting school improvement targets and priorities? • What place do OSHL and CFS have within broader strategic plans such as Children and Young People’s Plans, and plans for health and regeneration? Schools • What is the current approach to linking OSHL/CFS to raising standards within the school and the cluster of schools? • What baseline measures and systems are in place within the school to link standards and OSHL/CFS? • How do heads of faculty/department, teachers, subject co-ordinators and support staff link OSHL and CFS to raising standards in the classroom? • What evidence base is in place for OSHL/ CFS that can support planning for inspection and school improvement? Have you used the Community Focused Schools toolkit (www.continyou.org.uk/cfstoolkit) or the Checklist for Audit and Inspection (see under www.continyou.org.uk/walesresources), produced by ContinYou? • How are parents, the community and young people involved in supporting school improvement targets and priorities? • How are local agencies such those in the fields of health, social care, regeneration and the voluntary sector involved in supporting school improvement targets and priorities? • How are OSHL and CFS developed within the school to support broader strategic plans such as the Children and Young People’s Plan? Statutory, voluntary and community sector organisations • What involvement do you currently have with schools in relation to OSHL, CFS and raising standards? • How does your work support heads of faculty/department, teachers, subject co-ordinators, support staff and young people in the classroom? • What resources, expertise and/or services could you provide to help support schools in your area in their efforts to raise standards? What expertise or support would you like them to provide in return? • How can you extend or develop your current partnerships with schools, to help them meet school improvement targets and to ensure the sustainability of your agency’s/organisation’s work? • Could you play a part in engaging parents, the community and young people in supporting OSHL/CFS and raising standards? • What support can you provide for schools to help them meet broader priorities such as the Children and Young People’s Plan? Questions for key audiences 10 Conclusion This guide highlights an emerging debate taking place in Wales about a new and pivotal role for Out-of-School-Hours Learning and Community Focused Schools in raising standards and improving outcomes for children and young people. It points to a rapidly shifting landscape where accepted ways of looking at school improvement are being called into question. New models are being developed that place far greater emphasis on the social context of education and on the 80 per cent of time that young people spend learning outside school with other children, their families and the wider community. With an increasing shift towards more joinedup services in Wales, as demonstrated in the recent guidance on Children and Young People’s Plans, there has arguably never been a better time to look afresh at the way that OSHL and CFS combine to raise standards. OSHL and CFS are the key mechanism through which this transformation can take place and be sustained well into the future. ContinYou Cymru ContinYou uses learning to tackle inequality and build social inclusion. We help create learning programmes and services that offer fresh opportunities to people who have gained least from formal education and training. ContinYou is one of the UK’s leading community learning charities. ContinYou Cymru is made up of a small team of experienced and knowledgeable staff who work throughout Wales, aided by a group of ‘associates’ who have a wide range of specific experience and skills, including linking OSHL and CFS with school improvement and raising standards. To share your perspective on OSHL and CFS and its links to raising standards or emerging practice taking place in your school or local authority, please contact the team (info.cardiff@continyou.org.uk). Useful websites and resources Websites ContinYou Cymru: www.continyou.org.uk/wales Estyn: www.estyn.gov.uk/publications Welsh Assembly Government school improvement resources: www.learning.wales.gov.uk/scripts/fe/ news_list_archive_bysubject.asp?CatID=19 Welsh Assembly Government publications: http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/ educationandskills/publications Training and Development Agency – Extended Services School Improvement Planning Framework: www.tda.gov.uk/leaders/ schoolimprovement_framework.aspx Resources Community Focused Schools: Making it Happen – a Toolkit, ContinYou, 2006 www.continyou.org.uk/cfstoolkit Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools Project: Phase II Primary Schools, WAG, 2005 www.learning.wales.gov.uk/pdfs/ narrowing-the-gap05-e.pdf Summary of Narrowing the Gap in the Performance of Schools, WAG, 2002 http://wales.gov.uk/news/archivepress/ educationpress/edpress2002/748898/ ?lang=en Transforming Schools: a Discussion Paper, Estyn, 2007 www.estyn.gov.uk/publications/Transforming _Schools_A_Discussion_Paper_2007.pdf Out-of-School-Hours Learning: a Code of Practice, ContinYou Cymru, 2005 www.continyou.org.uk/files/documents/ documents/doc_717.pdf Extended Services: Supporting School Improvement, DfES, 2006 www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/10747/ supporting%20school%20improvement.pdf Out-of-Schools-Hours Learning: Training and Resource Pack, ContinYou Cymru www.continyou.org.uk/files/documents/ documents/doc_36.pdf