London Challenge

Last updated

The London Challenge was a school improvement programme launched by the UK's Labour Government in 2003. [1] The policy document "Transforming London Secondary Schools" set out the aims of the programme, which was designed to create a "step change" in the performance of London secondary schools. [2]

Contents

The initiative has been credited by Ofsted and others for a significant improvement in London's state education system. [3] More recent studies have identified the London Challenge as one factor in several that contributed to significant enhancements in pupil outcomes. [4]

The London Challenge programme was initially aimed at secondary schools and was intended to run until 2008. However, it was subsequently extended until 2011, and expanded to include primary schools, and two additional City Challenge areas; Greater Manchester and the Black Country. [5] [6]

History

London Challenge (2003 - 2011)

In 2002 the British Government created a new set of policies focusing on London's state secondary schools, which were at that time performing poorly in comparison to the rest of the country. The policies were collectively known as the London Challenge and their objectives were: [5]

The London Challenge depended on close cooperation with Local Authorities, and in particular five Key Areas were singled out for close attention, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Lewisham, Hackney, Westminster. [1] [2] [5]

One of the distinctive features of London Challenge was a focus on partnership and shared purpose between schools, whilst avoiding stigmatising schools through the use of negative language. [5] The term "Keys to Success" was used to identify those schools that would require the most intensive intervention. [5] A series of "sector led" support mechanisms were put in place. [5] Independent, experienced education experts, known as London Challenge Advisers, were appointed to each of the Keys to Success schools to provide tailored help. The advisers were supported by an administrative team in the Department for Education (DfE). [3] They worked closely with experienced education professionals, appointed by the DfE, known as National Leaders of Education (NLE) or Local Leaders of Education (LLE), as well as local authority appointed School Improvement Partners (SIP) and other local authority officers to develop a bespoke intervention programmes. [7] The cost of the support and the services brokered by the adviser came directly from the DfE. [3] [8] In some areas school improvement services were outsourced to consultants, [5] though from 2007 specialist services to the Keys to Success schools were supplied by a single education consultancy company under a Challenge Service Contract. [7] [9]

School to school peer support was also a feature of the London Challenge programme. Some particularly successful schools were awarded Teaching School status, giving them the remit and opportunity to support other schools in their local community. [5] Another initiative was the annual "Families of Schools" report which grouped all of London's state schools into numbered families with other similar schools. [10] [11] This was aimed at middle and senior leaders in schools, allowing them to compare their performance with their peer schools and to share best practice on improvement initiatives, although there is no evidence that the resource was widely used for those purposes. In fact, it was published so late that its impact was diminished. [5]

The London Challenge incorporated the 14-19 Pathfinders initiative which aimed to define and develop improved "learning pathways" for students in this age group. [12]

For schools that needed support beyond the classroom, the Extended School concept was introduced, creating hubs for services to be offered directly to students and their families. [2] The London Challenge also introduced the Teach First initiative to encourage highly academic graduates into the teaching profession. [2]

In 2008 the Government announced an expansion of the London Challenge to include primary schools, and the programme was extended until 2011. [5] [6]

City Challenge (2008 - 2011)

The 2008 extension of the London Challenge initiative also expanded it to include two new geographical areas – Greater Manchester and the Black Country. The programme was renamed for those areas as the City Challenge, but continued to be known as the London Challenge in the capital. [5] [6] The City Challenge programme was tailored to local needs, using many of the same approaches adopted in the London Challenge. [6]

Evaluation

Ofsted first reported on the impact of the London Challenge in 2006, and found that, between 2001 and 2005, London's GCSE results had improved faster in London than in England as a whole. [13] A subsequent report in 2010 corroborated those findings, finding that the "London Challenge has continued to improve outcomes for pupils in London’s primary and secondary schools at a faster rate than nationally. London’s secondary schools continue to perform better than those in the rest of England". [3]

A Government commissioned report from the Institute for Policy Studies in Education, published in 2012, evaluated the outcomes of the City Challenge programme and, retrospectively the London Challenge Programme. [7] It found that the majority of the initial targets were achieved, and while acknowledging the backdrop of wider educational initiatives concluded that the "most plausible explanation for the greater improvement in Challenge areas is that the City Challenge programme was responsible".

A report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2014 concluded that "during the period of the London Challenge, secondary school performance in London saw a dramatic improvement, and local authorities in inner London went from the worst performing to the best performing nationally." However they noted the difficulty of isolating the specific effect of the London Challenge against a wider background of education policy changes. The report's assessment of the City Challenge was more mixed "in part because [the City Challenge areas] had less time for these practices to properly embed." However it was found that some positive developments had been sustained beyond the end of the City Challenge programme in 2011. [5]

The same year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, in partnership with the government's Social Mobility Commission published analysis suggesting that improvements in secondary school performance were largely attributable to improvements in attainment at primary school level. [14]

Also in 2014, an investigation into the reported success of London schools during the period of the London Challenge was published by the CfBT Education Trust, The Centre for Education and Youth (then known as LKMco) and The Centre for London. This concluded that success was unlikely to be explained by contextual advantages such as gentrification, ethnicity and opportunity. Nor could success be fully attributed to resourcing factors such as finance, teacher recruitment and school building quality, although these did help the improvements to "flourish". The success was instead attributed to a focus on the teaching workforce and on the widespread and sustained availability of support built on ambitious expectations coupled with a willingness to intervene in response to low standards. The authors argued that these approaches were exemplified within four programmes: London Challenge, Teach First, the academies programme and improved support from local authorities. Together, these initiatives were said to have established an ecosystem of collaboration and "effective leadership at every level of the system." [4] The investigation's conclusions have since been thrown into question by subsequent studies and one of the report's co-authors has written a number of commentaries on developments in the evidence base. [15] [16]

Later in 2014, research from the University of Bristol largely attributed London's improvements in pupil progress over the London Challenge period to ethnic composition rather than specific Government interventions. [17] Nevertheless, the paper concluded that "for other measures of attainment, the London premium is halved but remains significant."

A subsequent report by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the LSE demonstrated that most of the London effect could be accounted for by the improved performance in London primary schools, that there had not been any significant difference in the ethnic composition in London over the timeframe studied, and that the improved performance in primaries certainly coincided with the introduction of the National Literacy Strategies, though why they might have had more impact in London than elsewhere wasn't certain. The report is called Understanding the improved performance of disadvantaged pupils in London, and can be found online. [18]

In August 2018 the Department for Education published a follow up qualitative study by The Centre for Education and Youth which compared school cultures and practices of schools inside and outside of London. The study concluded that although there were some distinctive cultures and practices in high-performing schools in the capital, these were unlikely to be "necessary or sufficient conditions" for the ‘London Effect’. [19]

In November 2020 another study [20] for the Department for Education (DfE) by researchers from Kantar Group and the DfE used data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England to analyse drivers of the London effect. The study once again questioned the role of London Challenge by showing limited school effects on attainment, instead concluding that the London effect could largely be explained by 'Agency Factors' such as parental aspirations and expectations.

The UK's national media has shown a strong interest in the success of the London Challenge and its legacy. [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Petersfield School</span> Academy, secondary school in Petersfield, Hampshire, England

The Petersfield School (TPS) is located in Petersfield, Hampshire, in southern England. The school opened on 20 June 1958 and remains the only state-funded secondary school in Petersfield. It received Arts College status in September 2004, and became an academy in July 2011.

The Kings of Wessex Academy, formerly known as the Kings of Wessex School, is a coeducational secondary school located in Cheddar, Somerset, England. As of 2015, it had 1,176 students aged 13 to 18, of all genders and all ability levels including 333 in the sixth form. In November 2016, the academy became part of the Wessex Learning Trust which incorporated eight academies from the surrounding area. Kings is a Church of England school.

Personal, social, health and economic education is a school curriculum subject in England that focuses on strengthening the knowledge, skills, and connections to keep children and young people healthy and safe and prepare them for life and work. PSHE education is defined by the schools inspectorate Ofsted as a planned programme to help children and young people develop fully as individuals and as members of families and social and economic communities. Its goal is to equip young people with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthily, safely, productively and responsibly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academy (English school)</span> English school funded by the central government and independent of local authority control

An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual academy funding agreements. 80% of secondary schools, 39% of primary schools and 43% of special schools are already academies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Chase School</span> School in Malvern, Worcestershire, England

The Chase School is a secondary school in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. The school opened as a Secondary Modern in 1953 under headteacher Mr Garth. It was officially opened by Lord Cobham on 26 March 1955. The Chase became a comprehensive with the abolition of selective education in Worcestershire in 1974 and became an academy on 1 November 2011. Teaching students from Year 7 to Year 13, The Chase has around 1,300 students, making it one of the larger schools in Worcestershire, with just under 300 students in the sixth form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regent High School</span> Community school in Somers Town, London, England

Regent High School (RHS), formerly South Camden Community School and Sir William Collins Secondary School, is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Somers Town, in the London Borough of Camden, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teach First</span> British educational non-profit organization

Teach First is a social enterprise registered as a charity which aims to address educational disadvantage in England and Wales. Teach First coordinates an employment-based teaching training programme whereby participants achieve Qualified Teacher Status through the participation in a two-year training programme that involves the completion of a PGDE along with wider leadership skills training and an optional master's degree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingsdale Foundation School</span> Academy in Southwark, London, England

Kingsdale Foundation School (KFS) is a British mixed secondary school with academy status in West Dulwich, London, with an age range of 11–19 (Year 7 to sixth form). Admissions to the school are coordinated by the Southwark London Borough Council as part of the Pan London Admissions Arrangements. However, many students live in surrounding boroughs, such as Lambeth, Lewisham and Croydon.

Beacon Status was a progressive educational initiative that the United Kingdom implemented based on the idea that organizational learning could be advanced through a competitive process of identifying successful organizations and recruiting them to disseminate their good practices. The beacon status initiative was launched by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in partnership with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 1998 and ran through to August 2005 for primary and secondary schools in England and Wales. Beacon Status was for providers funded by the Learning and Skills Council, which are mainly Further Education colleges. The Learning and Skills Improvement Service was still awarding Beacon Status in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Excellence in Cities</span>

The Excellence in Cities (EiC) programme was launched by the UK's Labour Government in March 1999 to raise standards and promote inclusion in inner cities and other urban areas. Initially targeted at secondary schools, the programme was later expanded to include primary schools, working alongside the Primary National Strategy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unity City Academy</span> Academy in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England

Unity City Academy is a city academy in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, sponsored by the Academies Enterprise Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixons Unity Academy</span> Academy in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Dixons Unity Academy, formerly Swallow Hill Community College is an educational secondary school Academy located in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is sponsored by Dixons Academies Trust, having formerly been sponsored by Academies Enterprise Trust (AET).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryde Academy</span> Academy in Ryde, Isle of Wight, England

Ryde Academy is an academy status secondary school, including sixth form, located in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, England.

Outwood Academy Ormesby is a mixed secondary school with academy status, located in the Netherfields area of Middlesbrough, England. It has an enrolment of 900 pupils ages 11 to 16, with a comprehensive admissions policy.

The NCEA Duke's Secondary School is an 11–19 academy in Ashington, Northumberland, England. It is part of the Northumberland Church of England Trust occupying the Josephine Butler Campus of its predecessor, The Northumberland Church of England Academy, which was an all-through school spread out across six campuses in southeastern Northumberland.

Duke's Aldridge Academy is a co-educational secondary school located in the Northumberland Park ward of Tottenham in the London Borough of Haringey, United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Charles Dickens School</span> Academy in Broadstairs, Kent, England

The Charles Dickens School is a co-educational secondary modern school located in Broadstairs in the English county of Kent. The school is named after Charles Dickens, the 19th-century writer and social critic. It is one of six non-selective schools on the Isle of Thanet, physically isolated corner of Kent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey</span> Academy in Minster-on-Sea, Kent, England

Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located over two sites in Minster-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey in the English county of Kent. It is currently managed by the Oasis Community Learning Multi-academy Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haydon Bridge High School</span> Foundation school in Northumberland, England

Haydon Bridge High School is a mixed secondary day school located in Haydon Bridge in the English county of Northumberland. The current headteacher is Michael Smith, who took over in January 2021.

A National Challenge School was a school in the United Kingdom that had failed to conform with standards imposed by OFSTED, and rather than being closed and the pupils displaced, was taken over by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) who set an improvement agenda.

References

  1. 1 2 Brighouse, Tim. "Local Authorities and the London Challenge". London Councils. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Transforming London Secondary Schools" (PDF). National Archives. DFES. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "London Challenge". Ofsted. Archived from the original on 24 November 2014. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 Baars, Sam; Bernardes, Eleanor; Elwick, Alex; Malortie, Malortie; McAleavy, Tony; McInerney, Laura; Menzies, Loic; Riggall, Anna (27 June 2014). "Lessons from London Schools: investigating the success" (PDF). CfBT Education Trust. CfBT Education Trust. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Kidson, Marc; Norris, Emma. "Implementing the London Challenge" (PDF). The Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "City Challenge: For World Class Education" (PDF). National Archives. DfES. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  7. 1 2 3 "Evaluation of the city challenge programme". Department for Education. DfE. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  8. "All about the Challenge" (PDF). Institute of Education. Institute of Education. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  9. "DfE School Improvement Provider in London". Education London. Education London. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  10. "Families of schools 2011: London secondary schools". Gov.uk. Department for Education. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  11. "Families of schools 2011: London primary schools". Department for Education. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  12. "A vision for 14-19 in London : pan-London learner offer consultation". DERA. DfES. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  13. "Secretary of State sends letter of congratulation to all London Heads following successful Ofsted report". National Archives. DfES. Archived from the original on 8 January 2007. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  14. Greaves, Ellen; Macmillan, Lindsey; Sibieta, Luke (23 June 2014). "Lessons from London schools for attainment gaps and social mobility" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  15. Menzies, Loic (27 June 2014). "London Schools Now we have a full(er) picture…". The Centre for Education and Youth. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  16. Menzies, Loic (7 February 2021). "The London Schools Effect revisited: A saga in many parts". The Centre for Education and Youth. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  17. Burgess, Simon. "Understanding the success of London's schools" (PDF). University of Bristol. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  18. http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/wp21.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  19. Baars, Sam; Shaw, Bart; Mulcahy, Ellie; Menzies, Loic (8 August 2018). "School cultures and practices: supporting the attainment of disadvantaged pupils: A qualitative comparison of London and non-London schools" (PDF). gov.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  20. Ross, Andy; Lessof, Carli; Brind, Richard; Khandker, Rushda; Aitken, Daisy (20 November 2020). "Examining the London advantage in attainment: evidence from LSYPE" . Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  21. Tomlinson, Mike (11 December 2013). "How London Challenge turned capital's schools around". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  22. Stewart, William (28 March 2011). "The challenge now is to hang on to this success". Times Educational Supplement. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  23. Berg, Sanchia (21 February 2013). "How can schools nationwide mimic London's improvement?". BBC News. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  24. Munby, Steve (27 Nov 2013). "London schools are a UK education success story". The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  25. "Plan to tackle schools gap inspired by London Challenge". BBC News Website. 9 Feb 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  26. Weale, Sally (15 Oct 2015). "Out in the cold: the coastal schools neglected by national initiatives". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2015.