The TES reports a finding from a new initiative from the Association of School and College Leaders that pools data from across schools to allow trends to be discerned:
Duncan Baldwin, deputy policy director of ASCL, outlined one trend that was identified when groups of schools pooled their attendance data.
"We were looking at disadvantaged pupils particularly, and there was this dip on 14 December in several of the schools", he said.
"We were looking at each other, saying 'what’s special on 14 December? No idea'.
"Look on Google and, lo-and-behold, it’s Christmas Jumper Day.
"What we’ve identified, which is bleedin' obvious if you think about it, is that days that are 'fun' and for good causes are not necessarily fun at all if you don’t have a Christmas jumper.
"The net result is that a noticeable proportion of disadvantaged youngsters didn’t come to school that day.”
He described the finding as "poignant", and added: "We had heads immediately ringing their schools saying 'get it off the calendar'."
Another finding suggests that poor children are more likely to miss school on their birthdays.
2 comments:
This is another way about talking about the Conservative MP who mentioned class -- take your breath away, the only way is class.
There might be a Lib Dem way out of electoral non-existence. It is class. Poorer people.
All of those voters in the west country. Class and cultural vote. The votes lost in West Yorkshire and East Lancs were like them.
All of those clever and eloquent middle class people are useful at running a political party. They landed the Lib Dems in a pickle at the last election. Some of them have the ability to talk to normal people.
But the party has to address class -- measured by poverty and inopportunity -- unless it wishes to follow identity politics.
Not that it makes much odds, but I suspect the dip is not because children don't have a Christmas jumper, but that they don't have the £2 or whatever schools suggest giving to charity in return for wearing non-uniform.
Post a Comment