1.   What evidence do you have on the demand (by pupils/parents/teachers) for diversity between secondary schools?

  Diversity in secondary education in England is well established, especially in relation to provision of Local Education Authority community (formerly county) schools and the voluntary aided schools of the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. Grammar schools are another aspect of the well established diversity in the system. More recently diversity has been increased by the establishment of foundation (formerly grant maintained) schools and faith schools of other religions as well as City Technology Colleges and Academies. At the level of over-subscription statistics it is clear that there is a demand for schools in these different categories. For different parents this demand may relate to the nature of the diversity (eg seeking a school of a particular religious faith) or to some other reason for seeing the school as the most suitable for their child, including their perception of the particular school (whatever its diversity category) as a "good school". For many parents location is a major factor.

  In the context of the government's policy for secondary school diversity through specialisation, research evidence suggests that parents are more concerned about identifying "good" schools rather than schools with a particular specialism. This is not surprising. The specialist Schools programme is about establishing and improving good schools. The programme is primarily about school improvement and building specialist expertise for the benefit of a group of schools. Diversity for the purpose of increasing parental choice is an additional feature and some parents, perhaps mainly in urban areas, will welcome specialist provision in the context of choice.

2.   If diversity is important, how is diversity to be achieved in rural settings?

  The most important element of the Specialist Schools Programme is its school improvement objective. This is as relevant to rural schools as to any other. 388 towns in England have only one secondary school in the town. Of these, 119 are specialist which is over 35%, compared with under 32% for all secondary schools in England.

3.   Ray Shostak made clear that funding from the Department does not cover the costs of the Hertfordshire pathfinder project. Does the evaluation take this into account? How?

  In several cases the LEAs in the Diversity Pathfinders (DP) Project are supplementing DFES funding with LEA funding. The research team is aware of this and will take it into account as they report on their findings.

  One of the aims of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of the project in terms of its cost effectiveness. The research team is developing a template on which to map the complex array of information and ensure there is comprehensive collection and cross-referencing of data.

  Not only are some of the LEAs supplementing pathfinder funding to provide further support for pathfinder activity, but they are also linking other initiatives with the pathfinder to ensure a coherent strategy across the LEA. We recognise that it will be a difficult exercise to differentiate the outcomes that can be attributed specifically to the pathfinder project from other activities and initiatives that the LEA and its schools are a part of (such as Excellence in Cities, for example).

4.   How will the Department take forward the observations made by the Committee and research team regarding the importance of evaluating the impact of projects on neighbouring schools?

  In all but one of the pathfinders—the Oaks Academy in Birmingham—all secondary schools in the LEAs are part of the project.

  The research programme established to evaluate the DP is not large enough to undertake the complex task of determining the impact of the Oaks Academy project on its neighbouring schools in Birmingham.

  However, we do not expect that the impact will be negative. The Academy schools are part of a wider collaborative group of 18 secondary schools—the South West Area Network—and several of the schools in the Academy also have close partnerships with secondary schools and colleges outside of the Academy. They have been careful to make it clear to other schools that the Academy is not an exclusive club, but was established to provide the best possible education to local students without jeopardising the effectiveness of other schools.

5.   What do you consider to be the key drivers for effective collaboration and the barriers to it?

Drivers

  Schools' enthusiasm for collaboration is increasingly a driver for change. This is enhanced by the Government's range of policy initiatives to encourage collaboration.

  The Government's intention to promote greater collaboration between schools, and between schools and the FE and HE sectors, is founded on the belief that collaboration provides the best means for excellent practice and teaching expertise to be spread throughout the education system.

  It enables schools that develop areas of specialist expertise—such as through the Specialist Schools Programme—to share it with others, and to build on it through links to other schools which specialise in the same subject.

  Schools that collaborate for better provision for students aged 14-19 also benefit from being able to offer a wider choice of subjects, including less mainstream subjects such as Russian, A-level music etc.

  ICT has provided the tools to make collaboration a reality even when schools are not geographically close, and through video-conferencing to provide some shared teaching without students or staff travelling between schools.

Barriers

  The barriers to collaboration vary according the circumstances. Sometimes competition between schools is a significant issue. On the other hand, rural secondary schools in non-competitive situations, in isolated areas, may be less able than urban schools to form close partnerships with other secondary schools. The Cornwall DP project is looking at how ICT can help overcome rural isolation. The establishment of Network Learning Communities is another project which is ICT based and will teach us a lot about how ICT can be used to bring schools together which are not physically close.

  The ability to collaborate effectively demands certain skills and attributes: the ability to identify areas of good practice and the willingness to share it; a belief that collaboration with other schools is worthwhile; a willingness to cooperate with others for the benefit of pupils in schools other than one's own, and so forth.

  One of the key aspects of the DP research is to consider what skills and attributes provide the conditions for successful collaboration and what barriers get in the way.

6.   What are the measures that will be used to evaluate pupil achievement? What is the rationale for your choice?

  Each of the Diversity Pathfinders projects will be treated as a case study. The research design combines qualitative and quantitative research methods. Data will be collected from DFES, LEA and school sources (including student surveys) on students' intermediate and final outcomes.

  All schools in the six Diversity Pathfinder LEAs will be monitored in terms of nationally available school-level data. A sample of DP schools in each area will be the focus of in-depth study, involving visits, interviews and student surveys. Baseline data is being collated to provide information on current pupil achievement and comprises nationally available school level data (Annual School Census 2002 and School Performance tables), student survey and annual Year 9 option booklets. The student questionnaire used in the baseline survey in 2002-03 will be repeated with Year 11 students in 2004-05.

  The research will monitor the extent to which the projects add value through educational effects, specifically their impact on academic achievement, attendance, staying on and completion rates and curricular breadth (enrichment of the educational experience for students). The research will also focus on the differential effects impacting on disaffected students; poorly performing schools; students from ethnic minorities; students with Special Educational Needs; students from disadvantaged backgrounds; and according to gender.

7.   For the duration of the project, will collegiates appear in league tables as a single entity? Has this been discussed?

  During a series of conferences run by the DFES for secondary head teachers late last year, head teachers asked that we consider publishing data for federations. We have agreed and in future will publish the combined data for schools in a federation as well as the data on the individual schools.

  In addition, Ofsted has agreed to work with us to trial coordinated inspections for schools that are members of federations.

8.   What is the rationale for permitting selection in schools with a subject specialism?

  Under the 1998 Act the admission authorities for schools with a specialism may decide to select up to 10% of their pupils on the basis of aptitude for a relevant subject prescribed in Regulations. The government considers it is appropriate for the admission authorities of schools with a specialism to be able to select a small proportion of pupils on the basis of aptitude for that specialism so as to give opportunities to pupils who might not be able to gain admission under other admission criteria.

9.   What is the difference between aptitude and ability?

  In terms of a dictionary definition there is no necessary distinction between aptitude and ability. Where a distinction is made, aptitude may be said to be about potential to perform whereas ability is about current performance. (see also question 10).

10.   What advice is given to schools in order to enable them to distinguish between aptitude and ability for the purposes of selection? What is the research evidence for this approach?

  Legislation does not define "aptitude", but the Schools Admissions Code of Practice says (at paragraph 7.11) that "essentially a pupil with aptitude is one who is identified as being able to benefit from teaching in a specific subject, or who demonstrates a particular capacity to succeed in that subject".

  The Admissions Code goes on to advise that when considering whether a pupil has an aptitude for a subject, the essential factor that the admission authority must determine is whether a child demonstrates a particular capacity to learn or to develop skills in that subject, and that he or she can benefit from the particular expertise and facilities at that school.

11.   What is the distinction between interview (not permitted under the School Admissions Code of Practice) and audition (explicitly permitted under the Code) for non-performance based specialisms?

  We would expect the term "audition" to apply only to performance-based specialisms eg music or drama. Interviews are only permissible to either assess religious commitment or to assess suitability as a boarder.

12.   Why are some subjects suitable for aptitude testing and others not?

  When subjects were prescribed in the Regulations under the 1998 Act the intention was to cover as much as reasonably possible of the specialist schools offer at that time. Technology, Language, Arts and Sports Colleges existed at that time.

  The Department had previously commissioned research from NFER into aptitude testing for Technology Colleges. The research left open the possibility that there could be valid tests for aptitude for technology but considered that the tests examined for aptitude for science and for mathematics were close to being measures of general ability. The Government concluded that it would not be appropriate to prescribe science and mathematics. The absence of media arts reflected the fact that the Government was not aware of any aptitude test in that area.

13.   How is it possible to test for aptitude in subjects not covered by the compulsory primary curriculum?

  A test for aptitude should not assume prior knowledge of the subject, which means that the subject's place in the primary school curriculum is not significant.

14.   What evidence is there on the relative performance of specialist school pupils selected by aptitude and those who are not?

  We have no information on the relative performance of those specialist school pupils selected by aptitude and those who are not as we have no record of which pupils are selected by aptitude.

15.   What evidence is there on the relative performance of those specialist schools which select by aptitude and those which do not?

  In 2002 the percentage of pupils in schools that are now (AY 2002-03) specialist schools that are known to select a proportion of pupils by aptitude achieved 61.5% 5+ A*-C GCSEs compared with 52% of pupils in other specialist schools (excluding grammar schools).

  It should be noted, however, that there is no necessary causal relationship between aptitude selection and the outcomes. Aptitude selection has been introduced at different dates and 2002 GCSE cohorts of pupils were not necessarily subject to partial aptitude selection in the year of entry to secondary school (1997). The level of GCSE outcomes prior to adopting aptitude selection is also relevant.

16.   How has the Department evaluated the impact of specialist and faith schools on neighbouring schools? What are your observations/conclusions?

  The department has not carried out an evaluation of the impact of specialist and faith schools on the neighbouring schools.

17.   How does the performance of specialist schools compare with the performance of non-specialist schools that have received significant capital investment?

  The specialist school capital investment is a fixed amount (£200,000 up to 1999; £150,000 since 1999) and does not lend itself to comparison with significant capital investment in non-specialist schools where the sums involved range from modest (but significant) sums below the specialist school grant level up to many millions of pounds for complete re-building. Other factors also would complicate any attempt at comparison eg specialist schools are themselves in receipt of significant capital investment that does not relate to their specialist status.

18.   What direction might the expansion of subjects available for specialisation take in the future?

  With his announcement on 10 February, the Secretary of State added music and humanities to the list of subjects available for specialist designation. The list now covers all the main areas of the curriculum.

19.   Are proposals for humanities and community specialist schools under consideration?

  Humanities was added as a specialist school designation as part of the 10 February announcement on specialist schools. "Community" has not been approved as a specialism within the programme. The Government wants all schools to develop their community work and schools that make a major contribution as "Community Schools" (in the non-legal -category sense) are also able to be specialist schools with a curriculum specialism. Many of them are specialist schools.

20.   Are all subjects equally suitable for specialisation? What are the criteria used to assess suitability?

  With the expansion of the programme to include humanities (built around one or more of English, geography and history) it can be seen that the Government has taken the view that all the main curriculum areas are suitable for specialisation (as a basis for school improvement) within the programme. How suitable a particular specialism is for a given school depends on the particular circumstances of the school.

24 February 2003