City Technology Colleges and Specialist Schools

1  We are concerned that those schools working towards the recently approved specialisms in the humanities may find it particularly difficult to attract financial support. (Paragraph 42)

Choice and diversity

2  We are concerned about the serious mismatch between the Government's rhetoric on the relationship between choice and diversity and the reality. Research is required into the impact of choice and diversity policy on different regions and different social groups in order that Government policies on diversity and school transport may be refined to mitigate its negative effects. (Paragraph 63)

Diversity and faith

3  We welcome the Government's more balanced approach to the promotion of faith schools and urge extreme caution in any future expansion of the faith sector. Tensions in Northern Ireland between the the two communities illustrate the problems that segregated schools can exacerbate. Future developments in this area should guard against the creation of ethnically segregated schooling. (Paragraph 69)

Diversity pathfinders

4  Cooperation between secondary schools in terms of sharing good practice, resources and developing strong community links, is desirable in itself and likely to be an important means of raising pupil achievement in participating schools. However, as is the case in other areas covered in this report, more evidence is required to establish the impact of collaborative models. (Paragraph 77)

Diversity redefined

5  As all maintained schools are required to deliver the national curriculum, it would have been more helpful if greater emphasis had been given to the concept of diversity within each school and to curricular flexibility as a means of enabling schools to respond more effectively to the individual learning needs of each pupil. (Paragraph 87)

6  We welcome the commitment of the Secretary of State and the Minister of State for School Standards to pursue discussions with providers outside the maintained system and look forward to revisiting this issue when next we take evidence from them. (Paragraph 89)

Communities of schools: how schools impact upon their neighbours

7  It is apparent from our inquiry that the impact of specialist schools on their neighbours has been a neglected area of work and one which renders the existing evidence incomplete and any conclusions arising from it, potentially unsound. Without data relating to the composition and performance of schools surrounding specialist schools it is all but impossible to believe that the policy, and therefore the extent to which public funds have been wisely spent, can be properly evaluated. (Paragraph 91)

8  The Government's emphasis on evidence-based policy is to be welcomed, but care should be taken to ensure that research models are sufficiently well developed in order to deliver meaningful analysis. For example, the absence of data on the impact of initiatives on neighbouring schools is a very serious weakness in the existing analysis and should be addressed. (Paragraph 94)

Diversity and standards

9  What is clear is that the Government's over-reliance on a narrow range of research on the comparative performance of specialist schools has served to obscure rather than illuminate the issue. In choosing research partners, the independence of all parties may be compromised by too close an alliance of Government, research providers (however distinguished) and stakeholder groups. (Paragraph 104)

Measures of achievement

10  While we acknowledge and support the use of pupil attainment data for the purposes of strengthening public accountability, the emphasis must be on the use of such data for school improvement. For pupil attainment data to be meaningful in this context the key measures for pupil and school achievement need further development and to be applied consistently across the range of school improvement and pupil attainment projects. In particular, it is vital that these measures provide a picture of the full ability range, including the proportion of pupils who at 16 do not obtain any qualifications, and take full account of the intake profile of each school. (Paragraph 117)

Measures of disadvantage

11  The development of more sensitive measures of deprivation than that offered by free school meals eligibility is critical to improving the effectiveness with which policy and resources may be targeted. (Paragraph 120)

Separating the impact of investment from specialism & other initiatives

12  It is a matter of concern that the Government has made its decision to extend access to the specialist schools programme, and associated funding to all schools, in the absence of clear evidence as to the alleged benefits of specialism, balanced against those of other initiatives. Evaluation of this initiative is essential so that the public and policy makers alike can be assured that policy is developed on the basis of sound evidence rather than wishful thinking. (Paragraph 125)

School admissions

13  The evidence we received suggested that any rationale for schools operating as their own admissions authority may not be significantly outweighed by the wider benefits, not least to parents, associated with equity and clarity of process. (Paragraph 130)

Selection by aptitude: rationale and evidence?

14  We are not satisfied that any meaningful distinction between aptitude and ability has been made and we have found no justification for any reliance on the distinction between them. (Paragraph 139)

15  It is apparent from the evidence gathered during this inquiry that the current policy which enables schools to select on the basis of aptitude rests on insecure grounds. We are not convinced of the case for selection by aptitude. The broader issue of selection for the purpose of school admissions will be a focus of the final stage of our inquiry into secondary education. (Paragraph 144)

Competition vs. Collaboration

16  Our conclusion is that competition and institutional autonomy are forces that can be barriers to the capacity for systemic change. The careful coordination of diversity policy so as to ensure the capacity for broad based change should be a prime consideration in the further development of the Government's schools policy. (Paragraph 152)

17  The Committee acknowledges the Department's renewed emphasis on the collaborative and community aspects of the specialist schools programme and initiatives being developed through the Diversity Pathfinder project. However, we believe that the nature of this collaboration is at present insufficiently focused on raising pupil achievement and therefore (to be consistent with the Government's stated policy) recommend that future funding for specialist schools and the basis of their evaluation should be explicitly linked to measurable success in raising pupil achievement in partner schools. (Paragraph 158)

What matters most?

18  We recommend that the position of selective schools in the specialist schools programme should be reconsidered. Eligibility for the specialist schools programme should be contingent upon each school's membership of a community of schools and on the achievement of measurable improvements in pupil attainment across the group of schools. (Paragraph 162)

Can the achievements of the few be extended to the many?

19  We would welcome a clear statement from the Government on how it envisages secondary education will look when all schools have specialist status; whether it anticipates further expansion in the range of specialisms; and how the Government, in partnership with LEAs, will secure the strategic distribution of specialisms so as to enable each cluster of schools to have an appropriate combination of subjects represented. (Paragraph 164)

20  The universal specialist system will potentially include all schools and all pupils. The Government asserts that there is a causal link between schools gaining specialist status and their success in raising pupil attainment. Schools which have achieved specialist status can be exciting places with high levels of pupil attainment, as we saw during our visit to Birmingham. The question is, what is the main factor that makes them so? Is it the advantage that extra funds bring? Is it the management process that schools have to undertake? Or is it something inherent in the specialist schools policy itself? The extent to which the apparent achievements of the early specialist schools is repeated by their successors needs to be closely monitored. We urge the Government to engage in a more rigorous evaluation of the current programme than has so far been attempted. (Paragraph 166)