I can only agree with Matthew Taylor’s conclusions on the effective deployment of support staff. Here is an example of what he is talking about. It is from my report Addressing White Working Class Underachievement: it’s not rocket science, which was a case study of Colmers School in Longbridge, Birmingham. I believe that what we were told by the school’s support staff during our research can provide a model for other schools and organisations generally: “We are a cohesive, integrated staff team; there is no status demarcation. I can make suggestions for improvement. If I see a lesson not working, I can intervene... We are integrated into the school - the school has only one team and we are all part of it.”

Karamat Iqbal, Director, Forward Partnership.