East London borough shows that deprivation need not inevitably lead to failure. Cherry Canovan reports
A London borough is living proof that poverty does not always lead to failure at school, according to a new report from the Office for Standards in Education.
Barking and Dagenham - the sixth most deprived in London - has shown “that poverty does not inevitably lead, through the grinding mechanism of a grim and hopeless determinism, to failure at school”, said inspectors.
The authority had achieved a crucial shift in attitudes in the area so that educational failure was not accepted as inevitable, they said. But they questioned the high cost of school improvement and suggested that the authority may not be getting value for money.
Its striking achievement, they said, had involved a very high level of investment. Unlike most authorities, it retains centrally all the funding for the community inspectorate and advisory service. Inspectors also said the level of support may not be consistent with the aim of making schools more autonomous.
But Alan Larbalestier, education director, said the approach of focusing on teaching skills and new techniques was supported by schools.
He said the retention of inspectorate and advisory funding had helped this partnership work but that it might be devolved in future.
And he said schools did have autonomy and were happy with the help they got from the LEA. “What works is what counts,” he added.
OFSTED said the authority was “an innovative, in some respects pioneering, LEA. Its approach is not precisely like that of any other, and it has some limitations”.
But it concluded that the authority’s strengths far outweighed its weaknesses, adding: “Its performance offers an example of what can be achieved, given the resolution.”
Andy Buck, head of Jo Richardson community school in Dagenham, said: “I love working in Barking and Dagenham. People are left to get on with running schools, but there is a great deal of support.”
Only 3.5 per cent of adults in Barking and Dagenham have higher qualifications, the lowest number in the country. The proportion of primary pupils eligible for free school meals is 27 per cent, well above the national figure of 20 per cent, while in secondaries the figure is even higher, 29 per cent compared to 18 per cent nationally.
But the achievements have been impressive. Its performance has improved markedly at all key stages and is well above the national trend at GCSE.
