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Teachers cannot close chasm between rich and poor on their own, expert warns

Teachers cannot close chasm between rich and poor on their own, expert warns

Too much is laid at the door of schools, yet the ‘attainment gap’ is a result of societal problems, says ‘seminal thinker on the curriculum’

21st November 2016, 10:01am

Henry Hepburn

Teachers are unfairly being held responsible for closing Scotland’s notorious attainment gap, according to a world-leading curriculum expert.

Jan van den Akker, of the Netherlands’ National Institute for Curriculum Development, criticised the Scottish government for being “overly optimistic” about the difference schools could make, given that the educational divide between rich and poor was largely formed outside the classroom.

Professor van den Akker acknowledged that Scotland had admirable aims for “excellence and equity” in education - first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said her government should be judged on whether it eliminates the attainment gap - but added that it was essential to take a “realistic” view about the influence of education.

“Housing, income, the labour market, the health sector - you name it, many factors and perspectives are important for addressing equity issues,” he said. “Why so much emphasis on placing all of the burden on [education]? It’s overly optimistic.”

Professor van den Akker’s comments were made last week at an event marking the launch of the Stirling Network for Curriculum Studies. He was, he said, “a bit amazed and almost taken aback by this enormous emphasis all the time on ‘delivering’ and ‘delivery’”. This, he quipped, made people working in Scottish education sound like “postmen”.

A Scottish government spokesman said: “We fully recognise that schools can’t [tackle the attainment gap] alone and we all have a part to play in creating a fairer, more successful country. That is why we have launched the Fairer Scotland Action Plan and are introducing the Child Poverty Bill.”

Education secretary John Swinney had given teachers a “clear, simple, concise statement of the Curriculum for Excellence framework”, as well as benchmark guidance, due to be published soon, which would “consolidate and replace a much larger volume of existing material”, the spokesman added. “It is being provided in response to demand from practitioners and has been broadly welcomed by the profession.”

Last December, detailed analysis by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) praised the aims of CfE but found that it had some serious flaws in implementation.

This is an edited version of an article in the 18 November edition of TESS. Subscribers can view the full story here. To subscribe, click here. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here. You can also download the TES Reader app for Android or iOS. TESS magazine is available at all good newsagents.