By Vivienne Russell | 11 January 2013
Pupil premium funds could be targeted more effectively, research published by the Association of School and College Leaders has found.
Premium funds are currently given to schools to help boost the attainment of pupils on free school meals. Only about a third of FSM pupils achieve five good GCSEs (grades A*–C) including English and maths, compared with well over half of non-FSM pupils.
But a study conducted for the ASCL by Birmingham-based teacher Charlie Ogilvie found significant variations in attainment between different cohorts of FSM pupils. For example, almost half of those in London achieved five good passes compared with less than a third of those outside the capital.
Ethnicity was also found to be a factor. Chinese children on free school meals performed better than all pupils from all other ethnic groups, both FSM and non-FSM. White FSM children performed poorly, with fewer than 30% achieving three good GCSEs. The attainment gap between white FSM and non-FSM children, or poor and rich, was the most pronounced of any other ethnic group.
Ogilvie concluded that current pupil premium policy failed to recognise differences between FSM and non-FSM pupils or regional disparities. He suggested increasing the funding per pupil for regions outside London, to help narrow the gap between the capital and the rest of the country.
Commenting on the findings, ASCL deputy general secretary Malcolm Trobe said the report showed that using free school meal eligibility alone was a ‘blunt instrument’ for deciding which pupils warranted additional funding.
‘To be really effective in addressing deprivation and attainment, rather than an “all or nothing” approach, the government could do more to target the premium funding to where it is most needed,’ he said.
‘The key lesson is that an equitable and appropriate funding formula is almost by definition not a simple and transparent one. We need a sophisticated and detailed formula for calculating not only the pupil premium, but for the whole funding system. This isn’t easy to achieve, but it is essential that we get as close as possible if we are going to have anything near a fair funding system.’
Trobe added that some children from low-income working families were missing out on pupil premium funds because they did not qualify for free school meals.
‘All students from families whose total incomes, including benefits, are below £16,190 must be classified as FSM without delay and receive the pupil premium and school meal funding that FSM attracts. Low-income families who work must receive equal treatment to those who do not,’ he said.
