Background to the Research

• The purpose of this large scale survey of Year 4 and Year 7 pupils was to provide evidence to inform the development of Barnardo's 'Ready to Learn' strategy. This strategy seeks to design a service that will promote educational attainment and positive child development for disadvantaged children in NI. In addition to the survey an extensive review of the literature relating to out of school hours activities and engagement in education was undertaken and is reported elsewhere.
• The main aims of the survey were to:
  • Provide quality baseline data on the distribution of educational and psychosocial outcomes among Year 4 and Year 7 children in schools that have low educational attainment and are located in deprived areas.
  • Determine how these outcomes relate together and what sociodemographic variables might be associated with these.
  • Identify levels of need in relation to the outcomes in order to aid Barnardo's in deciding where best to target their intervention.
• In order that the research and service design process would comply with Article 12 of the UNCRC, the project team established a Children's Advisory Group (CAG). The remit of the group was:
  • To advise on the research process, including the design and analysis of the base-line survey and literature review.
  • To provide advice on the main issues relating to educational underachievement and social disadvantage.
  • To identify potential services which might address the problems. The CAG were not research subjects. They were invited to participate in the project in their capacity as a key stakeholder group with particular expertise on the issues under consideration.
    

Research Approach

• Twenty-eight primary schools from across NI participated in the survey. They were randomly selected, stratified by area board, and were categorised as schools in areas of high deprivation (n=15) and low deprivation (n= 13) based on the level of free school meals uptake and whether the school was located within a neighbourhood renewal area. In total 1081 pupils took part in the survey: 527 in Year 4 and 554 in Year 7.
• The following data were collected on all 1081 pupils:
  • Outcome Measure - Self esteem The Global Self Worth subscale of the Self Perception Profile for Children;
  • Aspirations for the future The Expectations/Aspirations measure;
  • Enjoyment of education The 'liking school' subscale of the attitudinal scale;
  • Physical well being KIDSCREEN is an instrument that measures perceived health and health related quality of life of children and adolescents;
  • Psychological well being; o Social acceptance - bullying;
  • Peer relationships; o School environment;
  • Autonomy and parent relations;
  • Educational attainment Key Stage assessment results.
• All consenting pupils were asked to complete a questionnaire containing the measures outlined above. This questionnaire was administered in the classroom setting and took on average 20 minutes to complete. The school provided the Key Stage Assessment data.
  

Main Findings

• The survey explored the extent to which educational attainment and indicators of well being were related for pupils going to school in areas of high and low deprivation. Year 4 children in areas of high deprivation reported better well being and slightly poorer educational attainment than Year 4 pupils in areas of low deprivation. There were very few differences, in terms of well being, between Year 7 pupils from areas of high and low deprivation; however Year 7 pupils in areas of high deprivation performed much worse in terms of educational attainment than Year 7 pupils in areas of low deprivation.
• These results suggest that well being is unrelated to educational attainment since. In particular, despite the low educational attainment for both Year 4 and 7 pupils in areas of deprivation, children were either reporting a greater sense of well being (Year 4) or there was no difference in reported well being (Year 7).
  

Conclusions

• These findings would suggest that in order to improve educational attainment for children going to school in areas of deprivation, services or interventions should focus on strategies directly related to improving attainment rather than indirectly through improving different aspects of well being. This resonates with the views of the CAG who anticipated these results. In addition, and from discussions of the survey results and the findings of the literature reviews, with all the Key Stakeholders (children, parents and teachers) other important issues that should be addressed by any future service or intervention included:
  • The value placed on education by the family;
  • Providing educational opportunity outside 'class time';
  • Building the capacity of parents to assist their children in learning.