Poverty Debate

The education pages have been filled this week with stories drawn from the latest Ofsted report: the transformation of schools through ‘back-to-basics’ discipline and targeted exclusions. While discipline will help, what really matters is the headteachers.

Formal discipline does have a role to play in turning round schools. It establishes that the school does not operate by the rules of the street; and that everyone is equal, subject to the same rules properly enforced. Children at the Robert Clack school agreed, saying the school was a success “because the rules were enforced”. Targeted exclusions are also necessary, both as a consequence of clear rules being applied consistently, but also because they remove unruly children from situations which profit neither them nor their classmates.

The controversial Channel 4 “Boys and Girls Alone” programme aired this week conducting a ‘social experiment’ to see how children apart from their families would cope without any adult supervision.

But there is evidence of a growing curiosity about children’s ability to cope without family care when it is available. The Channel 4 team are not the only ones conducting a massive social experiment.

This week, for example, the Institute for Education reported that children cared for by grandparents faired worse than those in professional childcare. Assessed on ability to perform in tests, children cared for by their extended family were considered backwards and damaged.