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If there’s a magic bullet to fix education outcomes, it starts with equity

Chris Bonnor and Bernie Shepherd (The Guardian, 15.12.16) consider the most resent school test results (PISA and NAPLAN), and conclude:

‘If current trends continue we can confidently expect that our structural, equity and achievement deficits will continue to mount. Sure, we can “reform” schools to the hilt, hammer the maths and science and the rest of it – but if that’s all we do not much will change.

‘Separating our strivers and strugglers into different schools, as we do both within and across sectors, creates schools that end up just coasting at one end or declining at the other. The net result is a decline, and we are now paying the price.If current trends continue we can confidently expect that our structural, equity and achievement deficits will continue to mount. Sure, we can ‘reform’ schools to the hilt, hammer the maths and science and the rest of it – but if that’s all we do not much will change.

‘Separating our strivers and strugglers into different schools, as we do both within and across sectors, creates schools that end up just coasting at one end or declining at the other. The net result is a decline, and we are now paying the price.’

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