12 April 2002
The report, Overall impact of Excellence in Cities, was published on April 10 by a consortium including the National Foundation for Educational Research and the London School of Economics. It studied the impact of the first 18 months of the £500m initiative and was released on the same day as the Department for Education and Skills' annual report on the subject.
The DfES report was timely, coinciding with other government department publications boasting successes for ministers in the run-up to this year's Budget and Spending Review.
But the independent study backs up education ministers' claims. Its authors, Lesley Kendall, Marian Morris and Sheila Stoney, claim that 'first level' EiC projects – those that change inputs, such as staffing and resources – have had a 'significant impact' on some disadvantaged groups within the 2,000 schools involved.
In particular, the introduction of mentoring and learning support groups for disruptive pupils have been major successes, the authors claim. 'Second level' initiatives, such as those that aim to provide gifted pupils with separate learning programmes, have also been successful, according to the report.
The authors said that it was too early to discern the impact of 'third level' projects, those that target wider changes in educational culture.
But despite widespread agreement that the EiC has benefited pupils, the report points out that it is too early to provide clear evidence of the initiative's impact on educational standards generally. 'Attainment levels in [urban] schools with high levels of disadvantage are still lower than in schools in other areas,' it states.
Education Secretary Estelle Morris said that standards were rising faster in EiC areas than elsewhere, with attainment improvements often four times as high. 'We are looking forward to building upon the success of EiC as we roll out more excellence clusters and EiC Action Zones,' she said.
John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said that its members were impressed with the impact of the EiC programme, 'despite creating another layer of bureaucracy for teachers'.
He added: 'We would prefer, however, to see a better system of funding the initiative.'
PFapr2002
