A Composite Measure Of School Effects Of Child Performance At Key Stage One

A composite measure of school effects of child performance at Key Stage One was taken to comprise of seven factors including gender ratio of school population, proportion of pupils with eligibility for free school meals and percentage of bilingual school pupils. Strand (1997) found that where there was a high rate of free school meal eligibility, this was one of the statistically significant factors, along with gender ratio and proportion of ESL pupils in school composite effects. These compositional effects are significant even after each individual pupils baseline scores, sex, FSM entitlement and ESL background have been taken into account (Strand, 1997, p 479). This means that school performance as a whole, as well as individual pupil progress, would appear to be associated with the proportion of free school meal claimants in the school population. Indeed, It can be hypothesised that schools with a low proportion of socially disadvantaged pupils may have some benefits associated with their context: they may receive greater help from parents, have fewer disciplinary problems or an atmosphere more conducive to learning (p 485).
Buchanan-Barrow and Barratt (1998) have considered how young children understand school, and how this is affected by socio-economic factors, along with gender and birth-order. They suggest, The school constitutes, in microcosm, a multifaceted and multi-layered society with an extensive and complex systemin order to operate successfully in this system, the young pupil needs to acquire an understanding of the connections between such important system-concepts as rules, roles, power and community (p 250). A total of 112 children were included in the study from the age of 5 and upwards, at two primary schools in London. The first school had a free school meal ratio of 3% and was therefore broadly classified as a middle class school. The second school had a much higher free school meal ratio of 49% and the intake population was largely working class. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires, and the children were interviewed about their understanding of the power structure in the school, and their attitudes towards their school. In general, young children had the most positive attitudes towards school of all children studied. Furthermore, there were no differences in the attitudes towards school by socio-economic class, but there was a significant correlation between child and parental views on the school. The importance of the head-teacher in the power structure was evident in the responses of all children, but an understanding of the purpose of the class teachers was patchy until the middle primary years. The researchers closely examined the responses of the children at both schools for social class effects on comprehension and understanding of the school.