Identifying the relationship between ‘place’, limited access to resources and educational outcomes
In this blog post Philly Ricketts, a doctoral student and Research Impact Officer at Plymouth Marjon University, discusses her research into educational isolation.
About the research The attainment gap and Educational Isolation
According to performance data published singapore rcs data by the Government in October 2022, the attainment gap in England at Key Stage 4 between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and all other pupils is currently at its widest since 2011/12. This impacts negatively on disadvantaged students in educationally isolated schools in particular, who generally do worse than their peers in urban and non-coastal schools. Yet, research on Educational Isolation indicates that this problem is not insurmountable.
The underpinning research for the REF2021 Impact Case Study titled ‘Educational Isolation: Transforming understanding and support for schools challenged by place’ was undertaken in response to poorer school performance, lower student outcomes and additional challenges for teacher recruitment and retention observed in schools in disadvantaged coastal and rural areas in England by Prof Tanya Ovenden-Hope and Dr Rowena Passy from 2010. The qualitative approaches used led to the conceptualisation of Educational Isolation, defined broadly as ‘a school experiencing limited access to resources for school improvement, resulting from challenges of school location’.[1] For educationally isolated schools, three place-based elements – geographical remoteness, socio-economic disadvantage and cultural isolation – combine to limit a school’s access to specific resources, i.e., a high-quality workforce, school support and externally funded projects.