I had an opportunity this morning to discuss how the widening divide between rich and poor in Britain - combined with the damaging effects of Government education policies - were also widening the class divide in education in Britain.
I was asked to comment on BBC London Radio about research that had found that Britain had one of the biggest divides between rich and poor students when PISA data on reading levels for high-achieving boys was analysed. For background on the research, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23271555
The link between poverty and achievement is no surprise given the damaging effects of parents in low-income families often having to work excessive hours, and their children having less access to books, libraries and so on. What is a disgrace is that that link should be so pronounced in England.
It's a reflection both of the increasing poverty resulting from this Government's policies and the effect of a test-driven curriculum where children and teachers have little time for 'reading for pleasure' in the rush to meet the next imposed set of targets. Performance-pay will only make things worse.
To hear the full interview - and I'm glad I managed to get in library cuts and university tuition fees too (!) - go to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bp0l8 - at 2 hours and 45 minutes. (It will be there for the next seven days only)
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