Embracing equity in education

Levelling the playing field of learning

“Don’t define me as disadvantaged.” This is the message I have heard loud and clear from pupils and students who have overcome huge obstacles in their lives and are now flourishing in every way. I was spending sleepless nights finalising the language for my latest book, Equity in Education. It was only after hearing the voices of the pupils themselves that the penny finally dropped.

In the book, written with my co-author and teacher Emily Briant, we replace the term ‘disadvantaged pupils’ with ‘children from underresourced backgrounds’. The problem with terming a child as ‘disadvantaged’ is that it is a binary classification, leading to a crude demarcation between who is or is not ‘advantaged’. It immediately invites us into the trap of deficit thinking, implying there is something wrong with children that we apparently need to solve. It focuses our minds on individuals, when facing hardship or poverty is about the circumstances individuals find themselves in. More importantly than all this, young people do not want to be labelled by someone else as being disadvantaged.

The principles we set out in our book are born from a frustration with the lack of progress in enabling all pupils to progress in the classroom. In the post-pandemic era, the education system is plagued by stark divides. We advocate a capacity –rather than deficit – mindset. This focuses on what pupils can do rather than what they can’t do. It is about assessing whether our own cultural norms are alienating those who come from homes with different cultures and ways of doing things, and recognising that talent comes in many forms, not just academic. Importantly, this is about working with children and their parents, not imposing our ways of doing things on them.

Many teachers were horrified to find that their own assessments placed their under-resourced pupils further behind their more privileged peers when official exams were suspended during the pandemic. Teacher bias is in fact a well-documented phenomenon. Teachers on average tend to judge lower income pupils as lower academic achievers than their actual test grades would suggest.

Practical recommendations for teachers include:

Organise a session among staff to reflect on the subconscious biases that may be creating barriers to learning for some pupils

Use tests to provide objective assessments of where children are in their learning, and compare these with teacher judgements to identify potential biases

Develop a school-wide policy of contacting all parents with authentic positive news about their children, valuing talents that are not always academic

Consider ‘poverty proofing’ the school day. This might involve supporting families to access affordable healthy food and paying for their children’s uniforms and school trips, as well as after-school clubs

LEE ELLIOT MAJOR Professor of Social Mobility at University of Exeter Equity in Education