Every School a Good School (ESaGS) - Tackling Underachievement in Disadvantaged Areas
The Department is committed to tackling underachievement wherever it exists. It is widely recognised that there is a strong link between underachievement and socio-economic disadvantage. Schools serving disadvantaged communities perhaps face a greater challenge than others in their work to raise standards and tackle underachievement. However, we also know that there are some schools serving some of the most disadvantaged communities achieving very good outcomes for their pupils.
It is against this background that the Assembly’s Education Committee carried out an ‘Inquiry into Successful Post Primary Schools Serving Disadvantaged Communities’, publishing its report in March 2011. The Inquiry aimed ‘to consider examples of successful post-primary schools serving economically and socially disadvantaged communities, identify the key characteristics/factors which contribute to their success and consider how they can be reproduced in schools where they are lacking’.
The Department has provided the following response to the range of recommendations made by the Committee:
Dawn Purvis (then MLA for East Belfast) established a Working Group on Educational Disadvantage and the Protestant Working Class. The Group’s report provides an analysis of underachievement in protestant working class communities and makes nine recommendations to address the problem. The Department’s response to the recommendations made in the ‘A Call To Action’ report is also available below.
