Increasing the social mix in schools is the way to close performance gap

Nick Clegg is reported to be planning to set targets for schools to narrow the performance gap between disadvantaged children and other pupils, as a way of promoting social mobility. He is right to identify this as a yawning gap that urgently needs tackling but setting targets for schools will not get to the root of the problem because new research shows that in the UK it is the socio-economic background of a school's pupils that determines performance.

A special report from the OECD on the UK says that in Britain "both the within and between-school impact of socio-economic background on educational attainment are well above the OECD average".

The significance of these findings are therefore enormous. In disadvantaged areas a "no excuses" culture is required. Clegg's target-setting plan will only intensify the culture of blame, diverting attention from the social and systemic causes of inequality.

If politicians were serious about their oft-stated concern for the poor – and their claim to want to match the world's best – they would do more to ensure that there is a better mix of pupils within schools, which the OECD has consistently urged. It has found that increasing the social mix within schools boosts the performance of disadvantaged students without any apparent negative effect on overall performance.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/19/increasing-social-mix-schools-improve-performance