Pay by result scheme for city schools

Jun 6 2007 By Rob Merrick, Liverpool Daily Post

MORE than 40 Liverpool schools are to take part in the first ever trial of “payment by results” in education with extra funding for improving test scores.

Under a radical trial scheme to be unveiled today, 10 secondaries and 31 primaries will be handed up to £450 for each pupil whose maths and English scores improve dramatically between the ages of seven and 13.

The schools, including the likes of Broadgreen High, New Heys in Allerton and West Derby, will also receive higher funding to introduce one-to-one tuition for children who are falling behind.

And they will be free to allow their brightest pupils to take national tests earlier – perhaps in December or May, rather than at the end of the school year.

Liverpool is among just 10 education authorities picked to pioneer an initiative that Education Secretary Alan Johnson has pledged will ensure “no child falls behind”. It is based on the experiences of 20 schools where children have made dramatic strides forward after closer tracking of their development.

The Liverpool schools must target the quiet, “invisible” child, who avoids the teacher’s gaze at the back of the class, as well as the gifted child at the front.

Struggling pupils will be given “short bursts” of up to 10 hours’ special help in English or maths, with head teachers allowed to bring in private tutors if necessary.

They will also be expected to ensure learning is celebrated, by stamping on any culture of “anti-intellectualism” and bullying of the cleverest pupils.

But most attention is likely to focus on the “progression premium” which, for the first time, will link school funding to results.

It will reward schools if a child moved up two National Curriculum levels, either between the ages of seven and 11, or between 11 and 14.

Earlier this year, it was suggested schools would get 5% of existing per-pupil fund-ing for each success in English and a further 5% for every achievement in maths.

In Liverpool, that would mean a reward of about £450 for a pupil who jumped two levels at both subjects. But it was understood Mr Johnson will not put a figure on the level of extra funding on offer when he announces the 10 chosen authorities today.

The £20m scheme, to start in September, will run for two years, with rewards paid at the end of it, in 2009.

Mr Johnson will say: “I want to make sure no child falls behind or gets stuck at any stage and I am backing teachers with extra resources to test these new approaches.

“I want a system which gives timely information to parents, demonstrates simply whether a child is making good enough progress at every stage of their education and which motivates children to achieve more in every lesson.”

Mr Johnson will acknow-ledge the current system of targets does not consider a low-attaining pupil who rises two levels as a “success”.

Similarly, by focusing on raising pupils’ achievement by only one level, it allows high-attaining pupils to coast.

Cllr Paul Clein, Liverpool’s executive member for children’s services, said: “This is just reward for the massive progress being made in education in this city.

“Our schools are doing some fantastic, innovative work which is giving pupils every chance of succeeding. This pilot will help a number of schools build on their work to support pupils and raise attainment.”

Freedom to vary when pupils take tests will ease some criticism that pupils in England suffer an endless battery of examinations.

But Mr Johnson will refuse to follow Wales, which has abandoned compulsory national tests altogether at 11 and 14.

OPINION: PAGE 10