Teach Secondary - Issue 14.6

code that lets themuse a dedicated computer room or similar. We’re proud of how high the return rate has been, particularly at primary, when compared to many other currently running research studies. Has there been anything in the TEP findings thus far that you’re particularly surprised by? Many practitioners across the sector have long been aware that pupils’ engagement with school drops noticeably fromY7 to Y8. The national picture presented by the research report is perhaps starker than we were expecting, though it’s worth emphasising that the findings aren’t just about schools, but clearly also encompass parental engagement and other broader societal contexts. I should also stress that since we’re able to compare national and local data, we know that many schools out there are bucking national trends. What seems like a stark decline in engagement in England compared to the international picture isn’t as profound in some schools as it is in others. By sharing best practice in this area, we might uncover practical steps that more schools can take to slow that decline. However, it’s also true that in individual schools, different demographic patterns will emerge. Engagement might fall off more dramatically in a particular context, for whatever reason, among different ethnic groups, different genders or pupils from different economic backgrounds. It’s at this level that schools can start to take action, rather than succumbing to a general council of despair. You can start to unpick where certain issues are occurring, the ages affected, and whether they’re problems specific to your local context or part of broader national trends. Are there any other trends in the latest set of results that stand out for you? The number of girls now feeling safe at school in secondary seems noteworthy, and interesting in that we seem to be observing a flip between primary and secondary. At primary, girls feel marginally safer than boys, but by the end of secondary, those sides will have been reversed. There are also sizeable differences when pupils are asked if they trust their teachers. Boys were more likely than girls to report trusting teachers at their school, whereas girls were more likely to say that they respected them. Where would you like to see this research go next? Beyond continuing to expand the sample size, it’s been interesting to observe how some schools are using the data as a lead indicator. For example, rather than looking back and acknowledging ‘ an issue with Y9 boys because their attendance has dropped ’, some school leaders are concluding that, ‘ The engagement rate of Y9 boys is dropping; let’s address that before it becomes an attendance problem. ’ We’d also like to share TEP findings with policymakers and politicians, to help them understand how they might be able to address some of the challenges that seemunique to the English systemwhen compared to the international context. Of particular interest here would be those schools consistently bucking broader trends. Do middle schools have a less, or more pronounced challenge with transitions? How do all- through schools fare with pupil engagement over time? How can schools get involved? The TEP collection and uploading process can interface with schools’ MIS systems, so engaging with TEP won’t entail a large volume of manual uploads and other such tasks. Visit the TEP website (tep.uk ), register your interest and we’ll be in touch. MINDTHE ENGAGEMENT GAP – KEY FINDINGS 34% of girls don’t clearly express feeling safe at school, compared to 28% of boys. 32% of white pupils disagree with the statement ‘What I learn at school will help me in the future’ – compared to 21% of Asian and 20% of Black pupils 8.9 Average score out of 10 among girls when asked how strongly they agree with the statement ‘I want to do well in school’ – for boys, the average score was 8.6 7.2 Average score among secondary pupils indicating agreement with the statement ‘ I do well in school if I try hard ’; for primary pupils, the average score is 8.8 51 teachwire.net/secondary B E H AV I O U R