Raising Teachers’ Voice on Achievement in Urban Schools in England: An Afterword

Abstract

This afterword provides some reflections on the collection of papers: “Raising Teachers’ Voice on Achievement in Urban Schools in England”. It argues that the main contribution of the collection is its contribution to understanding the problems of urban schooling and the absurdities of current policy responses. The complexity of poverty/education relationships, defying policy categories, is one striking feature of the papers. Another is the similarity between these contemporary accounts and ones written ten or fifteen years ago, illustrating the enduring nature of the problem and the persistent failure of policy to get to grips with it. The paper points to three policy imperatives: substantial funding redistribution; an overhaul of teacher training and development; and a recognition that schools can make a difference, but not the difference. That policy-makers continue to deny this last point makes it all the more important that teachers continue to find the spaces for critical collaborative work, that universities support them, and that the formidable insights which such work generates are written down and published. This collection makes a substantial contribution.