R E S E A RCH The Impact of Study Support A report of a longitudinal study into the impact of participation in out-of-school-hours learning on the academic attainment, attitudes and school attendance of secondary school students John MacBeth, Tony Kirwan and Kate Myers and Jim McCall, Iain Smith, Euan McKay of the Quality in Education Centre, University of Strathclyde with Caroline Sharp, Sunita Bhabra, NFER Dick Weindling, Keith Pocklington, Create Consultants DEPARTMENT FOR Re s e a rch Re p o rt RR27 3 EDUCATION AND SKILLS Research Report No 273 The Impact of Study Support A report of a longitudinal study into the impact of participation in out-of- school-hours learning on the academic attainment, attitudes and school attendance of secondary school students John MacBeth, Tony Kirwan and Kate Myers And Jim McCall, Iain Smith, Euan McKay of the Quality in Education Centre, University of Strathclyde with Caroline Sharp, Sunita Bhabra, NFER Dick Weindling, Keith Pocklington, Create Consultants All men desire naturally to know. Aristotle There is no such whetstone, to sharpen a good whit and encourage a will to Learning as is praise. Roger Ascham: “The Schoolmaster” 1570 Department for Education and Skills The views expressed in this report are the authors' and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department. © Queen’s Printer 2001. Published with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to The Crown Copyright Unit, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ. ISBN 1 84185 521 9 June 2001 Contents CONTENTS .....................................................................................................1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................6 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................6 Key Findings ...........................................................................................................................................7 Conclusion and Recommendations .....................................................................................................10 CHAPTER 1 ORIGINS OF THE PROJECT .................................................11 1.1 The First Shoots.............................................................................................................................11 1.1.1 A national policy ......................................................................................................................12 1.2 The Establishment of the National Evaluation and Development Programme .......................12 1.2.1 Critical Friends .........................................................................................................................13 1.3 Organisation and Management....................................................................................................13 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGY AND SAMPLE............................................15 2.1 The Quantitative Research Design...............................................................................................15 2.1.1 The sample schools (The Partner schools)..............................................................................15 2.1.2 About the schools .....................................................................................................................16 2.1.3 Free school meals .....................................................................................................................17 2.1.4 Ethnic minority students...........................................................................................................17 2.1.5 GCSE results ............................................................................................................................17 2.1.6 The student sample and data collected .....................................................................................18 2.1.7 Overview of the quantitative design.........................................................................................19 2.2 The Qualitative Research..............................................................................................................19 2.2.1 Records of visit and "Authentic Voice" interviews ..................................................................19 2.2.2 The Associate schools ..............................................................................................................20 2.2.3 The Case Studies ......................................................................................................................20 CHAPTER 3 FINDINGS ON THE IMPACT OF STUDY SUPPORT .............23 3.1 A Taxonomy of Provision..............................................................................................................23 3.2 Patterns of Provision .....................................................................................................................26 3.3 Participation Rates ........................................................................................................................27 3.4 The Impact of Study Support on Academic Attainment............................................................31 3.4.1 Underlying factors in academic attainment. .............................................................................31 3.4.2 The effect of gender..................................................................................................................31 3.4.3 The effect of ethnicity...............................................................................................................32 3.4.4 The school effect ......................................................................................................................32 3.4.5 The study support effect ...........................................................................................................33 3.4.6 What categories of study support have an effect? ....................................................................35 3.4.7 Who benefits most? ..................................................................................................................36 3.5 The Impact of Study Support on Student Attitudes...................................................................39 3.5.1 Underlying factors in attitudes to schooling.............................................................................40 3.5.2 The effect of study support on attitudes....................................................................................40 3.5.3 Low self-esteem........................................................................................................................41 3.5.4 The impact of Sport and Aesthetic activities ............................................................................41 3.6 The Impact of Study Support on School Attendance .................................................................43 3.6.1 Underlying factors in school attendance...................................................................................43 3.6.2 The school effect ......................................................................................................................43 3.6.3 Study support effects ................................................................................................................44 3.7 The Impact of Study Support on the Whole School ...................................................................45 3.8 Cumulative and Particular Effects...............................................................................................48 3.8.1 The impact of particular forms of provision.............................................................................48 3.8.2 The impact of Subject -focussed study support ........................................................................48 3.8.3 The impact of Drop-in study centre provision..........................................................................49 3.8.4 Sport, Aesthetics and Peer education........................................................................................50 CHAPTER 4 THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDY SUPPORT......................51 4.1 Fostering Participation in Study Support ...................................................................................51 4.1.1 How schools encourage participation.......................................................................................51 4.1.2 Accessibility and breadth..........................................................................................................51 4.1.3 Marketing .................................................................................................................................52 4.1.4 Responsiveness to students needs and wishes ..........................................................................53 4.1.5 Reasons for non-participation...................................................................................................54 4.2 Fostering Learning ........................................................................................................................56 4.2.1 Direct effects ............................................................................................................................56 4.2.2 Indirect effects..........................................................................................................................57