Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation - readiness to learn: thematic evaluation report 2024

Introduction

This report focuses on readiness to learn, a new aspect of thematic evaluation which has emerged as a result of the refresh of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. The report aims to present evidence from the evaluation and tell the story of how the focus on readiness to learn has emerged, what we have learned to date and how we plan to progress this exploration in the evaluation going forward.

With the launch of the refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge and its new mission, a new Scottish Attainment Challenge Logic Model, the result of extensive stakeholder consultation and collaboration, was published in March 2022. The new Attainment Scotland Fund Evaluation Strategy 2022-26, developed to reflect the Logic Model, was then published in November 2023. This introduced a thematic evaluation strand. The consideration of a range of thematic areas is an integral part of the new Evaluation Strategy, allowing an in depth focus on collaboratively agreed key areas of enquiry^[1]. These aspects of thematic evaluation will seek to provide learning and increase the evidence base on ‘what works and what could be improved, for whom, and in what circumstances.’

In order to develop a focus in the evaluation on readiness to learn, the Attainment Scotland Fund 2022-26 Evaluation: Analytical Plan Year 1 (2022/23) outlined a focus on readiness to learn as one of three priority areas of thematic areas for the evaluation, along with families and communities and engagement in decision-making. It allows the evaluation to gather evidence related to the evaluation question as set out below.

Readiness to Learn in the context of the Scottish Attainment Challenge

The Scottish Attainment Challenge Logic Model published in March 2022 illustrates, at a high level, the activities that will lead to the short, medium and long term outcomes designed to achieve the Scottish Attainment Challenge mission ‘to use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap’.

As a result of extensive stakeholder consultation and collaboration, the refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge Logic Model introduced a new outcome focus related to ‘readiness to learn’, with outcomes proposed at both short- and medium-term as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Scottish Attainment Challenge Logic Model: Readiness to Learn Short- and Medium-term outcomes

Readiness to Learn short-term outcome: a sustained focus on children and young people’s readiness to learn through focusing on engagement and attendance, confidence and wellbeing.

Readiness to Learn medium-term outcome: improvements in engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing of children and young people.

As a result of this focus on readiness to learn in the Logic Model, the Attainment Scotland Fund Evaluation Strategy 2022-26 introduced a new Evaluation Question around readiness to learn:

‘To what extent was there improvement in children and young people’s readiness to learn through focusing on engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing?’

Sub-questions have also been developed to guide the analytical activity on readiness to learn. These are outlined in Table 2 below.

Table 2: ASF Evaluation: Readiness to Learn Evaluation Question and Sub-questions

Readiness to learn

To what extent was there improvement in children and young people’s readiness to learn through focusing on engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing?

• To what extent were engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing features of school and local authorities’ approaches?
• How do schools and local authorities monitor and evaluate progress on engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing?
• How did stakeholders perceive a focus on ‘readiness to learn’ would support progress towards the long-term outcome of improving outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty? What evidence is being gathered in support of this?
• What has been learned about approaches to engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing in support of progress towards the long-term outcome of improving outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty?
• To what extent has there been an improvement in children and young people’s ‘readiness to learn’ through focusing on engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing?

The thematic focus on readiness to learn in Year 1 has sought to explore the concept of readiness to learn in the context of the Scottish Attainment Challenge as the first phase of considering how to include the concept within the ongoing evaluation. As such, it has been a process of exploration and development.

This short report seeks to summarise the exploratory work undertaken to date and to set out how we propose to develop and deepen our understanding of the concept of readiness to learn in the context of the Scottish Attainment Challenge during the coming years of the evaluation.

What does readiness to learn mean? Is there a shared understanding of the term? What does readiness to learn mean for children affected by poverty?

During collaborative discussions which took place to develop the Scottish Attainment Challenge Logic Model, there was a clear sense of the importance of ‘readiness to learn’ as a theoretical construct within the overall Mission for the Challenge, which we sought to capture as both a short- and medium-term outcome relating to a group of elements/measurable variables including: engagement, attendance, confidence; and wellbeing.

Whilst the term readiness to learn appears to be relatively widely used within the education system and therefore associated with a degree of shared understanding, as a concept or construct, readiness to learn is more difficult to define. From a rapid scanning of the literature, despite the relatively widespread use of the term in practice, it does not appear that there is a shared understanding/concept of the term ‘readiness to learn’ in the academic literature. For example, there are linked but separate concepts such as ‘school readiness’ which is more extensively used in the literature related to children’s readiness to start school in primary, particularly in England.

There are however insights from the literature in terms of education and children affected by poverty, which have relevance to the readiness to learn concept. The current research, policy and practice focus in relation to pupil attendance and absence across the UK is key, not least in the context of the ongoing impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on attendance. Education Scotland published ‘Improving Attendance: Understanding the issues’^[2], a report based on a deep dive on attendance in Scotland in November 2023. Forth Valley and West Lothian Regional Improvement Collaborative (RIC) instigated a key focus on attendance in 2022, with an Attendance Symposium held as part of this work resulting in the publication of a comprehensive resource on attendance^[3]. In addition, a substantial body of academic research on attendance is in progress. Notably, a programme of research is being undertaken by Sosu and Klein at the University of Strathclyde which includes a focus on patterns in attendance in different cohorts and time-periods, including post-COVID-19 pandemic attendance patterns^[4].

A similar focus on attendance and absence is apparent across the rest of the UK. An inquiry into attendance was undertaken by the UK Parliament in 2023, leading to the Persistent Absence and Support for Disadvantaged Pupils^[5] report published in September 2023. The Welsh Government also commissioned an independent review in 2023 into the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for school attendance^[6].

However, whilst the concept of readiness to learn clearly includes attendance, it is a much broader concept. With considerable work in progress of relevance to attendance, through this thematic strand we are seeking to explore different perspectives of what readiness to learn means, particularly in the context of children and young people affected by poverty. Does this mean different things to specific groups, such as children and young people, to teachers, to parents? Are there commonalities, and if so, what are they? What approaches to support children and young people’s readiness to learn are currently taking place? And is there emerging evidence of impact?