Conclusions
benefits are substantial, finding the argument to be strongly supported in theory and
evidence.
We would also like to put the model presented here forward as a prism through which
policy makers might view policy proposals. Understanding they way in which the
features of the model interact can help in ensuring that policies run in sync with
developmental processes and interactions between contexts rather than operating in
opposition to these wider forces. We would invite those putting forward policies to
explain how their programme will interact with the features of the model described
here. This report does not lead to firm conclusions about the benefits of specific
interventions, but describes the contexts within which interventions must work.
The contexts in which the inter-generational transmission of education takes place do
not work in isolation. The model presented here describes some of the main
interactions between contexts. Policy interventions are likely to cross boundaries
between these contexts giving rise to important unintended consequences. These
interactions can constrain policy success or enhance it but it is important that policy
be developed within some kind of cross cutting model that recognises the interactions.
The ecological model presented here is an example of the kind of holistic perspective
that may help in these policy formulations.
There has been much discussion recently of the potential benefits of parenting
programmes. These follow from the widespread finding that families are more
important than schools as influences of children’s development. Analysis of this
broader context suggests the limit on the ability of the DfES to influence attainment
and leads to the conclusion that engagement with parents will be very important. Yet
parents themselves are engaged in multiple contexts that constrain or enhance their
interactions with their children. Therefore in going beyond the school to the home in
the search for enhancement to educational attainment the DfES finds itself necessarily
engaged in far wider forces that cut across Departmental responsibilities. Other
government departments play important roles. The Department for Work and
Pensions, the Home Office, the Department of Health, the Social Exclusion Unit and
the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office (amongst others) all carry responsibility for
elements of the interacting features described in this report. The primary call of this
report, therefore, is in support of efforts to aid the integration of cross-departmental
activities to enhance the effectiveness of educational support.
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