1. Out of School Activities and the Education Gap Sept 14 September 2014

2. 1 The project team NatCen Social Research Dr Emily Tanner Jenny Chanfreau Meg Callanan Newcastle University Prof Liz Todd Karen Laing Amy Skipp - ASKResearch

3. 2 Definitions “Learning activity outside normal school hours that children take part in voluntarily”. (Department for Education) Organised activities with adult supervision e.g., music lessons sports clubs after-school clubs Brownies/Cubs

4. 3 Research Questions How do children spend their time out of school? Are out of school activities linked to educational attainment? What processes explain these links?

5. 4 Hypothesis We hypothesise that children who take part in out of school activities do better educationally, and want to explore the processes underlying this link Processes Evidence

6. 5 Millennium Cohort Study analysis How children spend their time out of school - range and types Change and continuity during primary school Patterns of activities for children from different backgrounds Associations between different activities and educational attainment at 11 Controlling for selection effects

7. 6 Qualitative research Workshops with educational practitioners Interviews with parents (of participants, of non-participants, of ‘subgroups’) Interviews with out of school activity providers Interviews with children London & the North East

8. 7 Theories Possible theories of causation from our review of the literature Which theories are most likely to underpin these links? There are a wide range: theories are grouped as child-related social context activity-related These are presented on the following slides We welcome your opinions

9. 8 Child related (Marsh & Kleitman; Valentine et al; Cummings et al) Activities take place in school Pupil enjoys activities Increased engagement with school Pupil identifies with school more. Staff have better impression of pupils, reflected in school Identification/Commitment Model (Vygotsky; Bruner) Capabilities are nurtured in a less formal setting Transferred to formal learning Socio-cultural Model (Valentine, 2002) Attainment in non-education setting Increased confidence Self belief model (Elliott) Activities encourage desire to demonstrate skills and ability Goal theory

10. 9 Social context (Putnam) Activities increase social resources (Camsey; Ungar; Martin & Marsh; Garmezy) Exposure to risk and resilience Develops protective factors (confidence, control, commitment) (Eccles et al) Attachment to non-familial adults See instructors in a supportive role Social Capital theory Social cognitive learning (Bandura) Exposure to admired peers Allows observation and imitation of traits Risk & Resilience theory Adult Supporters

11. 10 Activity related (Fredricks & Eccles; Sylva et al) Increase in skills, learning and participation (Valentine et al; Buoye) Activities have educational content Increased learning Normalises learning with peers (Broh) Competitive element Increases desire to succeed Academic related Capability Approach Success is experienced in non-academic domain Boosts self-belief and confidence Breadth of participation Competition

12. 11 What’s your perspective? Which theories reflect your experience? How important is out of school time? How should primary aged children be spending it? What should be the role of schools & teaching staff? How are disadvantaged children best supported?

13. We’ll be releasing our findings throughout the project via http://www.natcen.ac.uk/ our-research/research/out-of-school-activities/ http://www.natcen.ac.uk/ our-research/research/out-of-school-activities/ Let us know your thoughts or get added to our mailing list emily.tanner@natcen.ac.uk emily.tanner@natcen.ac.uk Keep in touch