The Educator Magazine U.K. Jan-April 2024 issue - Magazine - Page 50
Education experts
launch initiative to help
west Cumbrian schools
A pioneering scheme to raise pupil attainment by bringing together leading
experts and high-quality research has been launched in west Cumbria.
The Education Research Alliance is the first of its kind in the
country and aims to become a national centre for excellence.
It will help schools access the most effective evidence-based
techniques for raising standards and closing the attainment
gap for disadvantaged pupils.
“This is a groundbreaking development,” said Dale Hill,
director of Western Excellence in Learning and Leadership
(WELL) the west Cumbria education project, funded by
Sellafield Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority,
which has created ERA.
“It’s about a collective ambition to ensure every pupil thrives
and succeeds regardless of background and starting point,”
he said.
“In Cumbria and nationally we have a recognised attainment
gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. It’s big
and it’s getting wider. We have a collective responsibility to
do something about that in a strategic evidence-informed
way.”