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Articles by Sam Baars
Book review: Young people on the margins
Melissa Benn finds a book that’s both subtle and harrowing, and full of evidence-based lessons on preventing the marginalisation of vulnerable young people Young People On the Marginsis a valuable and lucid account of the multiple ways in which generations of vulnerable young people have been failed by our education system and by society itself, and what we might do about it.
Left behind white pupils from disadvataged backgrounds
Oct 13 2020 Tuesday 13 October 2020 Start times: 9.30am (private) 10.00am (public) Add to calendar
Assessing the early impact of school and college closures on students in England
In partnership with The University of Exeter by Sam Baars 4th June 2020 Download the report here Students left feeling powerless amidst grades uncertainty Students are far more likely to be concerned about grades and transitions than not seeing their friends while their school or college is closed due to Covid 19, we reveal in a new report published today in partnership with the Centre for Social Mobility at the University of Exeter.
The challenges of home schooling
“How late did you stay up last night doing your lesson planning?” “How much instant coffee have you had?” “Handed out any detentions yet?” These are just some of the supportive queries I’ve had from my colleagues over the last week and a half, since my daughter stopped going to school along with millions of other pupils in England.
Inside the black box: how high-performing schools create a positive culture
In partnership with Department for Education by Sam Baars 8th August 2018 Anyone who has visited a range of schools soon notices the subtle but distinctive feel of different school cultures. Now, our latest research report, published today by the Department for Education, sets out in detail how these subtle differences can be pinned down in more concrete terms, and identifies the key practices that lie behind the distinctive culture of high-performing schools. What are our headline findings?
How to speak to young people about the future
The ‘raising aspirations’ discourse is dead, and I’m happy to have played a small part in its demise. Over the last decade, a barrage of empirical evidence has shown that few young people in the UK hold ‘low’ or ‘no’ aspirations, or that these are meaningfully linked to their educational attainment and wider outcomes. Seeing aspiration-raising as a panacea for poor grades has been discredited by the EEF, while academics have roundly condemned the whole discourse as a red herring.
Lessons in school choice
I’ve spent years conducting research in schools: interviewing teachers; speaking to pupils; poring over performance tables, dodging footballs whilst scribbling notes in playgrounds. As a researcher I’ve often been in the thick of it, but it’s a role that always places you at arm’s length – an observer rather than a part of the action. That’s all about to change: my daughter turns four next year, and now it’s my turn to choose a school for her.
Lessons in school choice
I’ve spent years conducting research in schools: interviewing teachers; speaking to pupils; poring over performance tables, dodging footballs whilst scribbling notes in playgrounds. As a researcher I’ve often been in the thick of it, but it’s a role that always places you at arm’s length – an observer rather than a part of the action. That’s all about to change: my daughter turns four next year, and now it’s my turn to choose a school for her.
Inside the black box: how high-performing schools create a positive culture
Home » Blog » Reports » Inside the black box: how high-performing schools create a positive culture Inside the black box: how high-performing schools create a positive culture Sam Baars is Director of Research at LKMco. He has particular interests in youth research, area-based inequalities and social science impact, and has experience using a range of quantitative and qualitative methods, from film-based work in schools to rapid research reviews and large-scale survey analysis.
Which comes first? School culture or top results?
It is received wisdom that an intangible but important aspect of a school is its atmosphere: the way it looks, the way it sounds, the way pupils behave as you walk through the doors. Anyone who has worked in, or visited a school will have asked themselves: why do schools “feel” the way they do? But how deep do those initial impressions go? Do the visible artefacts of school culture (uniform, posters, inspirational quotes or mission statements) translate into meaningful day-to-day practice?
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