School culture and academic outcomes
What is your research about?
The main focus of my research is the question of what makes some schools more effective in helping pupils to make academic progress. I am particularly interested in the importance of school culture which I consider has two key elements: warmth and strictness. By warmth I mean the strength of the relationships that staff form with their students, and by strictness, I mean the level of the expectations that staff have of their pupils. My expectation is that the most effective schools have high levels of both.
How will the Stone Centre grant help your research?
The Stone Centre grant will fund a team of 8-10 undergraduate research assistants (RAs) to assist with the school visit and observation process. A large number of 1st year undergraduates have already shown an interest in joining this team. I will carry out a formal recruitment process followed by a training programme, involving a visit to one of my former schools, to ensure that each RA was clear on the data collection process.
The novel aspect of this research is the access to such granular data from English schools. With funding from the Stone Centre, I believe there is the opportunity to carry out a truly comprehensive survey that could reveal precisely what the best schools are doing to help their pupils succeed.
What will you produce as part of your research?
I will write a blog or research summary for the Stone Centre website, outlining some early findings.
> A podcast is available online in which I explain some findings of my research (from minute 20).
I could also produce a CORE Insight on the topic of the economics of education. This could cover evidence and theory on the importance of early years, including models of human capital formation. I could also incorporate a discussion of the role of schools and parenting (or more broadly the debate on nature vs nurture). A final sub-topic could cover the returns to higher education and different funding models for it. All of this could tie in with the model of inequality introduced in The Economy 2.0.
About this grant
Title of the project: School culture and academic outcomes
Value of the grant: £10,600
Duration: September 2023 – ongoing
