Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation: case study research 2025

Conclusions

Overview

This case study research provides detailed, qualitative insight into the experiences and perspectives of 14 Scottish schools on the impact of activities supported by the Attainment Scotland Fund. A wide range of perspectives are included, including feedback from school-based staff, partner organisations, parents/carers and children and young people. The case study schools represent a broad range in terms of school type, size, location, urban/rural classification and SIMD profile.

The importance of local context

Throughout the case study research, it was evident that schools were tailoring their approaches based on analysis of local needs, and that working in the context of particularly high levels of deprivation influenced the use of ASF funding (schools in the most deprived areas also received a greater amount of PEF funding, due to allocation being based on need). For example, case study schools based in the most deprived areas were particularly likely to have adopted whole-school approaches, since such a high proportion of their pupils were living in the most deprived SIMD quintiles. Schools in the most deprived communities were also likely to have a focus on nurture, health and wellbeing and readiness to learn, due to the reported importance of addressing pupils’ needs in these areas before considering attainment specifically.

Readiness to learn and pupil wellbeing

Improving pupils’ readiness to learn through focusing on engagement, attendance, confidence and wellbeing is a crucial element of the Scottish Attainment Challenge mission, and evidence from the case studies confirms that this has been a key focus for schools.

Respondents noted that a key barrier for pupils affected by poverty is simply not being ready to learn, and improving health and wellbeing and engagement with school was therefore a crucial precursor to improving attainment. PEF had been used in a wide variety of ways to achieve this, including a strong focus on nurture provision (such as the introduction of specific nurture spaces/facilities and staffing of these), emotional and mental health resources/programmes, and wide-ranging practical support to address financial/cost of the school day barriers to learning including breakfast clubs, provision of other food/snacks, access to uniform, equipment/resources and funding school trips etc.

A range of approaches had also been introduced to increase engagement and attendance, including work with families through PEF-funded roles such as home-school link workers, family learning teams, outreach workers and attendance-related roles, which was described as being vital because evidence shows that lack of parental engagement can be a key barrier for pupils affected by poverty.

This focus on wellbeing has meant that the ASF was reported to have had a positive impact on health and wellbeing and readiness to learn. Pupils noted they had access to the resources they needed to be ready to learn, school staff had observed improvements particularly among those pupils receiving targeted nurture support, and parents also noted that they felt supported and able to ask for help from school where needed. Numerous examples were given throughout the case study schools of pupils who were now attending school and engaging with learning as a direct result of receiving ASF-funded support. For schools prioritising health and wellbeing and nurture as the first step to improving attainment, improvements in readiness to learn were therefore the key outcomes of ASF funding.

ASF contribution to progress/closing the poverty-related attainment gap

Two of the key evaluation questions focused on the extent to which the ASF has contributed to a closing of the attainment gap between the most and least socio-economically disadvantaged children and young people, and the extent to which there has been progress towards achieving outcomes.

Overall, there was positive feedback about the impacts of the ASF on literacy and numeracy attainment. Some schools reported positive impacts on attainment across the school, as evidenced by exam results or NSA data, and linked this explicitly to the ASF. For example, PEF funding had been used to buy specific literacy/numeracy resources and introduce specific interventions which were reported to lead to improvements in attainment. Others noted considerable improvements for individuals or small groups of pupils who had received targeted interventions.

Views across case study respondents were more mixed in relation to whether the poverty-related attainment gap had closed. Generally, respondents suggested that some progress has been made, but noted that the issue was a complex, long-standing one which was unlikely to be resolved purely as a result of the ASF. It is also worth noting that for schools in the most deprived areas, the high proportion of pupils in the most deprived quintiles meant that there was no meaningful ‘gap’ to track, often reflected in a whole-school approach to raising attainment more generally.

It was also commonly highlighted, across all types of school, that not all outcomes of the ASF are necessarily measurable or quantifiable, and that progress for individual pupils may be transformational even if this is not reflected in attainment data or a measurable closing of the gap overall. Such outcomes included examples of children and young people engaging with/choosing to stay on at school and achieving qualifications specifically because of PEF-funded support.

Factors for success and challenges/barriers to closing the poverty-related attainment gap

Key factors identified as contributing to progress included having funding available for staffing resource (both for delivering specific interventions, and for wider work on family and pupil engagement/support); the focus on wellbeing/nurture, readiness to learn and being able to address financial barriers/cost of the school day issues; being able to fund dedicated study support; and a range of factors regarding leadership and staff commitment – school leadership was reported to be particularly crucial to schools’ culture and ethos (see below). Headteachers having control over PEF spending was also noted as being very important to meeting local needs, based on knowledge of their school community: a specific reported benefit of PEF was the flexibility to provide support based on the local context.

However, a number of challenges/barriers to progress were also noted, including the long-standing impacts of poverty and wider societal/contextual factors: schools feel they are ‘swimming against the tide’ and the ASF can only help them deal with the symptoms rather than the causes of poverty. Issues with parental engagement (often seen to be a result of parents/carers’ own experiences of school and a consequent lack of trust in the education system), and schools having to meet many basic needs and act as a wider support for the community were also mentioned in this context. The after-effects of COVID-19 and associated mental health needs, and rising ASN requirements, were also mentioned across all case study schools as a barrier to further progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Given this context, the general perception was that while the ASF may not have closed the gap as much as respondents would have liked, it has been vital in ‘holding the line’ against any further widening of the gap.

ASF contribution to wider opportunities and broader achievements

The evaluation aims also focused on the extent to which the Fund has contributed to an education system which encourages, reflects and values the breadth of achievements that contribute to improved outcomes for children and young people.

There was strong evidence across the case studies that the ASF has provided pupils with access to wider opportunities, with a variety of examples given – this included access to educational trips, residentials, cultural experiences such as visits to the theatre, access to outdoor learning and programmes such as Columba 1400, the Duke of Edinburgh award, and other clubs and team building activities. Some secondary schools highlighted that the ASF had allowed them to expand the curriculum to include new qualifications such as barista training, beekeeping, volunteering, leadership/coaching etc.

Respondents also noted a range of impacts of these kinds of wider opportunities for pupils, in terms of being able to access experiences they would be unlikely to have otherwise and feeling included in trips/activities; and also impacts in relation to softer outcomes such as increased confidence and self-esteem, the development of ‘soft skills’ (leadership, teamwork, communication etc.), and achieving qualifications and positive destinations.

Embeddedness, culture and ethos

When asked about their school’s culture and ethos in terms of supporting children affected by poverty, respondents tended to focus on their schools being supportive, nurturing, inclusive, aspirational for all, and ensuring there was no stigma associated with seeking support. Approaches to supporting pupils affected by poverty were generally felt to be embedded across the case study schools, with staff at all levels expressing a high level of understanding of the issues and challenges faced, and involved in a collaborative approach to support those who need it.

There was also evidence of learning and teaching approaches being embedded across the school, particularly where specific resources or programmes had been introduced, where the ASF had funded roles with a remit to focus on specific aspects such as literacy attainment, and/or where PEF-funded staff had shared training/approaches with other staff or supported delivery themselves throughout their school. However, since some ASF funding was used for targeted interventions, these specific learning and teaching approaches were often used with small groups of pupils rather than being implemented across the whole school.

Wider impacts

There was evidence of wider/secondary benefits of the ASF funding, beyond its intended focus of closing the poverty-related attainment gap. These wider impacts included the development of leadership skills for school staff working in PEF-funded promoted posts; benefits for all pupils (not only those receiving targeted support) due to increased capacity among other teaching staff when PEF-funded staff were supporting specific pupils; and increased capacity at the senior leadership level to focus on broader strategy and other school processes/improvements, which was said to benefit the whole school more widely.

Sustainability

Where the ASF had been used to purchase equipment/resources, set up specific facilities and enabled upskilling and training of staff, respondents reported that approaches were sustainable beyond the current phase of the programme. It was also noted that cultural changes/whole-school approaches, increased focus on data and evidence, and impacts on staff leadership capacity would continue regardless of the funding in place.

However, the key concern about sustainability related to staffing, since the main use of the funding was to provide staffing resource to deliver initiatives and take on specific roles in relation to closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Without the funding, respondents said that a lot of the initiatives and support would simply no longer be possible as there would be no staff to deliver them. It was also noted that financial support provided to pupils via cost of the school day initiatives would not be sustainable without funding to buy resources and fund breakfast clubs etc.

Staff at all levels within the case study schools commonly said that PEF funding had become absolutely essential and there were high levels of concern about being able to meet pupils’ needs without it. Several respondents commented that the ASF should be made permanent: as needs among pupils are increasing, some kind of continued support was said to be crucial.

Conclusion

The case study research findings indicate that the ASF has supported the introduction of a wide range of supports across Scottish schools, with a variety of positive impacts reported.

There was a consistently strong perception across all case study schools that the ASF has been crucial for them in supporting children and young people affected by poverty. However, respondents often found it quite difficult to attribute specific impacts to this funding in isolation from wider work being undertaken by schools and activities funded from a range of other sources, since a lot of initiatives were part-funded by PEF and ‘topped up’ with other funding.

Findings also suggest that support will continue to be required in the future, due to the challenges that remain in terms of addressing educational inequalities in the context of increasing needs – both in relation to rising levels of additional support needs, and the ongoing impacts of poverty on pupils, particularly those living in the most deprived areas.