What will The Pupil Premium mean?

Hugh Rayment-Pickard

The Pupil Premium was one of the LibDem ideas to make it into the new coalition’s policy programme. The idea is that schools will get additional funds for each poorer pupil they educate. The LibDems wanted to spend £2.5bn on it, but the coalition is only saying that the premium will be ‘significant’.

Cathy Newman from Channel 4 has an interesting analysis of the Pupil Premium (http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/2010/05/26/does-the-pupil-premium-add-up/) in which she cites a recent IFS report, which concluded that ‘the effects of the extra cash on pupils’ attainment were likely to be “modest” at best.’

Haroon Chowdry, one of the report’s authors, told Channel 4 News. ‘The evidence seems to suggest that the impact of financial resources at the school level on children’s educational outcomes is actually very small... Instead, things that seem to be the most important first and foremost are children’s families, their home environment and the early years environment.’