Abstract

This study examines the existing English educational system through the lens of equity, inclusion and social justice and seeks to provide answers as to what further work can be carried out to ensure that education is accessible to all children irrespective of their background and/or starting point. This study analyses the inter-connected role that many aspects of a school’s provision play in closing the disadvantage gap as well as positing how educational institutions can foster an authentic sense of belongingness. The areas of focus are framed in the sense of pillars of provision, all of which jointly help to support achieving equity, equality and social justice. These pillars are: creating a curriculum that is decolonised, diverse, ambitious and rooted in high expectations, ensuring that teachers are trained, competent and confident to use evidence-led teaching and learning strategies which are ambitious for all and are inclusive, that literacy and oracy is a golden thread woven throughout the curriculum and that effective strategies are in place to close the literacy and oracy gap, that pastoral systems and initiatives are implemented to foster a culture of belonging, and that there is strong leadership that ensures that the above is driven by a clear vision and commitment to equity and equality for all.

This study focuses on a body of published work and creative works spanning eight years, drawing upon expertise garnered over a career of seventeen years. The chosen methodology was an autoethnographic approach and a documentary review, due in part to my PhD bridging both published and creative works. Due diligence was taken with regards to ethics and the limitations of using such methodologies by undertaking a thorough evaluation of them and by submitting permission to the Ethics Review Board.

This study has found that by providing training, chunked research, worked examples and supporting classroom materials, teachers and leaders can be empowered to make changes to curriculum, teaching and learning and pastoral systems which drive equity and equality within educational systems and better position the students to have a stronger grasp of social justice and develop as a globalised citizen. Moreover, the study has found that there are multiple pillars which can help to close the disadvantage gap and level the playing field for all students, but that a stronger and more successful approach is one where all the pillars are developed as inter-connected and complimentary areas of focus. As John Donne (1624) once said, ‘no man is an island’; this study encapsulates how both the pillars which support equity and equality in educational institutes must be connected (and not act as islands), but that also how we as educators and citizens must act as a collective to ensure opportunity for all.