Schools in Deprived Areas

This chapter draws on personal experience, confident that much of it was replicated in other British schools serving areas of significant social deprivation. Information technology was given a real boost: homes in deprived areas were rarely equipped with the latest hardware and children could have access to computers only in school. Schools in deprived areas were thus well supported by this initiative until the creation of grant-maintained schools. The debate about curriculum content became urgent, not least in relation to the arts which were clearly at risk in view of their exclusion from the core curriculum. The control emphasis was evident in policies and practices introduced during the Conservative era which affected the education workforce, especially teachers. The Ofsted report format at the time began each section with standards achieved in relation to national norms; for schools in socially deprived areas, this was depressing and indicative of the general mood of despondency.