ABSTRACT
Schools operate as a community set within a community and, in so doing, contribute to the physical assets and resources of their locality. Essentially, schools exist to enable learning and teaching to take place. However, this does not happen in isolation from the broader context of the community and the lives of the children, young people and families who live there. Such research stresses that family engagement is the most important factor outside of schools in influencing the achievement of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Therefore, multi-agency and partnership working are key in tackling educational inequity, for example in supporting school-family links, out-of-hours learning and mentoring interventions. Children’s Neighbourhoods Scotland is an element of the programme of the Robert Owen Centre at the University of Glasgow, and is carried out in partnership with the Glasgow Centre for Population Health. Its design-based approach incorporates both a research and evaluation function, as well as a development one.
