The extra money for the Opportunity Areas programme, awarded despite the announcement of the general election, includes a programme for attracting teachers in a dozen areas across the country.
The Opportunity Areas programme started in 2017 with £72m of public money, but there have been many criticisms as to whether the programme is effective – particularly given that there were few stringent methods for measuring performance.
So far, the programme has been active in Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Oldham, North Yorkshire Coast, West Somerset, Bradford, Doncaster, Fenland and East Cambridgeshire, Hastings, Ipswich and Stoke-on-Trent.
Something like 60,000 young people have been given the opportunity to develop such abilities and skills as resilience, teamwork, problem-solving, confidence and leadership. The DfE has particularly noted that schemes that focus on improving maths are showing some signs of success, quoting reports from Ipswich in particular.
It is interesting that this funding has been slipped through before the election, and it is an indicator of the sort of programme that might well be seen post-election, given that both major political parties have pledged massive increases in education spending, to reverse the cuts under the austerity programme.
It is, of course, possible to focus an educational email campaign on schools in specific areas, such as those noted above. For details of the total number of email addresses of teachers we have available for those areas, and the cost of running an email campaign, please do call 01604 880 927 or email Stephen@schools.co.uk
