《阿科：一位音乐风格与创意的传奇》

第一段：

揭秘阿科

在中国流行音乐世界里，有一位名叫阿科的大师。他的身份尤为值得关注，因为他不只是一个艺术家，更像是一个音乐风格与创意的天才。这位青年的名字传入公众眼中，引起了巨大的兴趣和好奇心。阿科，真正的姓名也尚未明确定；他几乎不会介意这个小细节，因为音乐才是他所传达的真情实感，而不是人身形象。

第二段：

阿科个人资料

在阿科个人资料中，我们可以看到一些难以置信的事寓意。他通过自己的直播间直面世人，不仅展示了其音乐才华，也显示了他对个人生活的开放态度和独特的讨论风格。阿科的视频通常包含很多关于日常生活、自由表达以及对音乐创作本身过程的深入解析。这些视频不仅是他个人资料，也是一次精神上的交流与启示。

第三段：

阿科阿科个人直播间

阿科的阿科阿科个人资料直播间不仅是他音乐的舞台，更像是一种全新的文化现场。这里，阿科不只是一个艺术家，更是一位吸引广大听众关注并认可的公众人物。在这些直播间中，他们能窥探到阿科如何创作歌曲、与艺术家合作以及对音乐文化进行反思和讨论。此外，他还通过这个平台分享了自己的日常生活细节和情感经历，为社区传播真心意义。阿科的直播间不只是一道创意开发的小路，更是一个展现人性与艺术交融的平台。

总结：

阿科及其阿科阿科个人直播间正是一场全新的音乐文化革命。彼此之间的合作，以及他们对创意和表达方式的追求，正是这段历史变革所产生出的宝贵教训。阿科个人资料和直播间提� Written evidence submitted by the Department for Education (DfE)

The DfE is seeking views on a number of questions related to:

the current and future operation of academies;

how well schools are adapting to changes in their circumstances, including those relating to pupil backgrounds, size and characteristics, provision of places for disabled children and special educational needs (SEN), and the delivery of school meals;

proposed improvements to information on school performance and progress. The evidence closing date is 1st May 2019.

Response from Aston Academy Trust

I have responded in full below, but I hope that it gives a sense of our thoughts regarding both existing challenges relating to academies as well as the future direction for these schools (and their parents) and those with questions about data provision which you can answer via this document. Thank you very much for seeking input on this from your stakeholders – I hope that my response has been of assistance in informing the current policy setting process, but also in helping to develop future direction beyond 2019!

Aston Academy Trust (the ‘Trust’) is a large Multi-Academy Trust which provides outstanding education for over 5000 students aged 3 - 18 across its four main sites. The Trust has been an academy since it first opened in September 2003 and we are very proud of the significant improvements to educational attainment and life chances that have occurred over this time.

Academies offer many opportunities for parents, students and schools. Since our foundation as a Multi-Academy Trust, there has been a significant rise in the number of schools which opt to become academies – more than 13,000 schools are now a part of an MAT and this figure continues to grow each year (The Academies Programme 2016 -17).

In addition to providing high quality education for students across the Trust, we have seen our academic results improve significantly. The average Progress 8 score of our students is around two standard deviations above national expectations and this has risen in line with student numbers – since September 2013 there has been an increase from -0.5 to +0.6 on the same scale. We also continue to make a significant impact on educational outcomes for disadvantaged students, as our Progress 8 scores have continued to rise over this time and we are in the top three of all multi-academy trusts (MATs) nationally.

As with other MATs, one of our key focuses is improving diversity across the Trust by ensuring that schools are well supported through their growth journey – there have been significant increases to disadvantaged student numbers at most sites since we first opened in 2003 and these continue to grow as we work with more schools to help them become academies.

We recognise however, that academy status does not always equate to success for all students and we are committed to doing everything possible to support the schools across our Trust which have most need of additional assistance – including those sites where there is a significant increase in pupil numbers and/or student characteristics within these populations.

This commitment to improving outcomes has driven us to invest significantly more time, energy, expertise and resources into supporting new school academies than many other MATs across the country. In 2018 we supported four new schools enter as part of our Trust – all located in areas with high levels of disadvantage and/or deprivation:

- Our first primary site which opened at its current location was originally a community school within an economically disadvantaged area (and had been previously closed). We worked closely with the local authority to ensure that there were adequate facilities and resources in place before we began, so that our new Academy could be successful from day one.

- A secondary site which is located adjacent to a deprived housing estate within an economically disadvantaged area - again this site was previously closed and had been deemed not financially viable when it first entered the school closure process. As part of our efforts, we have worked closely with partners across the local authority – including in support of their redevelopment plans for the adjacent housing estate to ensure that adequate facilities are available (including additional sports provision) before committing to open a new Academy site here.

- Our third secondary site has been planned at the heart of an area which is seeing significant population growth across all age groups and demographics, with large numbers of students coming in from other boroughs – this includes a growing number of children who have previously attended alternative provision services to ensure that there are sufficient facilities available for their transition into mainstream education.

- Our fourth secondary site has been planned as part of the development of an area which is experiencing rapid population growth and where demand for places in local schools will soon be significantly outstripping supply – we have worked closely with local authority partners to ensure that there are sufficient facilities available at this new Academy site when it opens.

At a national level, academies continue to play a key role in delivering education across the country as they help many of our most challenging schools develop their capacity and provide excellent education for all students. However, we recognise that significant differences remain between schools within different local authorities – with some being highly successful whilst others struggle or stagnate. We have also seen evidence to suggest that there is a direct correlation between the success rates of individual MATs in driving educational attainment and their levels of financial sustainability.

As such we believe that significant investment should be made into developing high performing MATs, with those which are already operating well positioned as best practice examples to other schools across the country. In our view it would therefore seem appropriate that further incentives should be developed for existing and new multi-academy trusts (MATs), so that they can continue to develop their success stories – rather than having an approach whereby academy status alone is enough to attract government support.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss with you our experience of supporting multiple schools as part of one MAT, and how we have managed this successfully within our Trust across four key areas:

- Innovation – in terms of curriculocorporate structures, finance management processes, governance arrangements and partnership working.

- Diversity - ensuring that academy status does not limit the ability to deliver education for all students by supporting schools with high levels of disadvantage within our Trust who would otherwise struggle to achieve their full potential as academies due to financial constraints or other factors (in relation to both secondary and primary age pupils).

- Sustainability – ensuring that we are able to build a strong base for the development of future schools by providing support in terms of capital funding, governance structures and partnership working. The Trust currently supports 17 sites across London with a range of different challenges including high levels of pupil numbers; limited physical resources (including sports facilities); deprived catchment areas; significant increases to student characteristics over recent years; or schools which have been in existence for many decades and are struggling with poor governance structures, low engagement from the community and a lack of capacity within existing staff teams.

- Quality – ensuring that all our sites provide high quality education across a range of measures (including Progress 8 scores) whilst continuing to support schools which have been less successful historically in achieving improved educational outcomes.

In summary, we believe that MATs should be recognised as the best practice model for supporting academies and improving life chances for our nation's most disadvantaged students. As such there needs to be a stronger focus on developing financial support structures which provide incentives to those organisations who have already demonstrated successes - including by rewarding their existing funding through the Department of Education with additional investment.

We hope that this brief insight into our experience, and some further thoughts relating to potential policy development will prove useful for your consideration as you seek a strategic direction which helps academies continue to develop over time. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these matters in more detail at any point going forward – we are keen to share our learnings with others who may be able to benefit from them and contribute towards improving outcomes across the country, as part of your wider engagement programme.

Best Regards,

Shaun Driscoll - CEO Aston Academy Trust

This document provides an opportunity for you to give us feedback on how academies are performing against a range of criteria:

- School Offer – do our schools provide value for money and meet the needs of students across our Trust? Do we deliver high quality education which delivers good outcomes for all student groups, including disadvantaged pupils with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND)?

- Transformation – how well are academy status and multi-academy trust status supporting schools to achieve their potential over time? What impact do academies have on raising standards in our local authorities? How does this compare to previous years?

- Leadership - how strong is the leadership within our Trust (including at school level) to deliver sustainable improvements across all areas of education delivery, including governance arrangements, strategic development and financial viability. Are there opportunities for improvement here?

We would appreciate your thoughts on each of these questions in relation to the trust as a whole – we are particularly interested to hear about how well our schools deliver high quality learning experiences that enable students across all backgrounds (including those from disadvantaged backgrounds) achieve their full potential. This should include:

- The types of education provision you believe academies deliver best for your local area, including the number of places they provide and whether these are sufficient to meet demand. It is particularly useful if you can refer to any particular examples that demonstrate this in more detail. Please note – we do not expect every school or academy across our Trust to offer all types of education provision equally; instead we want to understand your overall perceptions about the contribution academies have made, and continue to make within each local area.

- Your views on whether academies are improving standards for students in your community over time (including any evidence you may be able to provide). We would also ask that where appropriate you give some indication of how these changes might affect pupils across different age groups or year groups. For example, does the introduction and growth of academies appear to improve outcomes at Key Stages 2,3 or 4 for your local area?

- Finally we are interested in hearing about any additional ways we can work with you to ensure that our Trust delivers even higher standards – including what extra support might help schools deliver better educational outcomes. We recognise the key role played by parents and carers within their children's lives, so would welcome your thoughts on this as well.

Please provide us with any relevant examples where possible – if you can attach images or documents which highlight our Trust’s impact then we will find these useful too (please note that it is not necessary to send digital copies). We do ask that all replies are kept confidential, so please only include your own views and perceptions.

Please return your feedback by emailing your responses to: schools@astonacademytrust.co.uk or clicking here to submit a form directly online using the link above (this will store information securely for you). We look forward to receiving them, please note that we aim to provide our responses no later than 1st July.

This email address is being protected against spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or contact us at: info@astonacademytrust.co.uk.

We are committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all members of our school family, including students and parents/carers who access our online services via email. Our trust is dedicated to the highest standards of security within its network systems. All emails will be stored on encrypted files at Aston Academy Trust’ Author: Dr. Micaela Llorca

Author Information: Dr. Micaela Llorca, Postdoctoral Fellow (Teaching and Learning) in Higher Education, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Warwick

In response to the recent BlackLivesMatter protests across the globe – a global movement calling for an end to racism – universities have been scrutinised about how they can improve racial justice and support diversity. But while higher education institutions are increasingly taking note on these concerns, we still see many examples of students not having their voices heard (see this previous article).

University policy documents highlight that ‘students from disadvantaged backgrounds’ should be supported to have a fair chance at succeeding in university life. But what exactly is meant by ‘disadvantaged background(s)’? In this post, I offer an example of the complexity involved when trying to define this phrase and how it can impact on student success.

The term disadvantaged background comes from wider literature that has sought to identify the different ways in which individuals are socially marginalised (see for instance this article). These studies have typically focused on a number of categories, such as ethnicity or class status. While these social positions can be quite clear-cut and relatively straightforward, I would argue that we need more nuanced approaches when identifying disadvantaged backgrounds in the higher education context.

I draw attention to one category that could benefit from some additional research: migrant students who come from privileged families but were themselves raised by their parents (or guardians) in a country where they lived as refugees or immigrants, while their children have settled permanently there. The ‘migrant’ label typically assumes that these people have left the home country – and possibly experienced social disadvantage at some point in time – but we rarely account for how different factors may affect the educational trajectories of individuals coming from this background.

For example, imagine a young man whose family had to flee their war-torn country because they were persecuted due to their beliefs or ethnicity and arrived as refugees to another country when he was just ten years old. He would have grown up with his siblings in conditions of poverty – perhaps even homelessness – while experiencing racism, xenophobia and other forms of social exclusion (see this article about the experiences of migrant families during lockdown). The child had no control over any of these events.

However, as an adult he has now completed secondary education in that country, gained a university degree, and is working professionally while raising his family. How does this person fit into the conceptualisation of ‘disadvantaged backgrounds’? Would we classify him or her within one specific category (e.g., refugees), or as part of multiple categories (e.g., both a first-generation university student and an immigrant)?

This example demonstrates that there can be considerable overlap between different disadvantages, which could lead to very distinct experiences for individuals in higher education. It also illustrates why it may not always be possible – or desirable – to place people into discrete boxes (as we have seen with the COVID-19 pandemic).

It is likely that there are many students across universities who might fall within this category but their voices often go unheard in policy development, as they can end up being lumped together under ‘migrant’ or other categories without consideration for how different aspects of diversity intersect (see the related article on intersectionality).

Thus, while it is undoubtedly true that many migrant students may experience disadvantages and discrimination when entering higher education institutions, we cannot assume that they have experienced these difficulties in a uniform way. Instead, this complexity needs to be reflected upon by policymakers, educators and researchers alike so as not to further perpetuate stereotypes about people from different backgrounds.

Reference Article: Llorca M., Cano A. & Nunez-Sanchez I. (2020) “Migrant” students in higher education: Unpacking disadvantage and intersectionality, Studies in Higher Education 1–15.