Poverty and Education in Wales: Enabling a National Mission

In Wales there exists a strong association between coming from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds and doing less well in education. Whilst improvements are being made to this situation, progress is slow and is being impacted by changes in the composition of pupil populations in many secondary schools, which makes it more difficult for them to achieve high levels of success for their most disadvantaged pupils. This chapter, therefore, argues that if Wales is to achieve the ‘excellent and equitable’ education it aspires to create, these schools need to be re-fashioned as Community Partnership Schools which offer integrated support to pupils and their families and educational provision which is known to support more equitable outcomes.