Examining different perspectives on “disadvantage” in European education systems as a basis for developing remedial interventions for disadvantaged schools

Abstract

In the context of disadvantaged schools, remedial interventions are implemented to compensate for unfavourable conditions. However, there seems to be no clear rationale linking the characteristics which education systems use to decide whether a school is disadvantaged and the prospective remedial interventions. In addition, the specific needs and challenges faced by novice teachers working in disadvantaged schools are not well understood. Yet, this is important for the success of pedagogical measures improving outcomes for both teachers and students. This article aims to fill this gap by examining the terminology and indicators used across European educational systems to identify disadvantaged schools, as well as the perceptions of novice teachers at these schools about the issues they face. The empirical part of the article draws on evaluation data from a European project (NEST—Novice Educator Support and Training) which implemented an adaptive mentoring programme in Austria and six other European education systems. In a first step, the authors approach the definition of the concept of disadvantage and examine how disadvantaged schools are designated in the seven education systems. To this end, document analyses and expert interviews were examined. Analysing novice teacher data from the questionnaires developed for project evaluation, the authors observe how the challenges of disadvantaged schools are perceived from both the perspective of novice teachers as well as educational administrations. The findings provide valuable insights for the design and implementation of remedial interventions that are tailored to the unique challenges disadvantaged schools face.