Schools that diversified their curriculum and celebrated cultural diversity closed attainment gaps between pupils from different ethnic groups, a government study found. The 鈥渟mall scale, exploratory鈥 , probing multi-academy trust鈥檚 most successful strategies to bridging gaps, was commissioned in response to the Sewell report on race and ethnic disparities. Researchers at Isos Partnership interviewed leaders at nine MATs and one local authority school. These included United Learning, The Harris Federation and Academies Enterprise Trust. They found leaders stated 鈥渃onsistently鈥 that while they used data showing the breakdown of ethnic groups, 鈥渢hey did not use ethnicity as a factor to identify pupils who needed intervention to close attainment gaps鈥. Some leaders said it would be 鈥渋nvidious and tantamount to stereotyping鈥 to do so. Instead interventions were based on the educational needs of individual pupils, such as literacy and reading. Diversifying curriculum But the trusts fostered 鈥渁 sense of belonging among its pupils鈥, with practices that did have a 鈥渄eliberate focus鈥 on ethnicity as well as other characteristics such as religion, nationality and broader experiences linked to socio-economic status. All of the trusts had reviewed their curriculum in the last three years to 鈥渆nsure it was more representative and inclusive鈥. One trust chief executive argued “that there was no trade-off between having aknowledge-rich, rigorous and stretching curriculum and ensuring that it gaveopportunities for everyone to see themselves and to see others reflected in thecurriculum”. The trusts sought to build leadership and staff teams that 鈥渞eflected the diversity鈥 of their school communities. Government Sewell report response: 9 actions for schools Trusts used proactive approaches to building strong relationships with parents and the wider community, strengthened the pupil voice and made celebrating cultural identities 鈥渁 core part of the life of the school鈥. They had an 鈥渆thos of high expectations鈥 coupled with 鈥渟wift identification of need and intervention to address barriers to learning鈥. Strong systems for analysing pupil-level data were also used. Researchers said the findings are not 鈥渋ntended to be generalisable across the education system in England, but rather to inform the direction of any future research鈥. But they said practical lessons on narrowing gaps are 鈥渘ot specific to different ethnic groups鈥 but relate to the 鈥渂asics鈥 of effective school improvement, such as high quality teaching and strong leadership. ‘Context is prime’ They added it is necessary to adapt 鈥渂road approaches鈥 to reflect the local context and community. 鈥淲hile there are approaches to school improvement and closing gaps that can be systematised and applied in different contexts, sensitivity and adaptation to each context is prime among the practical lessons gleaned from this research.鈥 Researchers said further studies could interview a broader range of people, such as parents and staff, to 鈥減rovide a more rounded pictures of practices鈥. The government鈥檚 response to the Sewell report also pledged a model history curriculum by 2024 and a recommendation that schools collect and publish data on the diversity of its governing board.