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A recently published report highlights an increasing disparity in academic performance between students from wealthier families and those from lower-income households. According to the Education Policy Institute (EPI), despite some progress following the Covid pandemic, the gap in educational achievement in England has grown wider again and remains larger across all school phases compared to before the pandemic. The report points to early education as an area where this divide is especially pronounced.
The government has expressed its commitment to narrowing this gap through various initiatives, such as expanding access to government-funded childcare and broadening eligibility for free school meals. There is an overarching goal set by the government to reduce the disadvantage gap by fifty percent by the time the current generation of students completes secondary education. In their analysis, the EPI defined disadvantaged pupils as those who had ever qualified for free school meals, comparing their academic results to those of other children. The institute also examined differences based on gender, ethnicity, and whether children had special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Findings from the report reveal that the achievement gap for children in early years has increased by 17% since before the pandemic. Although some phases of schooling showed signs of narrowing disparities in the post-pandemic period, this improvement is now reversing, particularly in early years and during Key Stage 4, when students undertake their GCSE exams. By this stage, disadvantaged pupils typically lag about 19 months behind their better-off peers. The EPI noted a mixed picture regarding children with SEND: while attainment gaps have lessened for older pupils, those with education, health, and care plans (EHCPs) face historically high gaps in achievement. Regional differences were also observed, with disadvantaged pupils in London performing better compared to similar groups elsewhere, whereas the educational divide has widened most sharply in the South-East and South-West of England.
Julie McCulloch, chief executive of the EPI, described the persistent educational gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children as “a scourge on our society.” While she welcomed the government’s “ambitious target” to halve this gap, she called for more rigorous tactics to deliver on this promise and urged the incoming prime minister to focus intensively on achieving it. The EPI’s recommendations include expanding access to free childcare for all children and increasing funding for schools based on the number of pupils eligible for free school meals. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, criticized current testing systems for setting up many, especially disadvantaged students, to fail, calling for the abolition of statutory primary testing and a more diversified approach to secondary assessment beyond final exams. Additionally, the Local Government Association advocated for increased investment in the SEND workforce and a review of childcare eligibility to ensure that low-income families receive adequate support. The Education Secretary recently emphasized a vision for “universal early years education,” affirming the government’s pledge to do “whatever it takes” to provide equal opportunities for all children regardless of background
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