Analysis from the Education Policy Institute (Tuckett et al, 2022) shows that disadvantaged pupils are now an average of 1.34 grades behind their peers in GCSE English and maths. This gap has widened by 8% – or 0.10 grades – in 2021.
The report states: “2021 marks the largest annual increase in the disadvantage gap since 2011 and contrasts with 2020, when the gap was little changed. Since 2015, progress in narrowing the gap had stalled, and following the pandemic, has gone into reverse.”
Furthermore, the EPI analysis shows that the GCSE gap for persistently disadvantaged pupils – those considered disadvantaged for at least 80% of their time at school – widened by 6% – 0.10 grades – in 2021. It now stands at 1.7 grades.
The report adds: “Comparing 2021 to 2011, there has been no progress in closing the gap for persistently disadvantaged pupils over the last decade. The gap for persistently disadvantaged pupils is over twice the size of the gap for those who experience poverty more fleetingly.”
The gap has grown despite the use of teacher assessed grades in 2021. The report adds: “This might suggest either that results for poor children particularly suffered in 2021 because the full impact of school closures was being felt or that different grading approaches (compared to the use of teacher assessed grades in 2020) identified more lost learning in 2021.”
The report also warns that a higher proportion of poor children are living in persistent poverty – 27.6% of disadvantaged pupils are now considered to be persistently disadvantaged – a rise of 9,000 since 2019.
The EPI report calls for increased funding for disadvantaged students at GCSE level with this money being “weighted more heavily towards persistently disadvantaged pupils”. It also wants to see DfE action to make it easier to identify persistently disadvantage pupils.
Emily Hunt, associate director at the EPI, said: "Our research shows that the proportion of poor children who are living in poverty for most of their time in school is increasing markedly. These persistently poor children have outcomes which are dramatically worse than other poor children– on average they are likely to be two whole years behind non-disadvantaged children by age 16.
“Unless wider social and economic policy can help halt this increase in persistent and deep poverty, it will be very tough for schools to deliver by themselves the greater social mobility and ‘levelling up’ that the government says it wants to deliver."
Commenting on the report, Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said it “illustrates the deep-rooted inequalities within the English education system and our society”.
She added: “The impact of the pandemic has been particularly keenly felt by children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who were less likely to have access to the devices and quiet spaces that aid remote learning.
“Schools do everything they possibly can to help these pupils, and staff often go above and beyond to support the most vulnerable. But the issue of social and economic inequality is not new, and nor can it be solved by schools alone. Significant investment is required to close the disadvantage gap and create a system without such a close alignment between family income and educational attainment.”
Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the Education Endowment Foundation, added: “The findings from the Education Policy Institute are a stark reminder of the inequality entrenched in our schools, and the scale of the challenge that closing the attainment gap presents.
“Educators are doing everything in their power to recover and boost socio-economically disadvantaged pupils’ learning, but they cannot do it alone. We have a collective responsibility to ensure that a child’s background doesn’t limit their life chances. Crucial supports such as the Pupil Premium must be protected, ideally increasing in real terms, in order to ensure our teachers have the resource they need to help level the playing field for all of their pupils.”
- Tuckett et al: Covid-19 and disadvantage gaps in England 2021, EPI, December 2022: https://epi.org.uk/