The gap between how well pupils from better-off backgrounds perform at school compared with their classmates from lower-income households has widened again in England, according to a new report that warns the incoming prime minister must target the issue with "laser-like focus".
Despite some improvements in the years since Covid, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) said the disadvantage gap was still bigger "at every phase" of school than it was before the pandemic, with the difference "particularly stark" in early education.
“Disadvantage gap widens in England; free school meal pupils 19 months behind by GCSEs, report warns new PM.”
By the time disadvantaged pupils reach Key Stage 4, when they sit their GCSEs, they are on average 19 months behind their classmates from better-off backgrounds, the report found. The overall difference in academic achievement between low-income students and their wealthier peers is now 17% greater for children in early years than it was before Covid.
Although gaps at some school stages had begun to close post-pandemic, the report said they were widening again in the early years and at Key Stage 4. For pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), attainment gaps had narrowed for older age groups, but were at their highest levels on record for children who had education, health and care plans.
Regionally, disadvantaged pupils in London outperformed those from similar backgrounds in all other regions, while the gap between well-off and worse-off pupils had grown most in the South-East and South-West of England.
"The size of the gap between the educational outcomes of children from more and less advantaged backgrounds is a scourge on our society," Julie McCulloch, chief executive of the EPI, said. She called on the new prime minister to have a "laser-like focus" to deliver on the government's "ambitious target" to halve the gap, which she described as "right and welcome", but said the approach had to be "more exacting" about how to achieve it.
The EPI made a number of recommendations, including widening access to free funded childcare to all children and increasing the amount of money schools receive. The Department for Education said it was working to close the disadvantage gap by delivering opportunities for every child, including expanding government-funded childcare and extending eligibility for free school meals.
The persistent gap will be an "early challenge" for the next prime minister, researchers warned, as the target set by the previous government to halve the disadvantage gap by the time the current generation of children finish secondary school appears to be moving further out of reach.