A new report by Education Policy Institute (EPI) has revealed the widening gap between disadvantaged pupils and their better-off peers, despite a decade of policy intervention.
The report found the gap in GCSE grades between poorer and more well-off students has not improved in the past decade, with students in long-term poverty behind their more affluent peers by 1.6 grades at GCSE – the same as in 2011.
The study reports that more students are falling into long-term poverty (those who spend at least 80% of their school lives on free school meals), with the proportion of all disadvantaged students that fall into this long-term poverty group increasing to 39% in 2020, up from 35% in 2017.
The report also indicates the implications of the first-ever teacher-assessed grades in 2020. The study found that concerns around bias against disadvantaged students were largely unfounded. In fact, some progress was made in closing the grade gap for minority ethnic groups who had been losing out on grades compared to white peers.
However, pupils with special educational needs did suffer under this system. The gap between SEND students with severe needs and non-SEND students rose from 3.4 grades in 2019, to 3.6 grades in 2020.
The areas with the largest GCSE grade gaps in 2020 are Knowsley (disadvantaged students are 1.76 grades behind), Blackpool (1.69), Salford (1.66), Derby (1.65) and Sheffield (1.61).
Report co-author and associate director at the Education Policy Institute (EPI), commented: “To reverse this tide of stagnating social mobility, the government must do more to address the fundamental drivers of deep-rooted educational inequalities, including poverty.
“This is particularly critical after two years of disruption from the pandemic, where there is strong evidence of significant underlying losses that have not been reflected in students’ teacher assessed grades, with disadvantaged students losing out more.”
While the government’s Levelling Up White Paper promises to address geographical disparities, it is important that this is supported by action to address persistent underlying inequalities in the UK, such as poverty – Cheryl Lloyd, Nuffield Foundation
For sixth form and college students, the gap between poorer and better-off students increased in 2020. The widening of this gap is guided by fewer disadvantaged students taking up A-levels, which saw larger grade increases than Applied General Qualifications such as BTecs. As a result, disadvantaged students may have lost out when competing for university places.
The overall findings of the report indicate a stalling in progress towards narrowing the gap between disadvantaged and more affluent pupils.
David Robinson, report co-author and director of post-16 and skills at EPI, said the report findings are “deeply concerning” and this information ought to “alarm the government”.
He continued: “Our research findings are very clear: these growing inequalities were driven by A levels gaining more from the system of teacher assessed grades than Applied General Qualifications, which far more disadvantaged students take. The result is that poorer students could have lost out when competing for university places.”
Researchers have warned that the report findings could constrain the government’s ‘levelling up’ plans and that the inflated grades seen in 2020 could mask the effects of the ‘real’ educational losses caused by the pandemic.
The report suggests, amongst other recommendations, that the government’s plan must tackle social determinants such as poverty if it wants to reduce educational inequalities.
Cheryl Lloyd, education programme head at the Nuffield Foundation, expressed concerns that young people between the ages 16-19 are “effectively penalised for not studying A levels”.
She continued: “Disadvantage gaps are greatest in areas of the country that have a large proportion of students in long-term poverty. While the government’s Levelling Up White Paper promises to address geographical disparities, it is important that this is supported by action to address persistent underlying inequalities in the UK, such as poverty, which is having an increasingly detrimental effect on the educational outcomes of young people.”
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