The Guardian view on the widening attainment gap: poorer children need a boost | Editorial
Tuesday 16th July 2024
The progress made by pupils from lower-income families has been wiped out – and it’s not all the pandemic’s fault
The widening gap between the educational attainment of the richest and poorest pupils at English schools is a blow for everyone who wants to see the latter fulfil their potential, and for our society to become less divided and more equal. It is revealed in the latest report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), which focuses on 2019-23, so its findings are a snapshot of the pandemic and its aftermath. While the declining achievements of children from poorer backgrounds are not a surprise, it is dismaying to see predictions about the damaging and uneven impact of Covid disruption come true.
Shrinking this gap is a longstanding objective, and one that the pupil premium – extra funding for schools with poorer intakes – was designed to further. But with the gap for 11- and 16-year-olds now bigger than at any time since 2011, a decade of progress has been wiped out. For children with special educational needs, the deterioration is even starker (though older pupils in this category are doing better). The report also adds to a concerning body of evidence about the youngest children, with poorer five-year-olds falling further behind. A recent survey of teachers found that growing numbers of reception-year pupils are not toilet-trained and struggle to play with others.
Continue reading...Read full story.Taken from the RSS feed at https://www.theguardian.com/education/rss
