The government has been warned that changes to free school meal (FSM) eligibility “pose a challenge” to understanding the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers.
And the experts say this has happened at a time when the gap has widened largely due to school closures during the pandemic.
Transitional arrangements brought in with the rollout of universal credit will affect “the composition of the disadvantaged group” and ”could significantly change the number and types of pupils considered to be disadvantaged and the composition of the group from 2023-24 onwards”, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has said.
The organisation has suggested that the government should “explore the feasibility of introducing a ‘continuity measure’ of disadvantage from 2024 onwards” in order to remove the effects of the transitional arrangements.
And the government has been warned that the changes will also affect the targeting of funding through schemes such as pupil premium to schools.
The NFER has warned that under current rollout plans, it will be “increasingly difficult to tell whether trends in the size of the disadvantaged pupils’ attainment gap are being driven by changes in the composition of the disadvantaged group, economic conditions or real changes in attainment”.
The organisation has said this is “crucial” because it will be “impossible to identify whether there is any genuine progress in reducing the gap”.
Monitoring the disadvantage-related attainment gap
The government has also been advised to consider replacing the current rank-based disadvantaged pupils’ attainment gap measure with a simpler metric based on average point scores.
NFER research director Jenna Julius said: “Schools are facing greater pressures due to the cost-of-living crisis, and we must ensure that there are well-targeted and effective strategies to help close the longstanding disadvantage attainment gap.
“An unintended consequence of the government’s rollout of universal credit means it will become increasingly difficult to understand how the performance of disadvantaged pupils is evolving over the next decade.
“Action is needed to ensure the government can be held to account for progress in reducing the large and longstanding attainment gap and improving the educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.”
Universal credit is financial support available to UK residents aged 18 and over who are on low incomes and have £16,000 or less in money, savings and investments.
