Inequalities across England are often persistent and deep-rooted, but some traditionally deprived areas are “beating the odds” and managing to close the disadvantage gap, according to experts.
A new Education Policy Institute (EPI) report highlights significant variation in the attainment gap between disadvantaged learners and their peers in different areas of England.
Nationally, it found the disadvantage gap was around 4.1 months among pupils aged 5 in 2017 and then widened to 10.3 months by the time these pupils were aged 11 in 2023.
While the disadvantage gap widens as pupils get older, areas such as Birmingham, Luton, Slough, Camden and Tower Hamlets are managing to close the gap by age 11, the research finds.
Early intervention
The report calls for the government to prioritise early intervention in primary and continuous intervention in secondary school and beyond.
It identifies local authorities with consistently small or large disadvantage gaps and evaluates progress in closing the gap as pupils progress through primary and secondary school.
Using data from the National Pupil Database for 2019-2023, researchers found 11 London local authorities with consistently small disadvantage gaps in 16-19 education, four of which - Ealing, Hackney, Redbridge and Southwark - also attain well for disadvantaged pupils during at least one previous key stage.
The authors say catch-up for disadvantaged pupils appears increasingly difficult as they get older.
Local authorities such as Wolverhampton, Bolton and Trafford have above-average gaps at age 5, but achieve below-average gaps by age 11, demonstrating the potential for disadvantaged pupils to catch up, according to the findings.
But far fewer areas successfully support disadvantaged pupils to catch up during secondary school compared with the primary phase, which the report says emphasises the importance of early intervention before disadvantaged pupils fall behind.
The report calls on the government to prioritise early intervention to prevent large gaps from emerging for children under the age of 11. In areas where the gap widens as pupils get older, early intervention must be combined with continuous intervention through secondary education.
One of the report authors, Emily Hunt, associate director for social mobility and vulnerable learners at the EPI, said it was well established that the disadvantaged gap grows from around four months at age 5 to over 19 months by age 16, but “this trajectory is not inevitable”.
Ms Hunt said: “Our research shows areas like Camden and Tower Hamlets are managing to narrow these gaps. Additionally, places like Birmingham also stand out as attaining well across its disadvantaged cohorts in 2023, showing that success is not confined to the capital.
“Yet our findings also show that it becomes harder for disadvantaged pupils to catch up as they progress through school. While many areas - such as Wolverhampton - manage to support pupils to catch up during primary school, far fewer areas achieve this during secondary school, where gaps often widen further.”
Sam Creme, director of one of the report sponsors, Collective Futures, said the analysis “helps to understand the trajectories of children’s educational attainment over time” and “both reinforces the importance of early intervention and sheds new light on areas that are consistently able to beat the odds”.
She said the EPI’s next stage of work would try to understand why some areas are able to catch up, and what can be done to break the link between a child’s background and their future success.
Mitigating impact of disadvantage
Union leaders welcomed the report and expressed hope that the strategy being developed by the government’s child poverty task force would address the issues it raises.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said the report underlines that early years education and support are pivotal in mitigating the impact of disadvantage on children’s learning.
He welcomed government moves to expand nursery provision in schools and increase the early years pupil premium, but said it was “vital that schools receive the funding needed to deliver them” and “for far more investment than under the last government”.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the study highlights the need for more research into what is driving variation in attainment, which he said was likely “influenced by the impact of societal factors such as entrenched poverty and damage to aspirations caused by generational disadvantage”.
He added: “Other problems are caused by resource issues, such as a lack of specialist support, limited access to early years education and severe staffing and funding shortages in many schools, which constrains the pastoral support they can provide.”
The Department for Education has been approached for comment.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered every weekday morning, sign up for the Tes Daily newsletter
