“Highly-able” students from disadvantaged backgrounds are almost twice as likely as peers of similar ability to drop out of the top third of attainment at GCSE, according to a new report from the Sutton Trust.
The trust says the Social Mobility: The Next Generation report is the most comprehensive study to date on social mobility and wasted potential.
It looks at almost 2,500 pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds who showed high potential on leaving primary school and explores their progress in secondary school in comparison to non-disadvantaged peers with the same grades.
It found that, in 2021, 62 per cent of better-off high-potential students got five or more 7-9s at GCSE, while for high-potential students who were disadvantaged, it was less than 40 per cent.
Between 2017 and 2021, more than 28,000 young people who would be expected to achieve top grades at GCSE - based on the potential they showed at primary school - did not do so due to the disadvantage they faced.
Those most likely to fall behind include white boys and black Caribbean students, those with special educational needs or disabilities, and students in the North East and North West of England.
By the time disadvantaged students with high potential take their GCSEs, they have fallen behind similarly talented classmates by three-quarters of a grade per subject, and by a whole grade compared to the most affluent.
These children are over three times more likely to lack a suitable device to study at home and twice as likely to lack a suitable place to study, the report found.
Despite their high potential, more than a fifth of disadvantaged students told the report that people like them “don’t have much of a chance in life”, more than double the proportion of their better-off peers (10 per cent).
More than a third also reported that they would be unlikely to be studying in two years, over double the proportion of private school students of any attainment level.
The report authors, Erica Holt-White, senior research and policy officer at the Sutton Trust, and Carl Cullinane, director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust and co-investigator on the Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities Study, set out a range of measures to ensure these students can reach their potential.
These included early identification and tracking, provision of targeted support, including mentoring and tutoring, as well as family engagement.
They call on the government to urgently review funding for schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country and make the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) a core part of a national strategy to close attainment gaps.
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chair of the Sutton Trust, and chair of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “It’s tragic that the talent of so many youngsters showing early promise is being allowed to go to waste.
“This is not only grossly unfair, damaging the life chances of young people, but by wasting their talent, we’re also damaging the country.”
Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said greater investment and support for schools was needed, particularly those in disadvantaged areas facing the greatest challenges, to help close the disadvantage gap.
She added: “The government could not even manage to resist strangling its own NTP with red tape - including expecting schools to top up funding with money they don’t have.
“As a result, the coverage is patchy, at best, and there is little chance of it being embedded in any long-term strategy for education.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We remain committed to closing the disadvantage attainment gap, especially post-pandemic. We are targeting support for those who need it most through the National Tutoring Programme, which is backed by over £1 billion and has had over three million course starts to date.
“We’ve also increased our support to the Pupil Premium providing almost £2.9 billion this year - the highest cash terms rates since this funding began.”
