The education secretary has pledged to turn around “baked in” educational inequalities to ensure that young people from all backgrounds have a chance to “get on in life” after leaving school.
Bridget Phillipson accused the Conservatives of leaving behind a legacy of regional “disparities” in educational outcomes and an attainment gap between private-school pupils and their peers in state schools.
Speaking ahead of A-level results day on Thursday, she said too many children are living in poverty, and many schools are struggling with the pressures families are facing because of societal “failures”.
Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator at Ofqual, described the regional and disadvantage gaps in students’ academic outcomes as a “scandal”.
Last summer the attainment gaps for the top A-level grades between comprehensive schools and independent schools, and the North and South of England, remained larger than before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Child poverty and exam results
Ms Phillipson said action needs to be taken to reduce the number of children living in poverty, saying it is a “big driver” of the educational disparities between the most and least advantaged students.
She also called on universities to do more to widen participation in higher education, as well as to offer “ongoing support” to students once they are on degree courses to ensure that they do not drop out.
Ms Phillipson told the PA news agency: “My concern, as we approach the first of the results days, is that after 14 years the Conservatives have baked in massive inequality into the education system, including regional disparities and differences between outcomes for children at state and private schools, and I’m determined to turn that around.”
Last year, in terms of the proportion of A-level entries awarded A* and A, there was an 8.3 percentage point difference between south-east England (30.3 per cent) and north-east England (22.0 per cent).
Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive their A-level results on Thursday.
Experts have suggested that cost-of-living pressures, the disadvantage-related attainment gap in schools since the pandemic and anti-university rhetoric from the previous government could result in more students seeking alternative routes to university.
Recent figures from the higher education admissions service Ucas show that only 33.4 per cent of 18-year-olds in north-east England had applied to university by 30 June, compared with 59.2 per cent of 18-year-olds in London.
Ms Phillipson said: “University is a fantastic option, but lots of people still don’t think it’s for them, and that has to change.
“I want to work with universities to ensure that we are widening access, but also we’re making sure that young people have the support that they need to complete their courses.”
The head of England’s exams regulator, Ofqual, which will publish a breakdown of results by school type on Thursday, said he was “concerned” about growing disparities in attainment between disadvantaged students and their better-off peers.
Sir Ian told PA: “I think it’s a scandal that we’ve got these gaps in our country, whether they’re regional or whether they’re disadvantage-related.
“We absolutely have to prioritise collectively, as a system, closing them. But my job is to make sure that we have a system of assessment and qualifications that runs fairly across the country, demonstrates what students actually know, understand and can do.
“I very much look forward to the day when results days demonstrate that we are closing or have closed those gaps, and that will be proof that a policy has been effective.”
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