Headteachers have said that new data showing that the attainment gap at GCSE between poorer pupils and their peers widened this year highlights the need for more Covid catch-up investment in schools.
New Department for Education tables released today showed that while the attainment gap at GCSE narrowed between 2018-19 and 2019-20 - when centre-assessed grades, or CAGs, were used - it widened between 2019-20 and 2020-21, during the year when teacher-assessed grades were used as wider public exams were cancelled.
Headteachers said the figures showed the need for more catch-up funding from the government.
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Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The widening of the gap in attainment between disadvantaged children and their peers at the end of secondary school reinforces the need for more government investment in education recovery.
“It is clear that disadvantaged young people have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic and the associated disruption to education which has resulted not only in periods of lockdown but large numbers of students having to periodically self-isolate even when schools are fully open.
“While we welcome the funding that the government has committed to education recovery, we are far from convinced that this is sufficient to address the educational damage caused by the pandemic, particularly to young people in persistent poverty.
“The fact that the disadvantage gap has widened should serve as a call for further action.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced last week that nearly £2 billion would be added to the Covid recovery pot - bringing the total catch-up investment to almost £5 billion.
However, this remains a long way short of the £15 billion figure which former recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins believed was needed to support pupils’ education after the pandemic.
The new exam results data showed that the disadvantaged gap index had narrowed from 2018-19 to 2019-20 - when CAGs were used - but widened again in 2020-21 when teacher-assessed grades were awarded.
In 2021, 26.4 per cent of GCSE pupils were recorded as disadvantaged compared with 26 per cent in 2019-20 and 26.5 per cent of pupils in 2018-19.
“In terms of the disadvantaged gap index, it has widened to 3.79 in 2021 compared with 3.66 in 2019-20 and 3.7 in 2018-19,” the data says.
“The widening of the disadvantaged gap index may reflect the difficult circumstances that many pupils will have experienced over the last academic year which saw various restrictions put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic (e.g. periods of lockdowns and tiers) that resulted in restricted attendance to schools and periods of home learning.”
