New GCSEs ‘widened gap’ for disadvantaged pupils

The gap in attainment between disadvantaged students who are eligible for pupil premium and their peers has widened since the government’s GCSE reforms, researchers have said.

FFT Education Datalab looked at the “pupil premium attainment gap” using a representative sample of 1,670 schools.

The organisation analysed the difference in Attainment 8 points per entry overall and in English, maths and for “English Baccalaureate/other” subjects.

The figures show that, apart from in maths, gaps widened from 2017 to 2018.

Education Datalab said the continued widening for English was a “surprise” given that English had new, tougher GCSEs in place in both 2017 and 2018.

It said the fact that the gap for EBacc and other subjects had widened - at a time when entry patterns were likely to have remained constant - suggested that “we are seeing a widening in the gap as a consequence of the change to reformed GCSEs”.