Narrowing the Gaps? How are we doing?

Research 2017 Time For Change: An Assessment of Government Policies on Social Mobility 1997-2017 – Social Mobility Commission (June 2017) Closing the Gap? Trends in Educational Attainment and Disadvantage - Education Policy Institute (August 2017) Mobility Manifesto 2017 - Improving social mobility through education – The Sutton Trust (2017) Looks at Early Years, Schools, Young People and Working Lives 2 & 3 specifically look at education.

Findings Despite significant investment and targeted intervention programmes: The gap is closing, but at a very slow rate. The gap between disadvantaged 16 year old pupils and their peers has only narrowed by three months of learning between 2007 and 2016. Disadvantaged pupils fall behind their more affluent peers by around 2 months each year over the course of secondary school. Makes the point that for 20 years successive governments have made the pursuit of higher levels of social mobility a key tenet of their policies – From Tony Blair/Gordon Brown/Daved Cameron/Theresa May.

Findings Over the period 2007-2016, the gap by the end of primary school narrowed by 2.8 months. The gap by age 5 narrowed by 1.2 months. At current rates, it is estimated that it would take around 50 years for the disadvantage gap to close completely by the end of Year 11.

Findings For pupils who are persistently disadvantaged, the gap at the end of secondary school has widened slightly since 2007, by 0.3 months. In 2016, it stood at 24.3 months, equivalent to over two years of learning. Persistently disadvantaged – those eligible for FSM for 80% or longer of their school lives.

Findings Significant variation across the country. Disadvantage gap is generally smaller in London and the South and East. Disadvantage gap is significantly larger in East Midlands and the Humber, the North and the South West. Gap becomes more prominent in rural areas by the end of secondary school. South West -Isle of Wight disadvantaged pupils are well over 2 years (29 months) behind their peers by the end of secondary school. Rural Cumbria and Northumberland – gap is 9 months at end of KS2 but widens to over 25 months by end of KS4.

Findings Some areas are going backwards! Disadvantaged pupils in Darlington, Leeds, Liverpool, Redcar, North Somerset and Blackpool are doing relatively worse now than they were in 2012.

Findings At the other end of the scale, in Newham, disadvantaged five years olds are, on average, achieving as well as non-disadvantaged five year olds nationally. Shows the potential scope for dramatic improvements. Newham had the second highest child poverty rate across London (41%) and the highest proportion of children in working families receiving tax credits (44%). Newham had one of the highest unemployment rates in London (8.6%), while more than a third of residents who were employees were low paid (35%), the highest rate in London. The proportion of jobs that are low paid was also high (29%). Newham had the highest rate of overcrowding (25%) and of households in temporary accommodation (28.5 per 1,000 households) of all London boroughs. It also had one of the highest rates of homelessness acceptances, which had grown from 1.1 to 7.9 per 1,000 households.

Findings These inequalities transmit into later life outcomes. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds: are less likely to continue into post-compulsory education; have lower average earnings; have poorer health more likely to become involved with crime.

Next Steps Guarantee that all disadvantaged children have access to the best early years education by protecting educational funding and resources at this vital stage, ensuring that it is being provided by well qualified staff. The Sutton Trust’s Mobility Manifesto 2017 has 10 points – very wide ranging including points about Grammar Schools and ‘Selection by House Price’ for high attaining comprehensives. However, the first 3 points are very relevant to our focus on this course.

Next Steps Make improving the quality of classroom teaching the top priority in schools, with effective appraisals and a guaranteed entitlement to good quality training for all teachers.

Next Steps Ensure that disadvantaged pupils in schools are properly funded through the Pupil Premium and proper weighting through the new national funding formula, making sure that funds are more effectively targeted with greater use of evidence provided by the Education Endowment Foundation.

Reflection What is the situation in your school regarding the gap between disadvantaged and other pupils? What might explain the slow progress made in narrowing gaps between disadvantaged and other pupils?