Attainment gap 'stagnant' for early years, says new research

Despite the Government’s social mobility agenda, disadvantaged 4-5 year olds in England are on average 4.6 months behind their better off peers, similar to the level in 2013. The gap at primary school actually increased for the first time since 2007 to over nine months.

This leads to a gap in attainment of 18 months at GCSE age. The EPI found last year that it would take 500 years to close the disadvantage gap at GCSE based on the current rate of progress.

The report also found the proportion of children who are in persistent poverty (defined as those on free school meals for over 80 per cent of the time) have double the learning gap of children who are only on free school meals for 20 per cent of the time (nearly 23 months as opposed to 11 months).

Progress in reducing gaps for SEND pupils has also begun to slow in secondary school. At the age of five, SEND pupils with a statement or Education, Health and Care plan are already 15 months behind their peers on average. At the end of secondary school, this is an average gap of well over three years for these children.

Researchers used Department for Education data, gathered before the pandemic, to look at the gap between rich and poor by local authority level. In 13 local authorities, Reception-age children were at least six months behind their peers:

Wirral: 7.1 months

Wigan: 7.1 months

Dudley: 7 months

Nottinghamshire: 6.6 months

Central Bedfordshire: 6.5 months

West Berkshire: 6.5 months

Redcar and Cleveland: 6.4 months

Halton: 6.4 months

Cambridgeshire: 6.4 months

Plymouth: 6.4 months

Walsall: 6.1 months

Bedford: 6.1 months

Blackpool: 6.1 months.

Just over half of local authorities (53 per cent) had a disadvantage gap within one month above or below the national average.

David Laws, executive chairman of the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said: ‘In spite of the Government’s aspiration to “level up” opportunity, the education gap between poor children and the rest is no longer closing, for the first time in around a decade. Before the Covid crisis, disadvantaged children were around 1.5 years of learning behind other pupils, and this figure seems almost certain to have increased since the closure of schools.’

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: ‘Research study after research study has shown that if you want to close the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their wealthier peers, you have to start in the early years.’

Last year, prime minister Boris Johnson said: 'Levelling up education is the key to helping every child reach their full potential.

'We’re guaranteeing the minimum level of funding for every pupil in every school so that, with a top-class education, our children can go on to become the world’s future innovators, trailblazers and pioneers.'

The Department for Education has said it is determined to counter educational disruption caused by the pandemic and had provided a £1bn Covid catch-up package to tackle the impact of lost teaching time, including 'up to' £9m available for the Nuffield Early Language intervention programme to support those who have missed out on early education at an essential time for their development.

The report can be found here