The learning gap for primary pupils is widening again

The Education Policy Institute has reported that the learning gap between rich and poor primary age pupils in England has widened for the first time since 2007.

Education in England: Annual Report 2020 evaluates the state of education in England, including the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. It also examines the gap at a local level, across different school subjects, and among different groups of pupils – including by varying levels of disadvantage.

This year’s publication found that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has stopped closing for the first time in a decade, and that disadvantaged pupils in England are now 18.1 months of learning behind their peers by the time they finish their GCSEs – the same gap as five years ago.

The gap at primary school increased for the first time since 2007 – which may signal that the gap is set to widen in the future, with the Education Policy Institute pointing out that the stalling of the gap occurred even before the coronavirus pandemic had impacted the education system.

Last year, the EPI modelled that it would take over 500 years to eliminate the disadvantage gap at GCSE, based on the rate of progress. This year’s data suggests an even more extreme conclusion: the gap is no longer closing at all.

Looking locally, the learning gap for poor pupils was found to be greatest in: Blackpool (26.3 months), Knowsley (24.7 months) and Plymouth (24.5 months).  

David Laws, EPI chairman, said: "It is deeply concerning that our country entered the pandemic with such a lack of progress in this key area of social policy, and the government urgently needs to put in place new policy measures to help poor children to start to close the gap again.”

Kate Green, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commented: “Even before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Conservatives were failing to give every young person the best start in life. Progress in reducing inequality had ground to a halt, and the government have failed to support the most disadvantaged children while their schools were closed. It is widely expected that lockdown school closures will widen the gap even further.

“The repeated failures to close the attainment gap is a sign of the stark incompetence of a government that has spent the summer creating chaos with the exams fiasco instead of focusing on getting schools open. It is time for them to get a grip, and ensure that every young person return to education in September.”