Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary, Isle of Wight – National Education Union shares this latest news. Ed
Commenting on the Education Policy Institute report which finds that the ‘education disadvantage gap’ stopped closing even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union said:
“No child should be limited by their background or postcode, yet after years of cuts to local services the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is no longer closing – in fact, it is starting to grow.
“Alarmingly, the EPI Report finds:
- The attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has stopped closing – the first time in a decade. Worryingly, policymakers have not heeded the warning signs.
- Disadvantaged pupils in England are 18.1 months of learning behind their peers by the time they finish their GCSEs – the same gap as five years ago.
- The primary school gap increased – the first time since 2007, which may signal a further widening.
“The disadvantage gap figures when compared to non-disadvantaged students remain worrying on the Isle of Wight, when the Island disadvantage gap in 2019 stood at 5.8 months in early years, 12.3 months in primary schools and 22.9 months in secondary. The Island remains in the bottom 25% in all three phases nationally.
“Despite the Government’s promise to ‘level up’ education, the stalling of the gap occurred even before Covid-19 had impacted on education. Perhaps expected in the face of school funding cuts, a growing teacher recruitment and retention crisis and ever-increasing class sizes. In addition, children from disadvantaged backgrounds have their own often insurmountable barriers to learning.
“Daily schools teach children who come to school too hungry to learn, often left without the basic school equipment. In early 2020 a third of children in the UK – 4.2 million children – were trapped in poverty. Research indicates that as the effects of lockdown and recession take hold, a further 200,000 will be in poverty by Christmas.
“Over the course of the pandemic school staff worked hard to reach families they knew were being hit the hardest, but schools cannot solve the poverty issue alone. Immediate, systemic action is needed to ensure that no child is left behind. But the Government is falling badly short:
- with the botched rolling out of free laptops with Ofcom estimating that between 1.14m and 1.78m children in the UK have no home access to IT equipment. Thus, the scheme only targeted between a third and a half of children.
- having to U-turn and agree to extend free school meals into the summer holiday. The free school meal application and distribution system in lockdown felt inadequate. It fell to food banks and other organisations to plug the gap.
“If the Government is serious about ensuring all pupils receive a quality, equitable education they must put measures in place to lift pupils out of the grip of poverty and disadvantage.
“As the new term starts, many will return to school having faced significant upheaval and new economic challenges at home. There is an opportunity for us to build back better in the light of the recent crisis. This is the Government’s chance to right the wrong of society-wide inequality and its impact on educational achievement. They must grasp it.”
Image: © Jason Dent
