Educational inequality 'has grown' since the pandemic

Pupils in London are outperforming those in the rest of the country, but Labour has no credible plan to fix the problem, a leading think tank has warned.

- MILLIE COOKE

A report by the Institute for Government (IfG) warns that educational inequalities in England have “grown wider and more pronounced” across the country and among various demographic groups since the Covid pandemic.

Despite the government’s commitment to closing the disadvantage gap, the think tank warned that ministers had “not yet articulated a clear vision or plan for delivering this goal”. The announcement comes as tens of thousands of pupils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to receive their GCSE results tomorrow.

The average Key Stage 4 attainment rate, meaning pupils who pass English and Maths GCSE, is at 65 per cent across England. But the regional imbalance is huge, with rates as low as 40 per cent in the Merseyside village of Knowsley, and reaching 83 per cent in the affluent west London borough of Richmond upon Thames.

At Key Stage 2, the end of primary school, London’s attainment of 69 per cent was eight percentage points above the national average of 61 per cent last year. Between 2019 and 2024, KS2 attainment in England fell from 65 per cent to 61 per cent, driven by steep drops in maths and writing results.

Performance fell across all regions, although to a lesser extent in London - a fall of 2 points. As a result, the gap in KS2 attainment between London and the rest of the country has grown by half - from 6 to 9 points - since the pandemic.

The data also shows that the disparity in GCSE attainment between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students has widened in most local authorities since Covid, with little progress made in closing the gap between 2019 and 2024.