Tackling disparities in education is essential for growth, with 29% of long-term disadvantaged pupils receiving workless benefits at age 22, according to new research from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) and FFT Education Datalab.

These young people were around five and a half times more likely to be in this position than those who had never been eligible for FSM (5%). 

Long-term disadvantaged pupils are 23% less likely to go on to be in long-term education or employment in early adulthood than their more well-off peers. This is the case in every English region apart from London, where disadvantage was found to have markedly less impact.

While the capital has the highest levels of long-term disadvantage – pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) for 80% of their school career – students from these backgrounds were only 16% less likely to be in study or work at the age of 22 than those who had never been FSM-eligible.

69% of long-term disadvantaged pupils in London went on to long-term education or employment, compared with just 54% in the North East, which has the second highest level of long-term disadvantage (12%).

Evidence suggests that this is related to ethnic disparities in academic attainment amongst long term disadvantaged children. The report found that disadvantage had hardly any impact on students from Chinese backgrounds, and only a small impact on those from Black African, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and other Asian backgrounds which have high concentrations in the capital.

In contrast, outcomes among White Irish, White British and Irish Traveller backgrounds and, to a lesser extent, those from Mixed White/Asian and Mixed White/Black Caribbean backgrounds, were significantly lower for those from these least well-off backgrounds.

Previous research from NPP has found that there far greater concentrations of disadvantaged pupils from these high-impact ethnic groups in the North of England, leading to a substantial north-south divide in education.

The proportion of this year’s GCSE results at Grade 7 or above in the North East and Yorkshire and Humber was 22.4%. In London it was 32.6%.

Delivering his Autumn Statement, Jeremy Hunt said that “being pro education is being pro growth”.

Michael Gove wrote in the Times during the Conservative leadership contest in summer that “Central to unlocking potential and improving productivity is further reform of our education system. Our biggest challenge remains the attainment gap between rich and poor.”

Long-term disadvantaged pupils were around half as likely to be undertaking degree-level study as those who had never been eligible for FSM (24% vs 46%).

Lord Jim O’Neill, vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “These disparities in education outcomes are a serious barrier to productivity and growth, particularly in the North of England, and we need solutions now. 

“A centralised, Whitehall-diktat approach to the education challenge is doomed to fail. The Opportunity Area programme – one of the only attempts to deal with this issue – was partially effective because it offered bespoke, locally-led solutions in areas facing the biggest challenges. However, it was still nowhere near bespoke enough nor was there enough ambition. Its apparent successor, education investment areas (introduced earlier this year), comes with no local control.

“Poorly-targeted policies and meagre funding will only lead to more lost opportunity and squandered potential. Metro mayors and local leaders more widely would be far better placed to have funding control over these decisions. I call on the government to open their minds and consider the real ways of solving multi-faceted local education challenges.”

Anne Longfield CBE, Chair of the Commission on Young Lives and Former Children’s Commissioner for England, said: “Our education system is still leaving too many children behind, locking them out of future learning and career opportunities. 

“The economic case for education investment has never been stronger and this needs to be built into our plan for growth. 

“It’s vital we repair the damage done during the pandemic to our young people’s mental health, as well as to their learning. We also need to make sure we’re preparing them for the jobs of the future, such as in digital or the net zero transition.

“Joined-up solutions which tackle interconnected issues such as health and housing in tandem are the best chance we have of closing the long-term disadvantage gap for good.”

Fiona Spellman, CEO of North of England education charity SHINE, said: “It is deeply disappointing to read yet more evidence of the growing divide between the educational attainment of children in the North compared with their peers from other parts of the country.

“Levelling up means nothing if it doesn’t deliver fair opportunities for children. This research shows the scarring effects which long-term disadvantage can have on future life chances.

“Long-term disadvantaged pupils are almost a third less likely to go on to be in long-term education or employment in early adulthood than their more well-off peers.

“Given the concentration of these pupils in parts of the North, it is crucial that areas of disadvantage are given the resource and the ownership locally to tackle the issues facing their communities.”

The post Long-term impact of long-term disadvantage appeared first on Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

Our new report shows that the number of pupils from poorer backgrounds rose across many parts of the country even prior to the pandemic, and finds that long-term disadvantage is having a growing impact on academic performance.

We compared numbers of secondary schools with a high level of long-term disadvantaged high impact pupils between 2017 and 2019, as well as analysing attainment at GCSE level.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of these schools in just one year, rising by 16% between 2018 and 2019. At the end of the 2018/19 academic year there were 537 schools in England with at least 10% of their Year 11 pupils in the long-term disadvantaged high impact group.

These schools were found to be largely concentrated in the North, with 25% in the North West alone, as well as parts of the West Midlands.

However, it appears the problem is now growing across other parts of the country as well, with the South West, South East and the East of England showing the greatest increases.

The report looked at long-term disadvantaged pupils in secondary school who had spent at least 80% of their time in school on free school meals, as well as those from “high impact” groups, primarily from White British and Black Caribbean backgrounds.

10.1 per cent of pupils in the North East were found to fall into this category – double the national average. The North West was found to have the second highest proportion of these children, with 7.3 per cent, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber with 6 per cent.

In contrast, just 2.8 per cent of pupils in Outer London were found to be long-term disadvantaged high impact.

The impact of long-term disadvantage on attainment also appears to be increasing. 71% of schools with high numbers of long-term disadvantaged saw their attainment significantly below the national average for Pupil Premium children – an increase from 67% in 2018.

The report adds to growing concerns around a crisis in education given that the data used was taken even before COVID-19.

The pandemic has exacerbated many of the existing disparities in the education system, leaving long-term disadvantaged children more vulnerable to the impact of the digital divide and disruption to schooling pre-Christmas.

According to analysis of Department of Education data, the ten boroughs in England where children’s education was most disrupted between September and mid-December were all areas where deprivation is worse than the national average.

In 2011 the Government introduced Pupil Premium to direct additional funding to disadvantaged pupils in an effort to close the divide between poorer children and their peers.

The education disadvantage gap then steadily narrowed until 2017, when progress stalled and the divide began to widen again in 2019, according to analysis published in August.

NPP is calling for £34m to fund a mentoring programme for disadvantaged GCSE pupils in the North, scaling up the existing GROW mentoring scheme funded by the local authority in Barnsley.

The programme links children with recent graduates from Sheffield Hallam University, who are trained to provide academic and wellbeing support and guidance.

NPP is calling on universities from across the North to recruit their recent graduates and the class of 2021 to help deliver this programme to the most vulnerable young people in their regions.

Lord Jim O’Neill, vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “It goes without saying that this past year has deepened the divide in our educational system but this report shows that the situation was far from perfect even before the pandemic.

“We’ve gone past the point where this is simply a disadvantage gap; what we’re talking about is a disadvantage chasm.

“Driving up educational standards among all children and young people has always been and remains one of the cornerstones of the Northern Powerhouse vision.

“We now need bold, swift action from the government. Firstly, a northern mentoring programme for every disadvantaged pupil at GCSE level. Secondly, emergency funds to support pupil premium recipients and reform to target this at the most vulnerable. Lastly, we need measures to address place-based issues that take place beyond the school gate.

“Continued confusion or delayed action would permanently damage the futures of a generation of young people – at the exact moment when we most need their skills and talent to drive a recovery and level up the country.”

The post The disadvantage chasm appeared first on Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

Of all the requirements to deliver a meaningful Northern Powerhouse, there is perhaps nothing more important than high-quality education and skills. In this, the third report from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, we outline precisely what we believe is necessary to close the education and skills gap between the North of England and London, which will enable the North to narrow the long-standing and widening productivity gap in the future, and deliver on the ambition of the Northern Powerhouse.

There are 14 specific recommendations that we believe are necessary to complete these goals. These recommendations span the journey a child makes from the nursery to the workplace, addressing key intervention points where they need the most support. Of the most crucial factors affecting our next generation, there are three factors that stand out from many others: how vital a child’s early years are, how disadvantage drastically impairs performance at school and drags the North further behind the rest of the UK and the importance of businesses across the North playing a much bigger role in leading and directing meaningful work readiness.

Please click on the link below to view the report.

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