New research on inequalities, carried out for the IFS Deaton
Review of Inequalities and funded by the Nuffield Foundation,
finds that disadvantaged pupils start school behind their
better-off peers, and the education system is not succeeding in
closing these gaps.
Educational inequalities result in substantial differences in
life chances, leaving millions disadvantaged throughout their
lifetime. The authors find that those who have not been
successful at school are left behind by an education system which
does not offer the right opportunities for further education.
The research, which is part of evidence gathering for the review,
assesses existing evidence and analyses the latest available
data. It finds inequalities, such as the disadvantage gap
at GCSE, have barely changed over the last 20 years and are
likely to increase following the COVID-19 pandemic,
which looks to have hit the attainment of poorer primary school
children twice as hard as their peers’.
Key findings from the report show that today’s education
inequalities are tomorrow’s income inequalities:
- Inequalities by family background emerge well before school
starts. Just 57% of English pupils eligible for free
school meals reached a good level of development at the end of
Reception in 2019, compared with 74% of their better-off
peers. These inequalities persist throughout primary school.
- Children from disadvantaged backgrounds also make slower
progress through secondary school. Fewer than half of
disadvantaged children reach expected levels of attainment at the
end of primary school, versus nearly 70% of their better-off
peers. And of those who do achieve at the expected level,
just 40% of disadvantaged pupils go on to earn good GCSEs
in English and maths versus 60% of the better-off
students.
- The relationship between family background and attainment is
not limited to the poorest pupils: at every step up the
family income distribution, educational performance
improves. For example, while just over 10% of young
people in middle-earning families (and fewer than 5% of those in
the poorest families) earned at least one A or A* grade at GCSE,
over a third of pupils from the richest tenth of families earned
at least one top grade.
- Ten years after GCSEs, over 70% of those who went to
private school have graduated from university compared
with just under half of those from the richest fifth of families
at state schools and fewer than 20% of those from the
poorest fifth of families.
- Educational inequalities translate into large future earnings
differences. By the age of 40, the average UK employee with a
degree earns twice as much as someone qualified to GCSE level or
below. In part this reflects very slow earnings growth for the
low-educated: the most common annual salary for 45- to
50-year-olds with at most GCSEs is between £15,000 and
£20,000, which is exactly the same as for 25- to
30-year-olds with these qualifications.
With poor qualifications and low skills holding back millions of
adults, perhaps the biggest failure of the education system is
the lack of clear paths and second chances for those who do not
achieve well at age 16.
-
Adults in the UK are almost half as likely as German
adults, and a quarter as likely as American adults, to start an
advanced vocational qualification. This contributes to
a ‘missing middle’ of advanced vocational qualifications,
sandwiched between large numbers of people with degrees and
large numbers with low qualifications.
-
The lack of clear paths, and large funding cuts in
recent years, have hampered adult education.Spending
on adult education in 2019–20 was nearly two-thirds lower in
real terms than in 2003–04 and about 50% lower than in 2009–10.
This fall was mainly driven by the removal of public funding
from low-level classroom-based courses, which has made it more
difficult for adults with few existing qualifications to access
educational opportunities.
Imran Tahir, a Research Economist at IFS and an author of
the report, said: ‘We can’t expect the education system
to overcome all the differences between children from different
family backgrounds. But the English system could do a lot better.
School funding has become less progressive over time, and the
resource gap between the state sector and independent schools is
widening. Teaching in more disadvantaged schools is less good:
while virtually all schools serving the most affluent had
“outstanding” or “good” teaching, nearly a quarter of schools
serving the most disadvantaged had teaching that “requires
improvement” or is “inadequate”.
‘Among pupils who are behind expectations at the end of primary
school, fewer than one in ten goes on to earn good GCSEs in
English and maths – meaning that we bake in failure from an early
age. And the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic has moved us in
the wrong direction, lowering attainment and widening
inequalities. If the government is to meet its mission to have
90% of pupils attaining the expected level at the end of primary
school, it needs to prioritise the education system and
especially the disadvantaged pupils within it.’
Professor Sandra McNally, a Professor at the University
of Surrey, Director of the Centre for Vocational Education
Research LSE and an author of the report, said: ‘The
education system in England has long prioritised young people
taking the well-worn path from GCSE to A level to university. But
the options for young people who do not earn good GCSEs at age 16
are limited, confusing and often not very lucrative. Pathways to
higher levels of learning are opaque for such learners. The
post-compulsory system in general can lead towards narrow choices
with little opportunity for second chances later on. Big cuts to
adult education budgets over the past two decades have squeezed
the sector even further. With challenges like COVID-19 and the
Net Zero transition boosting the demand for new skills, providing
clear, useful and well-resourced routes in the vocational
education sector is more important than ever.’
Josh Hillman, Director of Education at the Nuffield
Foundation said: ‘This comprehensive account of
educational inequalities in the UK demonstrates the lifelong
impact that the disadvantage gap can have on people’s life
chances. The evidence on how difficult it is for children to
catch up if they fall behind in school is particularly worrying
given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. If we are to address
educational opportunities it is crucial that any reform of the
system considers all phases of education and that it addresses
the socio-economic factors that lead to disadvantage.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITOR
-
Education inequalities is a report by Christine
Farquharson (Institute for Fiscal Studies), Sandra McNally
(University of Surrey; Centre for Economic Performance, LSE)
and Imran Tahir (Institute for Fiscal Studies) for the IFS
Deaton Review of Inequalities.
- Education in the UK is a devolved matter. While much of the
analysis in this report is relevant to all of the devolved
nations, statistics about the education system are based on
England only unless otherwise specified.
- This report has been produced as part of the flagship IFS
Deaton Review of Inequalities in the 21st Century, funded by the
Nuffield Foundation. Launched in 2019, this is an ambitious
five-year project, initiated by IFS and funded by the Nuffield
Foundation. With the Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Angus Deaton in
the chair, the panel overseeing the project includes
world-leading experts in sociology, demography, epidemiology,
political science, philosophy and economics. www.ifs.org.uk/inequality.
