Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on a report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), which highlights significant variation in the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers across England.
“This is an interesting study and highlights the need for more research into what is driving variation in attainment gaps between disadvantaged children and their peers across England. It is likely that this variation is influenced by the impact of societal factors such as entrenched poverty and damage to aspirations caused by generational disadvantage. Other problems are caused by resource issues such as a lack of specialist support, limited access to early years education, and severe staffing and funding shortages in many schools which constrains the pastoral support they can provide.
“Addressing these issues requires cross-government action and investment. We looked forward to seeing the publication of the child poverty taskforce’s strategy in the spring.”