CYP Now - Poorer students ‘three A-level grades behind better-off peers’

The first study to measure the education “disadvantage gap” amongst sixth form and college students has found that poorer pupils are on average the equivalent of three whole A-level grades behind their better off peers.

Disadvantaged students could be impacted more severely by Covid-19, researchers say. Picture: Adobe Stock

The study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and conducted by the Education Policy Institute (EPI), found that the gap in attainment is largely a result of poorer students already having lower grades at the end of their GCSEs.

Disadvantaged students then fall even further behind through sixth form and college, falling around half an A-level grade behind better-off students who had the same GCSE results.

When comparing the best three qualifications of disadvantaged students - those who had claimed free school meals in secondary school - and the best three qualifications of their non-disadvantaged peers, the gap in attainment was found to be equivalent to almost three A-level grades.

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